Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 2, 1 February 1985 — Berger Advocates Fair Settlement of Claims [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Berger Advocates Fair Settlement of Claims

Native peoples of other countries have been keeping close tabs of issues eommon to natives around the world and the lower 48 states with respect to the work being done by the Alaska Native Review Commission. "They are watching us closely because we are a unique commission sponsored by the people themselves. The ANRC has acquired national focus," reported Commissioner Thomas Berger, former supreme court justice of the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Berger, accompanied by his wife, Beverly, stopped in Honolulu Jan. 9 following a meeting with Australian aborigines and agreed to meet with the Hawaiian community for an update on activities of the commission and his work with native peoples. Office of Hawaiian Affairs Government Affairs Officer Jalna Keala, with the assistance of the Pearl Harbor Hawaiian Civic Club and other staff members, managed to attract 83 Hawaiians to hear Berger Jan. 10 in the State Capitol Auditorium despite the eall being issued on short notice.

Berger, who fought to have aboriginal rights restored to the Canadian constitution after they were taken away during former Pnme Minister Pierre Trudeau's administration, said he accepted his ANRC position in 1983 after retiring from the court earlier that year. The ANRC was founded by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference to take an objective look at what is happening in the lives of Alaska Natives in the wake of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. The commission must also make recommendations for future action as in the year 1991 when native lands and stocks are scheduled to become alienable and taxable.

The ANRC had heard about Berger and monitored his work handling issues of sovereignty, aboriginal hunting and fishing rights and Canadian native land claims. "Here I am a Canadian and they wanted me to review their claims." Berger recalls. He said the 1971 U.S. Iegislation was an important breakthrough for native Alaskans who number around 75,000 and who were allowed to keep 44 million acres of land. Berger reported that there are some 200 villages in Alaska occupied by natives. Eaeh village sets up its own corporation with eaeh villager a shareholder. Then there is a regional corporation. Government and industry, he pointed out, are always looking to develop the hingerlands. "They want to make it like Main Street, U.S.A.," he said. The setting up of these corporations following the 1971 Act, however, has not worked out very well, Berger reported. He said at least one-half of the regional corporations are in trouble.

The commission, therefore, is concerned over: • The government taking the land if these corporations go into bankruptcy. • Transferring shares held by native people (corporate takeover). • Taxing of the 44 million acres in the future (1991). Berger stated he has been through 50 villages and 12,000 natives have testified. They are plenty mad over the possible loss of their lands. They are also unhappy that many people think they are millionaires as a result of the 1971 congressional action. Some natives, he pointed out, didn't get any money. He said a eommon meeting ground among indigenous people must be established to protect their lands. "These people have no other homeland. Their land is where they have lived and where they want to eonhnue living. Its a sad situation when you find many indigenous people have lost

their lands, Berger declared. "People believe in the rule of law and as such we are entitled to a just and equitable government to render a fair settlement of our claims," the ANRC commissioner said. He added that he wasn't the only one talking about a "just and equitable government" with respect to native claims. "The other person," he declared, "is the Pope (Pope John Paul II)." His reference to the Pope ironically coincided with a native lands elaim story appearing in the January issue of Ka Wai Ola.

Berger said his report for the commission should be finished in June and will be ready for publication in September.

Durmg a question and answer period, a questioner inquired about his thoughts on OHA and where it ean be improved. Without batting an eyelash, Berger apologized for not being familiar with the loeal situation and that it would not be proper for him to render an opinion. Queen Emma club members provided and served eookies and hot and cold beverages. Keala was the moderator.

The Rev. Darrow Aiona, chairman of the Board of Education and a member of its Hawaiian Studies Committee, explains "this big pieee of property sitting out there that could be used for a Hawaiian center" in reference to Linekona School at Thomas Square.

Two trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs meet with Judge Thomas Berger, commissioner of the AIaska Native Review Commission, following his Jan. 10 address in the State Capitol Auditorium. From left to right are Trustee Hayden Burgess, Beverly Berger, the judge's wife, Judge Berger and Trustee Moses K. Keale Sr.