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For an outsider, the ANCSA or the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act is an interesting agreement given the unique and exclusive arrangements it has to Alaskan locals and settlers. Also for an outsider, to be part of the ANCSA or to become a share holder of any of its regional corporations is not a simple enrollment filled out on paper and sealed with a registration fee. The legitimacy of becoming a member and a shareholder has very deep roots. One of the interesting facts surrounding the ANCSA is its unique rules on membership and becoming a shareholder in the process. In order for one to become a shareholder, he or she should be enrolled into the corporation. What is interesting about this enrollment process is that it has been closed since 1970. There is no way for anyone today to enroll themselves into any of the corporations under the ANCSA. However, if one wants to receive shares from any of the 13 regional corporations in Alaska, stocks can only be assimilated in 2 ways. Stocks can be received as an inheritance from a shareholder or it can be received as a gift from a shareholder. A shareholder can only give a gift of stock to their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews and siblings who are 18 years old and above. In the case of Bristol Bay Native Corporation, for instance, shareholders who want to give a gift of stock to any of the allowed recipients should accomplish and prepare several documents such as the gift of stock form, a Certificate of Indian Blood which is requested from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a tribal card if the certificate is not available, birth certificates of the recipient/s, the Consent to Act as Custodian for recipients below 18 years old and the confirmation from the shareholder that the shares will be given as gifts. Unlike today in the traditional operation of stock markets, ANCSA stocks cannot be sold to non-Alaska natives. The motivation for this strictness most probably stems from the fact that one of the major thrusts of the ANCSA is to preserve the homogeneity of Alaska whether it is about their culture, their way of life and the resources their territories has been blessed with in so much abundance. Also, if one gets to research on the Alaskan territories, one can find the many natural resources it has such as minerals (gold, silver, coal and metals), land and marine life (salmon fisheries). When you think about it, if stocks are to be sold or to be given as a gift to just about anyone in the United States who are not Alaskan, the ANCSA ultimately loses its essence. The exclusivity and uniqueness of the arrangement is forfeited, and the many years of passing the ANCSA into a law are all rendered insignificant. This kind of membership and becoming a shareholder of the ANCSA is symbolic in so many ways. As such, the cultural and economic management of resources in Alaskan territories integrates very strong values to its locals. That in order for them to thrive as a nation culturally and economically, they must preserve their resources well and ideally just among them. Source: BBNC
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alaska native corporation, alaska, bbnc, claims settlement, shareholder,
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