Reasserting Sovereignty: Defending Treaty Nations and challenging the governments of Canada and Alberta

Thursday, March 13th, 2025

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Summary

A statement from:
Okimaw Jason Whiskeyjack, Saddle Lake Cree Nation
Okimaw Vernon Watchmaker, Kehewin Cree Nation
Okimaw Henry Lewis, Onion Lake Cree Nation
Okimaw Sheldon Sunshine, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation
Okimaw Gary Lameman, Beaver Lake Cree Nation
Okimaw Vernon Saddleback, Samson Cree Nation
Okimaw Joel Mykat, Ermineskin Cree Nation
Okimaw Desmond Bull, Louis Bull Tribe
Okimaw Ralph Cattleman, Montana First Nation

We, the tribal peoples of Onihcikiskwapiwin—Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Kehewin Cree Nation, Onion Lake Cree Nation, Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, Ermineskin Cree Nation, Louis Bull Tribe, Samson Cree Nation and Montana First Nation of Treaty No. 6 Territory, as represented by our onikaniwak, hereby make it known to the settler society and Crown governments that, when our ancestors entered into Treaties with the Crown in 1876, they did so to establish a binding and formal relationship based on mutual recognition and shared commitments.

Not mere legal agreements: the Treaties were made through our laws, governance structures, and spiritual traditions that have guided our peoples since time immemorial. Treaty No. 6 is a sacred covenant, witnessed by kise manito, lasting for as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the waters flow.

Increasingly we feel that we must bring these understandings to the forefront as all levels of government purport to assert sovereignty, thereby ignoring our existence without clearly and formally recognizing us, the First Peoples on our own lands and territories. As federal and provincial governments navigate the increasingly erratic political climate nationally and abroad, we remind them – there is unfinished Treaty business on the table. Treaty business that requires our free, prior and informed consent and not the manufactured consent of non-rights holding regional or national organizations.

Treaties Are a recognition of our Sovereignty—Not a Grant of Rights

The Treaty-making process did not create new rights—making Treaty is recognition of pre-existing rights and a commitment to respect them, without any interference. This is confirmed in the Treaty of Niagara and the Two Row Wampum that is also found in petroglyphs on our lands, carrying oral traditions of Treaty teachings. The Crown required our consent through Treaty making to enter our territories and we agreed to share our lands, laws and way of life. Our ancestral leaders, matriarchs and headmen, entered into these agreements based on our own laws and governance structures, establishing an ever-enduring relationship. At no point did we surrender jurisdiction and Inherent authority over our lands, resources, and ways of life.

Canada and the Crown’s ongoing Treaty obligations

When Alberta became a province in 1905, it did not supersede the Treaty or the permanent relationship it conferred. The Treaty relationship remains between our Peoples and the Crown, with all parties bound by the sacred commitments. Canada did not replace the Crown as a Treaty partner but inherited the legal obligations and remains responsible for upholding the Treaty responsibility.

Treaties were made through oral agreements, traditions, and our governance structures. These understandings remain central to the Treaties full meaning, true spirit and true intent. The Crown’s written record does not override the oral commitments and shared understandings that our ancestors upheld when entering Treaty.

The Province of Alberta’s claims of jurisdiction over Treaty lands relies on the 1930 Natural Resources Transfer Agreement (NRTA). The NRTA was passed without our free, prior and informed consent does not override Treaty rights. Treaties remain the highest authority governing our relationship with the Crown, and no unilateral provincial or federal policy changes that.

Premier Danielle Smith’s stated claims of sovereignty and ownership violate the fundamental principles of the Treaty relationship. Her alliance with 'Take Back Alberta' demonstrates an agenda that desires to assert control over our lands that were never ceded nor surrendered to the province.

We call upon King Charles III, our ally through Treaty, to uphold the Crown’s binding Treaty obligations, which remain in full force and effect. We demand that the Government of Canada fulfill its legal obligations by publicly rejecting Alberta’s overreach and reaffirm that Treaty lands remain under the jurisdiction of our peoples.

Canada must assist us to prevent Alberta from continuing to encroach and overreach on matters that require our free, prior and informed consent. We seek support from all international community and legal bodies to remind Canada of its duty to uphold the Treaty agreements we made with the Imperial Crown.

A global call to Defend the Treaty relationship and demand Honour of the Crown

We call upon:

1. The Crown, through King Charles III, Great Britain and Canada, to uphold the binding Treaty obligations.
2. The Government of Canada to intervene on Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s overreach to our lands, resources and Treaty obligations.
3. All allies and Treaty supporters to reject Alberta’s encroachment and undermining of the Treaty relationship
4. The international community, including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to ensure Canada respects its legal obligations.
5. Investors and businesses to recognize that economic stability depends on respecting Treaty rights and tribal peoples’ sovereignty.

Our lands continue to be governed according to Treaty, and we will ensure that the obligations and protections enshrined in those Treaties are upheld.

We will enforce our Treaty rights through legal, diplomatic, and international channels to prevent any further violations by Alberta or Canada.

We will continue to resist all activities that undermine our lands, rights, and responsibilities for future generations.

On behalf of the tribal peoples of Onihcikiskwapiwin—Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Kehewin Cree Nation, Onion Lake Cree Nation, Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, Ermineskin Cree Nation, Louis Bull Tribe, Samson Cree Nation and Montana First Nation of Treaty No. 6 Territory.

 RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS BY ANOTHER NAME

Proposed settlement for ‘Indian hospitals’ about more than financial compensation: lawyer

By Fraser Needham 

Mar 06, 2025

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The federal government announced a proposed settlement worth more than a billion dollars for former patients of what were once called Indian hospitals on Thursday but a lawyer involved in the process says it is about much more than money.

“It’s the apology that is the most important part of any of these settlements,” Steven Cooper, a lawyer with Alberta-based Cooper Regal which is one of the firms representing former patients, told Nation to Nation. “I’ve sat in with survivors, residential school survivors and other survivors with nobody in the room knowing whether they were eligible for anything.

“And yet the sense of relief, outflow of emotion, the crying, the hugging – that’s really what it’s all about. People believe us, we can tell our story now.”

Indigenous patients at these institutions were forced to undergo sexual abuse, forced confinement and substandard healthcare.

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Read More: 

Canada signs multi-billion deal with survivors of ‘Indian hospitals’

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If certified by a federal court, claimants will be eligible for compensation anywhere from $10,000 to $200,000 depending on level of abuse suffered.

There is also $150 million for a healing fund, $235.5 million for a research and commemoration fund and Indigenous Services Canada is also putting forward $150 million for mental health supports.

The hospitals operated from 1936 to 1981.

Cooper said because compensation is not capped it should be able to flow more quickly once claimants are approved.

Indigenous issues being ignored by Liberals

Toronto Metropolitan University professor Pam Palmater says many important Indigenous issues are being ignored in the Liberal leadership campaign as U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Canada are taking up most of the oxygen.

“All of them (leadership candidates) are so distracted by this tariff war and it’s huge, it’s an issue and we need to deal with it,” she said. “It’s going to affect jobs and lives. However, it can’t be at the expense of our ongoing reconciliation efforts. They (Liberal government) still have so much to do.”

Palmater said the federal government still has a number of outstanding Indigenous issues to deal with including long-term reform in First Nations child welfare, ensuring all Indigenous communities have access to safe drinking water and fulfilling commitments on land and treaty rights.

A northern Ontario NDP MP says the federal government is missing a golden opportunity by failing to include Indigenous people in its fight against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“I have been speaking to many Indigenous leaders that I know who understand the threat,” Charlie Angus said. “Because it’s a threat not just to the nation but the nation of course is on Indigenous land and Indigenous rights have to be first and foremost protected.”

Angus is part of an organization called Pledge for Canada which is calling for a boycott of American goods as part of a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff and annexation threats.

Author(s)

Fraser Needham

fneedham@aptn.ca

 

As elver fishery season set to launch, N.S. First Nation rejects federal rules

By The Canadian Press

Mar 21, 2025

The harvest of baby eels, called elvers is set to begin at midnight. Mar. 21. Photo: APTN file.

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The fishing season for baby eels is set to begin at midnight in the Maritimes, but at least one First Nation says it won’t abide by federal rules that limit the lucrative catch.

In a Mar. 5 letter, Chief Bob Gloade of Millbrook First Nation told the federal Fisheries Department his community won’t use Ottawa’s recently developed smartphone app to log fishers’ harvests — and doesn’t recognize Ottawa’s jurisdiction to oversee the fishery.

Canadian baby eels — also known as elvers — are fished in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Maine and shipped live to Asia, where they are grown to maturity.

After several chaotic and sometimes violent fishing seasons, Ottawa developed an application that allows enforcement officials to monitor the catch of juvenile eels from the point they’re caught until they’re sent to border crossings.

However, Gloade says the Millbrook fishers won’t use the app, and cites a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision that allows for Mi’kmaq communities to earn a moderate livelihood from fishing.

That court decision, however, also says Ottawa has the right to regulate fisheries for conservation purposes, but Gloade says his community will run its own regulatory system because it believes the elver stock is healthy.

The federal management plan for the 2025 elver season allocated 50 per cent of the 9,960-kilogram total catch to new entrants from First Nations, shifting quota away from non-Indigenous, commercial licence holders.

The regulated elver fishery wasn’t opened last year, with the federal minister citing violence and unlicensed harvesting on the rivers.

 

Patty Hajdu keeps role as Indigenous Services Minister in new Carney cabinet

By APTN National News

Mar 14, 2025\\

Mi’kmaw MP Jaime Battiste shut out.

Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu speaking to media outside the House of Commons with AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak in October. Photo: Mark Blackburn/APTN.

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Patty Hajdu will stay on as minister of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). Her role was announced at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday morning where Mark Carney was sworn in as prime minister.

Hajdu has been minister of ISC since 2021. She’s recently come under fire from First Nations for her handling of the Jordan’s Principle file.

Carney pared down his cabinet to 23 from 37 under Justin Trudeau.

Gary Anandasangaree holds on to his role as minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs and also becomes the minister of  Justice Canada and Attorney General of Canada.

David McGuinty keeps his job at Public Safety, meaning he’s still in charge of the RCMP.

Joanne Thompson is the new minister for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, better known as DFO, and will deal with Mi’kmaw fishing rights along with salmon farming issues on the west coast.

Terry Duguid is now minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Mi’kmaw MP Jaime Battiste, who withdrew from the Liberal leadership race and immediately endorsed Carney, did not get a role in cabinet.

Here is the full list of cabinet appointments:

Dominic LeBlanc, minister of international trade and intergovernmental affairs and president of the King’s Privy Council for Canada
Mélanie Joly, minister of foreign affairs and international development
François-Philippe Champagne, minister of finance
Anita Anand, minister of innovation, science and industry
Bill Blair, minister of national defence
Jonathan Wilkinson, minister of energy and natural resources
Ginette Petitpas Taylor, president of the Treasury Board
Steven Guilbeault, minister of Canadian culture and identity, Parks Canada and Quebec lieutenant
Chrystia Freeland, minister of transport and internal trade
Kamal Khera, minister of health
Rechie Valdez, chief government whip
Steven MacKinnon, minister of jobs and families
Rachel Bendayan, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship
Élisabeth Brière, minister of veterans affairs and minister responsible for the Canada Revenue Agency
Arielle Kayabaga, leader of the government in the House of Commons and minister of democratic institutions
Kody Blois, minister of agriculture and agri-food and rural economic development
Ali Ehsassi, minister of government transformation, public services and procurement.

RE-ELECT BLAKE DEJARLIS 

MY METIS, TWO SPIRIT, SOCIAL DEMOCRAT, MP

It's official - join us! Tansi Friends, It's official. Mark Carney's office has confirmed to CBC that he will visit the Governor General at 12:00 EST tomorrow - kicking off an early federal election campaign. Please come and join us at our Campaign Launch event happening at our 2025 Campaign Office, 8203 118 Ave NW from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.  Everyone is welcome! You don't need to live in Edmonton Griesbach to come and join our team. Parking next to the office is limited, but street parking in the neighbourhood is free. After the campaign launch wraps up we will begin delivering over 1500 lawn signs all over Edmonton Griesbach - which means we need your help! We are ready. Our campaign office is open, our team is working hard and we remain focused on reaching as many of our neighbours in Edmonton Griesbach as possible. If you can't make it tomorrow, we would love for you to join us on the campaign. Whether it's canvassing, phoning, delivering signs or more - know that we have volunteer shifts every single day. You can find a list of volunteer opportunities at this link. Getting out and building community is one of the best antidotes to the anxiety I know many are feeling these days.  I truly hope you will consider joining us tomorrow!  - Blake P.S. We have almost reached our financial goal for this campaign. But every dollar still helps. Considering chipping in today to ensure we have a fully funded campaign right across Edmonton Griesbach! Lawn Sign Season! Have you reserved your lawn sign for the election yet? 1500 of your neighbours already have! Help show your support and help us turn Edmonton Griesbach orange! Request your sign now now and our team will deliver it after the election is called. Reserve your Lawn Sign Volunteers Build Community Power Can't make it this weekend!? We are phoning and out knocking on the doors every day, organizing our community towards unity, positivity and a better future. Now is not the time to give up hope. It’s time to get involved.  Join our community powered movement. We have phoning, texting and other volunteer shifts available too, and will need help in a variety of roles during the campaign. Join us! Sign up to Volunteer And of course we need donations! Don't forget you can get up to 75% of your donation back in tax credits. Every dollar you donate stays locally right here in Edmonton Griesbach to help re-elect Blake Desjarlais as our MP!

Donate Now Sign up to Volunteer Reserve your Lawn Sign

 

Prof says U.S. threats to Canada will dominate federal election at the expense of Indigenous issues

By Fraser Needham 

Mar 20, 2025

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A First Nations professor at McGill University says people shouldn’t expect Indigenous issues to play a prominent role in the upcoming federal election.

“Right now, in an unprecedented political climate that it is in international relations and foreign affairs that dominate conversations in politics these days,” Veldon Coburn, a member of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan and part of the Indigenous Relations Initiative at McGill told Nation to Nation. “All across Ottawa, it is the reorganization and realignment of trade alliances, shoring up our allies where we have good friends in the international community and our domestic affairs are focused on essentially buttressing the economy.”

Coburn said that, as was the case during the Liberal leadership race, U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex and impose tariffs on Canada will take up most of the campaign oxygen at the expense of other issues.

After being as much as 20 points or more behind the Conservatives for most of the past year, recent polls show the Liberals surging after the departure of former prime minister Justin Trudeau and under new leader Mark Carney.

Coburn said Indigenous voters who are used to being threatened by colonial powers, may see the Liberals as better able to defend their interests against the Trump administration as opposed to the Conservatives who have been more traditionally aligned with the Republicans.

Several media sources are reporting the election could be called as early as Sunday.

Oil and Gas pipelines

Another academic says renewed interest on building oil and gas pipelines in Canada could present new opportunities for Indigenous communities.

“That (pipelines) will not happen without Indigenous involvement,” Ken Coates, a professor at Yukon University who is the chair of the Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Governance Program, said. “Quite frankly, it won’t happen without Indigenous ownership. Not necessarily 100 per cent ownership but a significant equity sort of position.”

With Trump continuing to talk about annexing Canada, there has been a number of discussions at both the federal and provincial levels of establishing the country as a sovereign energy leader.

This would mean more of a focus on building pipelines east and west allowing domestic oil and gas producers to access markets in Europe and Asia.

Much of current production flows south to the United States.

Coates said a Conservative government might be able to better capitalize on these opportunities rather than the Liberals who have shown over the last ten years that oil and gas production was not one of the government’s top priorities.

Nevertheless, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says Indigenous people should be wary of the promises of economic benefits made if they let these pipelines run through their territories.

“The first thing to say to any order of government and sovereign nations in particular is, ‘Show us the business case,’” she said. “Do pipelines make any sense in this country and you can’t find one with both hands and a flashlight.”

May said this is because Canada does not refine much of its oil and ships it as crude oil to the United States. She said in order to ship to other foreign markets it would have refine a much greater share of the product which is a capacity the country currently does not have.”

WATER IS LIFE

NARF Launches The Headwaters Report for World Water Day

By Native News Online Staff

 March 22, 2025

On March 22, 2025, World Water Day, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is proud to introduce The Headwaters Report, a groundbreaking resource from the Tribal Water Institute (TWI). This first-of-its-kind publication is designed to empower Tribal Nations in their ongoing fight to assert and protect their water rights. By providing critical legal and policy insights, The Headwaters Report equips Tribes with the necessary tools to secure and safeguard their water resources.

“We developed The Headwaters Report to help educate Indian Country and water practitioners about Tribal water issues. With this knowledge, Tribal Nations can make informed decisions to protect and assert their water rights,” said NARF Staff Attorney and Tribal Water Institute lead Daniel Cordalis. “Tribal Nations face more water challenges than ever before, and the Report is a tool to help make sense of and meet those challenges.”

Amidst rising populations, climate change impacts, and increasing threats to water access, The Headwaters Report arrives at a crucial time. It will serve as an essential resource for Tribal Nations, legal advocates, and policymakers dedicated to ensuring that water remains a protected and sacred resource for future generations.

As part of the Tribal Water Institute’s ongoing commitment to Tribal water sovereignty, The Headwaters Report complements broader efforts in leadership development, legal fellowships, and policy reform strategies to advance and uphold Indigenous water rights.

Nearly 2 decades after Alaska school asked state to fund repair, its building is about to collapse

Sleetmute residents especially worry in the winter when snow and ice build up on the school’s roof. The back end of the building is buckling under the weight. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK via Alaska Beacon)

Sleetmute residents especially worry in the winter when snow and ice build up on the school’s roof. The back end of the building is buckling under the weight. 

(Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK via Alaska Beacon)

Over the past 25 years, state officials have largely ignored hundreds of requests by rural school districts to fix the problems that have left public schools across Alaska crumbling, according to an investigation by KYUK and ProPublica

Emily Schwing
KYUK
MAR 18, 2025

This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with KYUK and NPR’s Station Investigations Team, which supports local investigative journalism. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. 

REPORTING HIGHLIGHTS

— Unwilling to Invest: Over the past 25 years, Alaska lawmakers have ignored hundreds of requests from rural school districts to fund repairs at their crumbling schools.

— Absent Landlord: Just under half of Alaska’s rural schools are owned by the state, which is required by law to pay for construction and maintenance projects.

— Continued Inequality: The students in Alaska’s rural schools are predominantly Alaska Native, a group that has historically been discriminated against in education.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

Nearly two dozen children in the tiny village of Sleetmute, Alaska, arrive for school each morning to a small brown building that is on the verge of collapse.

Every year for the past 19 years, the local school district has asked the state for money to help repair a leaky roof. But again and again, the state said no. Over time, water ran down into the building, causing the supporting beams to rot. A windowpane cracked under pressure as heavy snow and ice built up on the roof each winter. Eventually, an entire wall started to buckle, leaving a gaping hole in the exterior siding.

In 2021, an architect concluded that the school, which primarily serves Alaska Native students, “should be condemned as it is unsafe for occupancy.”

The following year, Taylor Hayden, a resident who helps with school maintenance, opened a hatch in the floor to fix a heating problem and discovered a pool of water under the building, where years of rain and snowmelt had reduced several concrete footings to rubble.

“Just like someone took a jackhammer to it,” Hayden said.

The Sleetmute school, nestled on the upper reaches of the Kuskokwim River, amid the spruce and birch forest of Alaska’s Interior, has few options. Like many schools in Alaska, it’s owned by the state, which is required by law to pay for construction and maintenance projects.

Yet over the past 25 years, state officials have largely ignored hundreds of requests by rural school districts to fix the problems that have left public schools across Alaska crumbling, according to an investigation by KYUK and ProPublica.

Local school districts are generally responsible for building and maintaining public schools in the United States and largely pay for those projects with property taxes. But in Alaska, the state owns just under half of the 128 schools in its rural districts, a KYUK and ProPublica review of deeds and other documents found. These sparsely populated areas rely almost entirely on the state to finance school facilities because they serve unincorporated communities that have no tax base.



In a tight crawl space under the Sleetmute school, Taylor Hayden discovered that the building’s foundation has deteriorated.(Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

A tight crawl space under the Sleetmute school shows that the buildings foundation has deteriorated. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

To get help for repairs, school districts are required to apply for funding each year, and then the state compiles a priority list. Since 1998, at least 135 rural school projects have waited for state funding for five years or more, an analysis of data from Alaska’s Department of Education and Early Development shows. Thirty-three of those projects have languished on the state’s funding list for more than a decade.

The state’s Indigenous children suffer the greatest consequences because most rural school districts are predominantly Alaska Native — a population that was long forced to attend separate and unequal schools.

State education Commissioner Deena Bishop acknowledged that the state’s capital improvement program isn’t working. But she said her department is limited by state lawmakers’ funding decisions.

Rep. Bryce Edgmon, an Alaska Native and speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, also said the program isn’t working.

“I think the evidence speaks for itself,” he said after touring the Sleetmute school in October. “These bright young children show up every morning to go to school in a building that’s not fit for even anything but being ready to be demolished.”

Edgmon, who co-chaired the House Finance Committee for the past two years, conceded he and other lawmakers could have done more and promised to “raise some Cain” in the state Capitol. This year’s legislative session has seen a lot of debate about education funding. Alaska has no statewide income or sales tax and instead relies on oil revenue, which has declined in recent years.





Sleetmute students play soccer during recess last spring. In the coldest months, when temperatures fall well below zero, the kids can’t have recess because the gym is closed. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)



A small atrium is one of the few spaces Sleetmute students can use. They eat breakfast and lunch here, surrounded by portraits of the village’s Yup’ik and Athabascan elders. (Photo by Michael Grabell/ProPublica)

As rural school districts wait for funding, the buildings continue to deteriorate, posing public health and safety risks to students, teachers and staff. Over the past year, KYUK and ProPublica crawled under buildings and climbed into attics in schools across the state and found black mold, bat guano and a pool of raw sewage — health hazards that can cause respiratory problems, headaches and fatigue. The conditions exacerbate the risks for Alaska Natives, who already face some of the highest rates of chronic illness in the nation.

In Venetie, a village 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle, exposed electrical wiring hangs close to flammable insulation. Thorne Bay, on an island in Southeast Alaska, has requested money to replace the fire sprinklers 17 times, without success. And in the Bering Sea coastal village of Newtok, the school’s pipes froze and broke, so for most of the last school year, kids rode a four-wheeler, known as the “bathroom bus,” twice a day to relieve themselves at home.





Students in Newtok, near the Bering Sea, ride home to use the bathroom last spring after the school’s water pipes froze and broke, leaving the school without running water. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

After Hayden’s discovery in Sleetmute, the portion of the building that posed the most serious safety risk, which includes the wood shop, the boys’ bathroom and the gym, was closed. Now, kids ranging in age from 4 to 17 are confined to three classrooms and an atrium lined with portraits of the community’s Yup’ik and Athabascan elders.

“There’s not much we can do anymore,” said Neal Sanford, 17, who misses playing basketball and learning carpentry and woodworking. He left the village of fewer than 100 people after his sophomore year last spring to attend a state-run boarding school more than 800 miles away.

In October, it was quiet outside the Jack Egnaty Sr. School in Sleetmute, save for a dog that barked now and then and the distant revving of a four-wheeler. The air smelled of wood smoke and two-stroke engine exhaust. Without a gym to play in, the kids bundled up for recess as temperatures dipped below freezing.

“Cold hands,” said fourth grader Loretta Sakar, as she shook out her fingers after crossing the monkey bars. Her squeals and giggles echoed across the playground while other kids played soccer or spun on a tire swing.



Kids including Loretta Sakar (left) take advantage of the old playground equipment during recess outside. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

Andrea John, a single mom whose three kids, including Loretta, go to the Sleetmute school, said the state wouldn’t treat Alaska’s urban kids this way.

“They should have helped us when we needed help in the beginning, not wait 20 years,” she said. “They are choosing to look the other way and say the hell with us.”

“Arbitrary, Inadequate and Racially Discriminatory”

When Alaska became a state in 1959, its constitution promised a public school system “open to all children of the State.” But for decades, it was far from that. Many Indigenous children attended schools owned and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Alaska’s plan was to eventually take over those schools, but the state repeatedly argued it didn’t have enough money to pay for them. The development of Alaska’s oil industry, starting in the 1960s, brought in revenue for education, but state officials noted that BIA schools were in bad shape and insisted the federal government fix them before the state assumed responsibility.

Many Alaska children “go to school in buildings that should be condemned as fire traps or unsafe dwellings,” then-U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel said during a 1971 congressional hearing. It wasn’t until well into the 1980s that all BIA schools were transferred to the state.

Yet even as the state began to take over, education remained inequitable for Alaska Natives. Many small villages didn’t have high schools, so students had to attend boarding schools or receive and submit assignments by mail. A group of those students sued the state in the 1970s to change that. Known as the Molly Hootch case, the suit resulted in a consent decree that forced the state to build 126 new schools in rural communities.



At a 1971 congressional hearing, Sen. Mike Gravel described conditions in public schools operated by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.(Obtained by KYUK and ProPublica. Highlighted by ProPublica.)

In the early 1990s, the Alaska Legislature started a program to fund school construction and major maintenance projects. Schools districts would apply for grants, and the state education department would rank projects based on need. But the Legislature provided little money for the need-based program. Instead, a small group of powerful lawmakers allocated funding to projects in their own districts, favoring urban areas.

In 1997, a group of Alaska Native parents sued the state, arguing that the funding system violated Alaska’s constitution and the federal Civil Rights Act. State Superior Court Judge John Reese agreed.

“Because of the funding system, rural schools are not getting the money they need to maintain their schools,” he wrote in a 1999 order. “Deficiencies include roofs falling in, no drinkable water, sewage backing up, and enrollment up to 187% of capacity. Some rural schools have been at the top of the priority list for a number of years, yet have received no funding.”

In another order, he called the state’s system “arbitrary, inadequate and racially discriminatory,” and said the state had a responsibility to provide education to Alaska Native children “even if it costs more in the rural areas.”

A 2011 consent decree and settlement required the state to build five new rural schools, and the Legislature passed a bill that was supposed to more equitably allocate funds to rural districts.



A 2001 order from Alaska Superior Court Judge John Reese. (Obtained by KYUK and ProPublica. Highlighted by ProPublica)




Yet more than a decade later, the problems pointed out by Reese persist. Every year, rural school districts make more than 100 requests, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. But the Legislature funds only a tiny fraction of those projects. In five of the last 11 years, it has approved fewer than five requests.

An analysis by KYUK and ProPublica shows that Alaska’s education department has received 1,789 funding proposals from rural school districts since 1998. But only 14 percent of them have received funding. This year, requests from rural school districts to the state’s construction and maintenance program stand at $478 million.

Edgmon acknowledged that the Legislature’s funding decisions don’t come close to meeting the needs of Alaska’s rural public schools. “We have not upheld our constitutional duty to provide that quality of education that the courts have said time and again we’re bound to be providing,” he said.

When pressed on why funding is so hard to secure, state education commissioner Bishop told KYUK last year that rural schools were good for the community. “But, at the same token, it’s unsustainable to have $50 million go to 10 students,” she said. “I mean, think about the unsustainability of that in the long run.”

Allowing projects to sit on a waitlist for years also means they can become more expensive over time. The Kuspuk School District’s first request to repair Sleetmute’s school was for just over $411,000 in 2007. By 2024, the request had climbed to $1.6 million — more than twice the original cost, even after adjusting for inflation.

“To me that’s neglectful,” Kuspuk Superintendent Madeline Aguillard said. “Our cries for help haven’t been heard.”



“Just seeing the conditions that the districts and the state were expecting students to thrive in,” said Madeline Aguillard, the superintendent of the Kuspuk School District, “they’re not conducive for academic achievement.” (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

Roughly 200 miles southwest, the coastal village of Quinhagak waited 15 years for a renovation and addition to its Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat School that would allow it to meet the state’s space requirements. The school serves 200 students, more than twice the number it was designed for.

In addition to its fire sprinklers, Thorne Bay in the Southeast Island School District has asked the state 18 times to replace a pair of aging underground heating-fuel tanks that the district worries could start to leak. Superintendent Rod Morrison, whose district spans an area of Alaska’s southern archipelago that’s roughly the size of Connecticut, said his district’s list of maintenance needs is seemingly endless.

“Education is supposed to be the big equalizer,” said Morrison. “It is not equal in the state of Alaska.”

Rural school district officials say, given their scarce resources, the state’s construction and maintenance program creates burdens. The application for funding comes with a 37-page guidance document, loaded with references to state statute and administrative code. It also requires districts to include a six-year capital improvement plan. Meeting these requirements can be challenging in rural school districts, where administrative turnover is high and staffing is limited.

To increase the likelihood that a project gets funded, some rural superintendents say they feel pressure to provide engineering inspections or site condition surveys with their applications.

“There’s only a few needles that you can move,” said David Landis of the Southeast Regional Resource Center, a nonprofit that, among other things, helps school districts compile their applications for a fee.

Landis said inspections and surveys are likely to increase the ranking for a project proposal, but “those documents are really foundational and expensive. They might very well be over $100,000.”

The Kuspuk School District has spent more than $200,000 since 2021 to beef up its applications for the Sleetmute school, Aguillard said. It’s also paid tens of thousands of dollars to a lobbyist to persuade legislators to increase maintenance funding for schools the state itself owns.

Some school districts said they simply can’t afford such costs. “We don’t have that ability,” said Morrison of the Southeast Island School District. “We’d have to cut a teacher or two to make that happen.”


There are no roads to and from Sleetmute, so residents rely mostly on airplanes to travel and receive goods. When the Kuskokwim River thaws, a barge makes summer deliveries. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

Sleetmute, home to fewer than 100 residents, is nestled alongside the upper reaches of the Kuskokwim River in Alaska’s Interior. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

“Too Little, Too Late”

Last summer, Sleetmute got some good news. After ignoring 19 requests, the state had finally approved its roof repair after Alaska legislators passed a bill that boosted school maintenance and construction funding to its highest level in more than a decade.

But it’s “too little, too late,” Aguillard said. The building’s condition has deteriorated so much that Sleetmute now needs a new school.

As a result, the district has asked if it could use the roof repair money to shore up the school to prevent a collapse, to bring in modular classrooms or to have school in another community building. But, Aguillard said, Alaska’s education department has been reluctant to approve any of those options. Instead, she said, the department made a baffling request: It asked for proof that the state had never paid to repair Sleetmute’s leaking roof — something clearly outlined in state records — and that the neglect had caused the additional damage.



After an architect said Sleetmute’s school “should be condemned,” half the building was closed. Now students, staff and teachers all share one bathroom, and a sign lets students know whose turn it is to go. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

In an email, the education department wrote, “This step was taken to ensure proper use of funds and to understand the full scope of work required.”

A KYUK and ProPublica analysis found that in at least 20 cases, funding requests waited for so long that cheaper repairs morphed into proposals to tear down and replace schools. Those schools that were rebuilt cost the state tens of millions of dollars more than the initial estimates.

The Auntie Mary Nicoli Elementary School project in Aniak, about 100 miles downriver from Sleetmute, started as a $9.5 million renovation in 2007. But after waiting 11 years, the state spent $18.6 million to replace it in 2018.



Water from a leaky roof has seeped into the walls and floor of the Sleetmute school’s wood shop. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

A few districts are still waiting for schools they say need to be replaced. The first request for the Johnnie John Sr. School project in Crooked Creek, 40 miles downriver from Sleetmute, in 1998 was for a $4.8 million addition. But by 2009, the district was asking for a $19 million replacement. The Legislature failed to fund the project even after the district pared down its request. Unable to secure funding for a new school, the district is now trying to stretch $1.9 million it received from the state last year to make the most necessary repairs: upgrades to heating and electrical systems and the removal of hazardous materials.



Black mold had spread through the Sleetmute school, including in a utility closet, a hallway ceiling and the back wall of a gear closet in the gym. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

In most of Alaska’s rural communities, life often requires making do with what’s available: People keep piles of old machinery in their yards to mine for parts. In villages that aren’t on the road system, almost everything is either shipped in by barge or delivered by air. In Sleetmute, a 24-pack of soda costs $54 — about four times the price in the Lower 48.



Black mold had spread through the Sleetmute school, including in a utility closet, a hallway ceiling and the back wall of a gear closet in the gym. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

This is also why construction projects are extremely expensive: Skilled workers have to be flown in, housed and fed. Heavy equipment has to zigzag up the Kuskokwim River, which is frozen for half the year. The school district was hoping to reduce costs by sharing machinery with a project to upgrade the community’s runway. But when that project wrapped up this fall, the state transportation department shipped its equipment out of Sleetmute.

So the school is left to make do. Everyone has to share one bathroom. A manila folder hangs from a pink thread on the door. It reads “Boys” on one side and “Girls” on the other to indicate whose turn it is.

Sleetmute’s school is also full of black mold that covers the buckling wall in the wood shop, a gear closet in the gym and a huge section of drywall in the ceiling just above the door to the kitchen.





Black mold had spread through the Sleetmute school, including in a utility closet, a hallway ceiling and the back wall of a gear closet in the gym. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

This fall the community discovered another problem. Sheree Smith, who has taught in Sleetmute for 12 years, found herself swinging a tennis racket at a bat that swooped through her classroom as her middle and high school students sat reading quietly. The bats live above the gym bleachers in a small utility closet, where the floor is covered in guano.

Without a gym, students miss out on events that connect the school to both the community and the outside world. Every year, the Sleetmute school would host basketball tournaments and movie nights to raise money for field trips to places like Anchorage and Washington, D.C. — a luxury for many families in Sleetmute and other rural communities in Alaska. The students “feel the pain of that, like just not having the extra opportunities,” said Angela Hayden, Sleetmute’s lead teacher.

Over the holiday break, the school district reinforced the back end of the building with floor-to-ceiling supports to keep the woodshop from collapsing.

But it’s only a temporary fix. The roof has been leaking since Hayden started teaching there 17 years ago.

“When I come in the building, especially after a lot of rain or a lot of snow,” she said, “I just think, ‘OK, what am I going to have to deal with before I can deal with my classroom?’”



Students start their day with the Pledge of Allegiance in Sleetmute, where the school’s roof has been leaking for longer than they’ve been alive. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)


Playtime in the Sleetmute school gym is rare. The space, which also served as an emergency shelter and a place for social functions, has been closed for two years. (Photo by Emily Schwing/KYUK)

If you have information about school conditions in Alaska, contact Emily Schwing at emilyschwing@gmail.com.

Emily Schwing reported this story while participating in the University of Southern California, Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s National Fellowship. She also received support from the Center’s Fund for Reporting on Child Well-being and its Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism.Mollie Simon contributed research.