Tlingit and Haida allocates more tribal assembly seats to smaller communities

The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s 90th annual tribal assembly voted on April 18 to give Southeast Alaska communities more representation by reducing the number allocated for larger cities such as Anchorage and Seattle.

The change in representation on the tribal assembly was approved after an emotional five-hour debate at the gathering in Juneau.

The change, part of Tlingit and Haida’s first constitutional convention at its assembly since 2018, makes significant shifts to a tribal delegation where Juneau and Seattle had the most members at 25 each, based on...