It has already been almost a year since the Native Village of Eklutna (NVE) opened the Chin’an Gaming Hall in the community of Birchwood, just north of Anchorage. While it feels like it has gone by in the blink of an eye, it’s been one of the busiest years of our lives at NVE.
Our NVE and Chin’an Gaming Hall staff have been going virtually nonstop since last winter. Without them and the tremendous support we have received from our many happy guests, Alaskans and visitors alike, none of what NVE has accomplished this year would be possible. Thank you to everyone who has helped make possible this truly transformational year for our tribe and community partners.
Since opening last January, the Chin’an Gaming Hall has enabled our small tribe to help and support our members and the broader community in new and meaningful ways. Due to our profoundly limited resources, this was something we had struggled to achieve in prior years, to our great frustration and disappointment.
What started as a small handful of new jobs generated by the Gaming Hall in January has now grown to over 30 employees, tribal members and others. And we look forward to bringing more jobs and economic activity to the Anchorage area. When it’s all said and done, our future Gaming Hall is expected to contribute more than 400 new jobs in our community and tens of millions of dollars in new economic activity for Alaska.
But the economic impact is just the start. This enterprise has provided a renewed sense of pride for Eklutna tribal members. Not just as a result of the business success, but as a means to a critical end, for our tribe to do our part, to stand with our friends and neighbors, and to share.
Proceeds from our Gaming Hall have empowered NVE to contribute to the crucial work done in our community by non-profit service providers such as The Salvation Army, the Mountain View Community Center, Alaska Public Media and others. NVE has also been able to engage on Indigenous issues important to our people and all Alaskans at a national level in ways that were impossible just a year ago.
Despite all these positives, there are still some who remain bent on shutting down the Chin’an Gaming Hall. While we understood the initial hesitancy and concerns raised toward something new from some of our neighbors in Birchwood, our actions to address them and the facts borne out over nearly a year in operation serve to assure that the concerns raised were simply not realized.
[Opinion: Eklutna casino fight lands in Alaska’s political lap]
The dwindling number of individuals still focused on undermining our economic development are relying on outdated and often false or purely politically driven legal arguments. They choose to ignore key changes to federal law and legal precedent over the past several decades, which establish our tribe’s jurisdiction over the gaming site in respectful and appropriate cooperation with state and municipal government. That jurisdiction was recognized by the federal government in the approvals issued for the Gaming Hall, and those approvals remain valid under prior and current law.
Some detractors go so far as to challenge the sovereignty — or even the existence — of the Native Village of Eklutna. However motivated, these misguided efforts create unnecessary confusion and engender avoidable confrontation. Thankfully, the courts have seen through these arguments, allowing NVE to continue toward meeting our needs and contributing to our community.
The law has been clear for decades. Tribal governments in Alaska retain their inherent sovereignty. As we have done for generations, tribal governments like NVE provide important governance functions in communities across our state, in partnership with our state and municipal counterparts, to the benefit of all Alaskans.
Aaron Leggett is president of the Native Village of Eklutna.
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