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Latest Tlingit & Haida

Students from the Tlingit Culture Language and Literacy program at Harborview Elementary School dance in front of elders during a program meeting in 2023. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Sealaska adds more free Tlingit language courses

The new course is one of many Tlingit language courses offered for free throughout the community.

Photos courtesy Tlingit and Haida The Floyd Dryden Middle School building will be home to part of the Tlingit & Haida education and youth programs starting early next year.

News

Tlingit & Haida to turn Floyd Dryden building into youth hub

Lease brings several youth programs under one roof.

Young people cutting salmon at the First Alaskans Institute Elders & Youth Conference, which took place in Anchorage from Oct. 12-15. (Photo courtesy of Aaron Angerman).

News

Tlingit & Haida expands Traditional Food Program with new grant

A $25,000 award will help the Tribe upgrade equipment, fund harvests and strengthen food education.

Photo by Jonathon Dawe / Wrangell Sentinel Several hundred people turned out to celebrate as more than three dozen carried the Kadashan pole from the WCA Carving Shed downtown to its raising at Totem Park on Saturday, July 19.

News

Totem ceremonies bring hundreds together to celebrate and remember

Tlingit and Haida came together in Wrangell from throughout Southeast and celebrated the unveiling of five new totem…

Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire Sacred Ground baristas Raven Salduvar and Mackenzie Gray serve coffee in their new location, Aan Hít, on Sunday, June 22, 2025.

News

‘Healthy tribes make healthy communities’

Richard Peterson speaks to the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce about building opportunities for Juneau

Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson, president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, delivers his State of the Tribe speech to delegates during the opening of the 89th annual Tribal Assembly on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Tlingit and Haida rejoins Alaska Federation of Natives after two-year absence, citing current challenges

“In uncertain times, unity is our greatest strength,” Tlingit and Haida’s president says.

Tribal elder lder Ilskyaalas Delores Churchill picks up black cod during a traditional foods distribution by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska in Hydaburg earlier this year. (CCTHITA photo)

News

Tlingit and Haida halts traditional foods distribution due to cancellation of federal funding

Providing of salmon, other foods to communities among multiple tribal cuts by Trump administration.

Dancers exit the main conference room at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall as part of the opening ceremonies for the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s 90th Tribal Assembly on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Tlingit and Haida votes to give smaller Southeast communities more representation at tribal assembly

Change during constitutional convention significantly shrinks delegations in Anchorage and Seattle.

Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson, president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, takes questions from delegates at its 90th annual Tribal Assembly on Wednesday at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Large advances, challenges to Tlingit and Haida’s sovereignty highlighted in State of the Tribe address

Emergency response during last year’s record flood a landmark moment, but Trump’s policies a concern.

Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson, president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, delivers his State of the Tribe speech to delegates during the opening of the 89th annual Tribal Assembly on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. This year’s three-day tribal assembly is scheduled to start Wednesday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Tlingit and Haida’s 90th tribal assembly will feature constitutional convention amidst ‘crazy times’

Impacts of federal and state turmoil on tribal issues likely to loom large at three-day gathering.

Artists with the inaugural Áak’w Rock Festival gather beneath the mural of Elizabeth Peratrovich on the Juneau waterfront on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. That festival was virtual that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers wanted to open the event in person. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)

News

Áak’w Rock expanding to three stages

The Indigenous music festival is back and bringing 24 acts to Juneau

A breeze lifts flags hanging outside of the Andrew Hope Building in downtown Juneau Monday afternoon. The Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced Monday morning its withdrawal from the Alaska Federation of Natives. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Tlingit and Haida withdraws from the Alaska Federation of Natives

The move goes into effect immediately, according to the tribe’s president.

A delegate watches the proceedings during the final day of the 88th annual Tribal Assembly of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska on Friday at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Tribal delegates call invocation objection at Capitol a sign of disrespect

Two Alaska governing bodies hold annual sessions a few blocks apart, yet still have wide chasms

Lax̲áakúda.oo Jessica Elopre, a Seattle delegate of the Assembly, wears a shirt in reference to missing and murdered Indigenous women during the 88th Tribal Assembly of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. On Friday a resolution to commission a totem pole in Juneau that is dedicated to missing and murdered Indigenous women passed unanimously. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Resolution passed to raise totem pole honoring missing and murdered Indigenous women and people

Delegates voted unanimously for it on the last day of Tribal Assembly.

Kugíin-g Dúu Lauryn Framke (left) was elected as emerging leader and Aurora Lehr (right) was reelected as associate justice at the 88th annual Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Tribal Assembly. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

Tribal Assembly names associate justice, emerging leader

On the final day of the 88th annual Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of…

Cindy Pederson, sets up a display table for raffle items in a hallway at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall during the 88th annual Tribal Assembly of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Peterson, a Seattle resident and delegate for nearly 20 years until taking a job with the tribe’s COVID-19 relief program last year, was named the tribe’s Delegate/Citizen of the Year on Thursday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Delegate/Citizen of the Year surprised by honor during Tribal Assembly

Long-term sustainable housing, and more also discussed on second day.

The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s representing attorney Philip Baker-Shenk gives a speech Wednesday during the first day of Tlingit and Haida’s 88th annual Tribal Assembly. Baker-Shenk addressed the state of Alaska’s recent lawsuit against the federal government’s approval of the first parcel of land owned by the tribe. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

‘Fear not, drop your lawsuit’: Tribal Assembly keynote speaker talks resiliency of Tlingit and Haida, addresses state’s land trust lawsuit

Assembly keynote speaker talks resiliency of Tlingit Haida, addresses state’s land trust lawsuit

The Eagle/Raven Dance Group completes their grand entrance among delegates Wednesday morning at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall to mark the beginning of the 88th annual tribal assembly of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The theme of three-day assembly, held in person for the first time since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is “Sovereignty: In Land We Trust.” (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

News

Tribal Assembly celebrates achievements and faces hard truths

Growth of Tlingit Haida’s community programs and political influence highlighted on first day

A parcel of land just off the corner of Capital Avenue and Village Street in downtown Juneau was approved to be the first parcel of land owned by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska to be put into federal trust, however, the state of Alaska filed a lawsuit against the federal government and asked the U.S. District Court of Alaska to reverse the federal government’s decision, return the land to Tlingit and Haida and stop future land-into-trust applications. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

News

State sues feds over Tlingit and Haida land trust

Suit calls DOI decision capricious; Tlingit and Haida president says complaint is mean-spirited.

A parking lot (shaded in yellow) in the historical and cultural area long known as the “Juneau Indian Village” is the first property owned by Central Council of the Tlingit Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska to be placed into federal trust status. The designation, which Tlingit and Haida is seeking for other properties it owns, will make the tribe eligible for assistance from more federal programs and services. (City and Borough of Juneau)

News

Tlingit and Haida gets landmark property win from feds

Transfer of small lot into federal trust has big implication’s for tribe’s economic authority.