[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 30 (Thursday, February 13, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1071-S1072]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING WESLEY AIKEN

 Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I want to take a few minutes to 
recognize the life of Ugiaqtaq Wesley Aiken, who died January 6, 2020 
at the age 93 years old, only 19 days shy of his 94th birthday.
  With the passing of Native elder Wesley Aiken, Alaska has lost a 
highly respected Inupiat leader who dedicated his life to leadership in 
the Alaska Native community and ensuring that cultural and traditional 
knowledge will be passed down to younger generations.
  Wesley Aiken was born in 1926 in Utqiagvik, to a completely 
subsistence lifestyle north of the Arctic Circle. He grew up in a small 
village, Isuk. which lays east of Utqiagvik, until the age of 12, 
moving for his education. As a teenager, he became a reindeer header 
for 3 years in order to help out his family. He was a man of many 
trades--he was a mechanic, laborer, member of the Alaska Territorial 
Guard, and later a member of the Alaska National Guard. He served as 
the land chief for Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation following its 
formation in 1973. He was a spiritual leader for the community and was 
always asked to pray. He would pray when the whale was caught, before 
big celebrations, the Nalukatak blanket toss, the Winter Games, and he 
prayed with the whaling captains. He loved the gatherings of the people 
and strived to see all the community's children participate. He was a 
hard worker

[[Page S1072]]

and would say, ``If you have dreams to do something, you, yourself have 
to work hard to get to that goal.''
  Wesley grew up using dog teams in the wintertime to camp and hunt 
long before snow machines were prevalent and available in his region. 
His traditional knowledge of the subsistence lifestyle was extensive, 
and he enthusiastically shared with his community. He learned whaling 
from his grandfather and uncle and later became a whaling captain. He 
took it upon himself to teach the next generation whaling. His 
daughter's generation was sent off to boarding schools, and so many 
youth were not taught the traditional ways of hunting and needed to be 
retaught when they returned. He taught many of his nephews traditional 
hunting methods and said it was his job to give back, just as his 
elders had taught him how to hunt whale and inland animals. He observed 
changes in sea ice and climate in his generation and shared with the 
world what he saw.
  Wesley also served on the North Slope Borough's Inupiat History, 
Language and Culture Commission. He often stressed the importance of 
language, and his dream was an immersion camp in which only Inupiat was 
spoke. He reminded the youth about the hardships their ancestors 
experienced and that the whole community looked out for each other. And 
if you took care of animals and the land, they would take care of you.
  In 2018, he served as the keynote speaker at the Elders and Youth 
Conference in Anchorage, during which he delivered a strong message on 
respect. He said it is all about respect. It is about respect for self 
and for one other, as well as a respect for the animals, which he said 
have spirits just like we do. In fact, when he took his daughter 
hunting, he taught her where to put a hole behind the neck to release 
the spirit of the caribou.
  Wesley was also known for his Alaska Native rights activism. He 
participated in the 1961 Barrow Duck Sit-in, protesting the Federal 
Government's regulation of Native hunting rights, and this protest, 
among others, led to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. A 
respected leader, he also helped establish the Alaska Federal of 
Natives.
  Elder Wesley's wisdom and kindness will be missed. He is survived and 
respected by his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends, 
and his whole community.

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