ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Alaska Native group is speaking out against a shamanism retreat as an event it says commercializes and exploits the spiritual healing practices of indigenous people.
The Juneau-based Sealaska Heritage Institute voiced its opposition to the pricey June retreat in a letter emailed Friday to the event sponsor, Dance of the Deer Foundation. The event — billed as the 24th in Alaska — is scheduled at an undisclosed lodge outside Juneau.
In the letter, Heritage Institute president Rosita Worl calls the event “a violation of a most sacred tradition of Native peoples.” She asks that the foundation not come to the area that’s considered the ancient homeland of a Tlingit group.
Worl says the foundation has not responded.
Representatives of the Soquel, California-based foundation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
