Episode 29: Harriet Brouillette; From Boarding Schools To Tribal Leadership In Southeast Alaska

Send us Fan Mail A family story can be entertaining, but it can also explain why a community looks the way it does. Sitting down with Harriet Brouillette, lifelong Haines resident and Alaska Tribal Administrator of the Year, I hear how one family line stretches from France to Louisiana to Southeast Alaska and then collides with some of the hardest chapters in Alaska Native history. The details are vivid: a grandmother sent to boarding school at age five, relatives lost to distant institutions, and the way paperwork and prejudice tried to rewrite identity.We also get practical about what tribal leadership looks like when it is not a slogan. Harriet talks about building stability at the Chilkoot Indian Association, leveraging funding to run programs, and using tools like 105(l) leases with the Department of the Interior. We dig into the difference between a sovereign tribal government and an ANCSA Native corporation, why some Southeast Alaska communities became “landless,” and what it takes to move landless legislation forward when the Tongass National Forest becomes the battleground.The conversation stays grounded in everyday life too: growing up at Three Mile without electricity, huge gardens, the realities of food security, and even a Prohibition-era potato still that helped families survive. We close on what it means to lead under scrutiny in a small town, why transparency matters, and what Harriet wants most for the future, including tank farm cleanup and a healthier path for the next generation. If this meant something to you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. What part of Harriet’s story hit you the hardest?