Richard Peterson, president of the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska since 2014, has been placed on leave following allegations from his former fiancée, Amelia Hayward, according to a blistering article in the Alaska Landmine. In a detailed Facebook post, Hayward accused Peterson of emotional abuse, manipulation, intimidation, sexual assault, and giving her substances without consent.
She also alleged he threatened her with violence and that she experienced political retaliation after their breakup. Hayward, who worked for Tlingit & Haida from 2021 until spring 2024, said the problems began shortly before she left both Peterson and her job. After her post was shared by the Landmine, multiple women came forward with additional allegations of harassment and intimidation involving Peterson.
Read the Alaska Landmine report with backup documentation at this link.
Peterson is Tlingit from the Kaagwaantaan clan, and was raised in the Haida Village of Kasaan, population 30, where he rose to leadership roles in his village. He was the president of the Village of Kasaan in 1998, was mayor and city council member in Kasaan, and is a founding member of POWTEC, one of Alaska’s first tribally owned 8(a) corporations. He drove millions of federal contract dollars to the corporation and its subsidiaries.
In 2023, the University of Alaska Fairbanks awarded Peterson with an honorary doctorate degree.
No charges have been filed against Peterson. The tribe posted a statement from Jacqueline Pata saying the matter is being handled with care, but asked people to not discuss it online or otherwise. This cone of silence approach is par for the course for some Native tribes that protect abusers, not as a bug but as a feature of their cultures.
Readers may recall that Pata, a prominent Alaska Native leader, resigned in 2019 as executive director of the National Congress of American Indians after 18 years at the helm. Her departure came in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal involving NCAI’s top attorney, John Dossett, who was ultimately dismissed after media scrutiny and criticism over how the case was handled.
Pata faced backlash from within Native leadership circles, including from fellow Tlingit Nicole Hallingstad, then NCAI’s Director of Operations, who resigned over what she described as the organization’s inadequate response.
Both Pata and Hallingstad were active in Sealaska Corporation and had long been viewed as political rivals, a dynamic noted in coverage of the scandal. Dossett said he was simply caught in the middle of a rivalry between the two women.
Pata is now the official overseeing Tlingit & Haida’s handling of the Peterson abuse allegations.
People to whom the law give special and preferential treatment, actually hurt others? And we should act surprised ?
If he had told all of his pursuits that he was really an LGBTQ girlyboy, he might have had a shot.
Paging Byron Mallot.
After abusing his victims did he eat them too?
ah, the good old days…
Uncalled for and gross by the way. One of the women he abused was my cousin by the way. Think before you speak cause it might offend the wrong person, like maybe one of his victims!
Lighten up, Francis.
Awww, are your feelings hurt “by the way”? Are you offended “by the way”?
Oh I’m just kidding. I don’t give a f. By the way.
The uncalled for comment was supposed to tag you in it and my reply was directed at you 🤷🏽♀️ like I am hoping it did tag you in the first comment but if not then I hope this one does.
If you prefer to avoid being offended you should avoid political blogs. Many thought his remark was funny, myself included. Humor often exists at a cost, Johanna. Bummer that the victims didn’t just pick up the pace and walk off. Not as much shame though as there is in villages allowing this kind of behavior to go unchecked and undisciplined; that’s our Native legacy of uncalled for and gross.
Make sure your cousin stays strong enough to expose this slob and hold him accountable. Without consequences there’s no accountability and whatever behavior you know him for will occur again. Good luck.
“…….Many thought his remark was funny, myself included………”
Me, too, but this isn’t a shop full of blue collar guys. Had one of this slugs victims been a relative of mine, I would be pretty sore, too (not at the comment, though).
Here’s my blue collar comment:
I wish one of this guy’s victims had shot him on the spot. Sorry to those with weak stomachs, but no, I wouldn’t want anybody to eat him after shooting him. Just leave him lay for the medical examiner to bag up.
Paging Mr. J Dahmer to the white courtesy phone please. Mr J Dahmer.
The Kasaan village corporation was the first to sell its Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act timber, essentially leaving a 23,040 acre (one township, as awarded to most village corporations) clear-cut, (and no riparian stream and lake buffers). For many Alaskans it was the first realization that old growth rainforest timber exported as logs was (and still is) very valuable. Tongass National Forest timber had to be manufactured in Alaska, so the round log export value of that first sale had high dollar implications for Natives up and down the coast, and it really cast the die for the pulp mills and sawmills that would come to a sad end before the last village timber stand became a clear-cut. Alaska pulp mills and sawmills simply couldn’t compete with the round log export market.
On the other hand the arithmetic of a small village with so few residents meant that a tiny village suddenly had lots of tax-free millionaire families (Richard Peterson’s family likely among them). Many moved from the village for good to spend their new wealth. The winning bidder was, according to my recollection of about 50 years ago the conglomerate ITT Rayonier. It was often said that not one Kasaan person stayed to learn how to log, and as one might gather from Mr. Peterson’s photo there was little to no tradition of the locals being timber fallers and choker-setters. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act took 44 million acres and $1 billion from US taxpayers and ceded it to people who were believed to be 1/4 (or more) Alaska Native in order for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline construction to proceed. There was an urgency created with the origination of OPEC that recommended a settlement rather than having the Native claim go through the courts. Attorney fees set a record that went unbroken until the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Apologies if this is a longer history than MRAK readers care to have.
well said
The Kasaan village corporation (Kavilco} was run and invented, actually by Louis Thompson, a true Haida who bequeathed his shareholders with a ton of wealth by selling the timber outright to Rayonier (Rayonier paid way too much initially) and then investing the proceeds. Petersen was not involved with Kavilco and in my opinion, if Louis were here to state it himself, he would have no kind words for this loser. Not even sure if Petersen elected to be a Kavilco shareholder or not. He could have signed up with Sealaska. I really think he is Tsimshian but that is only hearsay.
Just to clarify. If a person of claimed 1/4 or more Alaska Native did select Kavilco as their village corp then they almost certainly did select Sealaska as their regional corporation; 100 shares in each. They could have selected Sealaska and instead of choosing a village chosen to be at large. There are dividend dollar amounts attached to each decision, each alternative. When people were making those choices they didn’t have much information, and lots of rumors and misinformation existed. Parents chose for their children. Elders had their relatives choose for them in many instances. Many people with no Native blood got under the wire of course.
Lots of people have now inherited shares, which in most cases become non-voting if the new shareholder doesn’t claim Native blood. Some corporations have now had shareholders approve provisions for the “after-born.” The “1991 provisions” were abolished: think how different Alaska would look now if that part of the settlement had remained! The “extinguish all aboriginal rights” part of the settlement has been completely forgotten in multiple social matters important to all Alaskans including subsistence and IRS law. Unique in American law so far as I know, the ANCSA corporations continue to legally shape-shift between federal trust entities, non-profit corporations, and normal corporations, and that is very powerful.
“……..Apologies if this is a longer history than MRAK readers care to have……….”
No apologies needed here. It was an excellent lesson, and I bet there’s much more to it that you could cite.
It has always been a huge mystery to me on why native women hold native culture in such high regard when females and children were treated worse than dogs in much of it.
Actually they kind if run things in my experience, but you know ….. men are pigs.
What culture or what Alaskan Native clans are you talking about? I never heard of stories from my elders, women or men stating that the women & children were treated worse than dogs. Again just curious to know 🤷🏽♀️
Lt. Castner’s journals are an excellent start.
‘https://www.amazon.com/Lieutenant-Castners-Alaskan-exploration-1898/dp/B0006EFGI6
The Native elder men used young, underaged Native girls as their personal sexual toys for untold generations. Nothing new. And a huge part of the reason the ADN went completely silent when Byron Mallott was first exposed by news outlets outside of Alaska. The ADN didn’t want to bear the truth of an aging pedophile at the risk of breaking Native tradition.
Joe is correct. Read Native American history. The women do all the grunt work. The men hunt and party. I’ve seen Native men cruelly kick their sled dogs for no reason. The Native women do not do this. If you look at all criminal complaints both in the Alaska Bush and Outside Reservations, it’s mostly assaults against Native women by Native men. This is nothing new.
Richard Peterson was my favorite character in the Meaning of Life by Monty Python.
I am Haida Indian and a Tribal member of Tlingit and Haida. The Executive Council must retain third party legal council to investigate the matter. By not doing so jeopardizes T & H’s federal funding that impacts Tribal members who T & H serves.
Holy cow, shades of Byron Mallott.
I don’t get why someone said paging Byron Mallott and then you saying holy cow, shades of Byron Mallott… what are these supposed to mean? I don’t recall who said his name first cause it is not showing me right now but I am kinda curious to why not once but twice his name was brought up in this matter.
Are you serious?
Do you really not know what he did?
Being offended by everything all of the time can get in the way of a good google search.
It’s even on his wiki page
Keep focused on the topic of harassment in the Workplace,physiological- Trauma-happens in the workplace and federal laws apply to everyone,condoning abuse is turning the other cheek.This is uncalled for in the workplace,Family we protect our families.too many people get hurt and the person blowing the whistle is living public trauma for speaking out. Protection in the workplace is not for the public to judge.Hopefully counseling and a good lawyer will protect everyone involved.
Johanna, please check with disgraced former governor Bill Walker for your answer. Byron is the reason Bill Walker was a one term governor. And if you can’t find Bill, ask Ms. Walker. She’s more honest than Bill and she can tell you exactly why Byron Mallott
departed from the Lt. Governor’s office.
Almost there Judie, Byron Mallot was the final nail in Bill Walker’s aspirations for a second term. Bill in my opinion was already destined to be a one term governor as soon as he vetoed the PFD.( and cowardly let some poor child make the announcement)
As for Johanna, you are either very young, deliberately obtuse or only read the ADN and listen to AK Public Media, as both news outlets (such as they are) studiously avoided as much mention about Byron Mallot’s reprehensible behavior as possible.
She’s in her 40’s. You may select among your other options at your discretion, Taxi.
Byron Mallott
Bill Walker to the rescue. But if Bill is still in hiding, then let’s roll out Scott Kendall. Channelling Byron Mallot for counseling services might also work.
Are we nearing walrus mating season yet?
🤣🤣
Don’t blame the female walrus for being usik intolerant. The photo alone scares the crap out of them.
Nine times outta 10, the bigger the walrus, the smaller the usik. Probably true in his case.
These organizations do not exist in a vacuum and he didn’t impact only their members but all people regardless of race or member status, the funds they get are public, the process needs to be held publicly and transparent or pull public money!
Not my favorite Ewok character. He must’ve been turned to the dark side.
“…asked people to not discuss it online or otherwise…”
Fat chance that will not happen, especially here.
It will go to the Tribal Courts and the abuse will continue, that’s how all this abuse continues! Remove Tribal Courts and start punishing people/predators accordingly!
Check the internet for history of Jackie Pata, Peterson’s heir apparent, and her husband at NCAI. There’s interesting stories there too!
Looking like big guy gets off with an “investigation” and nothing further. Disgraceful.