The theme of UAF's 2020 Indigenous Peoples' Day, was “Resiliency Through Hope and Love.” We welcomed a traditional blessing from Elder Esther Green and drum performance from Sunny Luke, followed by a keynote address from Alaska Native rights attorney Heather Kendall-Miller. We also heard from student, staff and faculty speakers.

The second half of the program features "After the Ice,"  a new film series that captures the stories of Indigenous communities immensely challenged by sea ice loss in Alaska’s Bering Sea. The release of the film was just a few weeks after the Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum, making 2020 the second-lowest year on record. The three-part series, funded by the Study of Environmental Arctic Change, is a multidisciplinary effort directed by Brendan Kelly of UAF's International Arctic Research Center. Matthew Druckenmiller, from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and Mellisa Johnson, with the Bering Sea Elders Group, joined the call to answer questions.