Community Perspective
Doyon Ltd. didn’t hear from all
Published Saturday, March 22, 2008
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Stumble It!Last week at the Doyon Ltd. annual shareholders meeting, a simple motion was made from the floor. It asked Doyon to request that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service extend their comment period for the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Yukon Flats land exchange.
The extension would have allowed villages outside the Yukon Flats that will be affected by the exchange — but have not had an opportunity to review the deal — a chance to do so. It would also allow the villages in the Yukon Flats more time to respond to the issue.
In past meetings, motions made on the floor were held to a voice vote. The Yukon Flats land exchange was a topic of a few of these past floor motions. One motion to stop the land exchange altogether passed unanimously by voice vote in 2005. Another motion to withdraw Doyon’s offer to pay for a significant portion of the draft EIS passed with a voice vote in 2007 with only one dissenting vote — that of then-president Orie Williams. Neither of these motions was considered binding to the board. Both were disregarded.
It appears that Doyon, a proponent and benefitting partner of the land exchange, learned from these experiences and made a calculated decision. Even if Doyon wouldn’t consider it binding, it would mean bad press if the motion for an extension passed.
So rather than allowing a straightforward voice vote, the Doyon leadership put the motion for an extension of the draft EIS comment period onto a ballot to be voted on by shares, rather than individuals at the meeting. A small number of shares were held by individuals at the meeting.
Due to the unusual rules Doyon has in place regarding its election process, the vast majority of shares concerned, approximately 90 percent, are controlled by the Doyon board’s proxy committee. The motion for an extension failed, according to Doyon by 90 percent, or 800,000 shares. This was the number of shares controlled by the board.
Even if every individual in the room voted for the motion for the extension, it still would have failed.
Ninety percent of shares may have been voted against the motion for an extension, but do not confuse this to mean that 90 percent of shareholders opposed the motion. Ninety percent of shareholders have not been given a voice on the issue. They would have received it through the motion for an extension, but were denied by their board’s tactics.
Although Doyon claims to be listening to shareholders, it clearly is not. What does Doyon stand to lose by giving people the opportunity to review and comment on the draft EIS? Do they feel threatened? Maybe Doyon knows that the majority of shareholders still value land, subsistence and a pristine environment more than profit, a few short-term jobs and dividends.
Doyon persisted in saying the land exchange was a “done deal” until they and the USFWS heard the opposition voiced during the draft EIS public hearings. Now Doyon says they will drill in the Flats regardless of whether the land exchange with the USFWS goes through. This steamroller approach is indicative of how Doyon chooses to do business. It’s a question of values. Can Doyon find a way to balance its corporate lust for profit with its obligation to respect the traditional values of its shareholders?
All of Doyon shareholders deserve the right to be heard.
Dacho Alexander is the 1st chief, Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich’in Tribal Government and resides in Fort Yukon.
Community Discussion
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raming it thru with out respecting all , sure isnt a way of showing they care for all, thank you,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I was at the meeting last week as well when this individual made that motion from the floor. At the time this was all taking place, during the comment period, I only heard a few people in support of the voice vote, very few applauded for it.
I even heard laughter from some in attendance at that lack of applause.
I do not think Doyon is neglegtful when they are in fact a for profit corporation, there to make money for their shareholders.
And furthermore I don't think they have anything to fear or feel threatened about when they have been trying to hold meetings and get the attention of those who could be standing up and attending these meetings where a person can comment for or against the land trade.
I have heard there is intimidation on the part of those that oppose this, against those that support this.
It is those in support of this land trade that are afraid and feeling threatened, so they don't stand up and voice their opinions because they fear those that use intimidation against them.
It is a shame that we can't all be on the same page and work together in order to work through this in a civil manner.
If we do that we can do this together and it will be done on our terms, we can have the terms and conditions set the way we as shareholders want it to be done.
All that this division is doing is keeping all shareholders from moving in the direction we could be going in order to enjoy the benefits we should have.
Doyon has expressed their desire to develop this area south of Birch Creek with or without us, it does matter that we all work together and set aside our differences to make sure this thing is done right according to how we want it done.
I as a shareholder support this land trade, so lets work together and see that it is done the way we want it done.
There is no way this THING can be done RIGHT. One oil spill and that's it. There is no way to take that back. Who cares about the money? Most people of the Yukon Flats don't, we are already rich with out pristine land that meets our subsistence and cultrual needs. Obviously nobody on the Doyon Board lives a subsistence or cultural lifestyle, otherwise they would know why the people of the Yukon Flats are so strongly against the land trade. We NEED to think about our future generations, not a higher dividend in our pockets today. We want our land to remain the way it is today for our grandchildren and beyond. This land trade would affect EVERYONE that lives below Fort Yukon/Birch Creek if there is a spill...... it may happen in our area but the river flows down. I pray every night that our leadership will come to their senses and do the right thing for their shareholders that would be affected by this land trade. I wonder if any of them will even still be around if this ever goes though? They should focus on alternative energy that would not have such a high possiblity of damaging our land/environment.
frdmospeech: your obiviously a tab bit uneducated because i can see a typo on your comment. i don't usually slander people, like this one individual indirectly slandered me at the doyon meeting because i was arguing with him when he said aloud, "oil spills don't exist." then i asked him, "the Exxon oil spoil doesn't exist? the recent oil spill up north doesn't exist?" the Shell oil company was reported that they said there was no oil spills but turned out there are thousands and thousands of UNREPORTED oil spills. then my auntie stopped me and said, "don't waste your time, talk to the board."
then when that individual got up to speak, he slandered me and said a stupid thing like "someone mentioned Exxon, i know we're not going to bring oil tankers up here." i was the bigger person and let it go...until just now.
In my Q & A speech, i did not slander him back nor did i even mention that i am against the land trade and oil developmet. i simply asked, "why do you (doyon) only give your 10,000 shareholders two minutes, one day a year to discuss issues? why not make it a week or something to work everything out?" then my next question was about the meaning of the word "respect" and what it means to them, i didn't even take up my two WHOLE minutes asking those questions and i barely gotten an answer because no one wanted to look bad giving a bad answer. then i asked another question when no one was responding, "why haven't i heard of those meetings before hand you speak of?" then one of them said, "we sent out newsletters."
newsletters? first of all, wasting paper and not recycling anything.
second, no one likes to sit and read b.s. all the time.
third, the reason i mentioned recycling is because, although it was a good meal, they put ALL the trash in same bag. i asked one of the employees who had a trash bag and asked him, "i see that you are putting all the trash in the same bag, does that mean you guys don't recycle anything?" he said no and wished that they would. so obiviously, doyon isn't even listening to their own employees.
one more thing, i am perfectly aware that i am using all lower case letters but at least i am consistant.
Wow where all retarded. Do you think that the oil exploration means more money..... well it doesn't the 5 year what ever formula means just that a formula to make us poor when at minimum wage at 40 hrs in a week make more then us. But where more then happy to watch them gamble our money in the stock market. Read the newsletter see how much they have in stock small, middcape funds. WOW i finally know where my distribution went! Then you know also....
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