Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)

around the world women from indigenous communities are often most at risk of being displaced attacked harmed and killed in North America today this pattern is no different right now in Canada violence against native First Nations women has become a national crisis across the country they've gone missing and been murdered by the thousands to avoid this fate many have fled the widespread violence on the reserves but what we're finding is that for indigenous women no place is safe this is the Tachi Reserve it's one of several tasan Nation communities situated in north central British Columbia about 10 hours north of Vancouver we are here at a scene that's all too common in this part of the country a search party for a missing first nation's woman search all over this area right there all the way down inside of the road we come back down and down this send somebody down there yeah they never come up with nothing Immaculate Mackie basil was 26 when she went missing in 2013 these guys behind me have been searching for Mackie for the last 2 years since she went missing right now in Canada there's a lot of women that are going missing and especially indigenous women mhm and it's like they say it's four times higher than the national average not that any woman should go missing but it seems to be there is some sort of epidemic going on right now in Canada Canadian law enforcement estimates that 1200 native women throughout Canada have disappeared or been murdered since 1980 but some independent reports place that number closer to 4,000 so are you looking for an article of clothing shallow grave anything out of the usual Macky was last seen heading home after a night of drinking with two male friends apparently everybody just assumed that one way or another she had made it back to the village and she either went to town or to Prince George the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP conducted an extensive search but after Just 4 days they called it off if they can't find any evidence of missing person then they have to call off their assistance and then it's left up to the Community after that to organize themselves what do you think could have happened everybody's got a version to try to unravel the puzzle to find it where Mack is and we just can't do it macky's family knows that the odds of closure are low but they keep searching it's all they can do meanwhile first nation's women continue to disappear their cases often going unnoticed outside the community but in August 2014 14 police made an especially Grizzly Discovery the body of a missing First Nations girl wrapped in a plastic bag floating in Canada's Red River the tragic death of 15-year-old first nation's girl Tina Fontaine has renewed calls for a public probe International organizations including the United Nations have called for a national public inquiry despite the outcry the Canadian government at that time led by conservative Prime Minister Steven Harper never laed an inquiry this phenomenon is affecting thousands of First Nations families I wanted to hear from the women on the Tachi Reserve who live with this reality every day about why they think it's happening I'm just curious to know how many of you have people you know who have gone missing or been murdered yep oh yeah my sister was murdered by her her boyfriend she experienced like physical violence before she was murdered but nobody really knew that she was a victim until until the night she got murdered how many of you have been victims of sexual violence all of you all us and would you say by members of your own Community or by yeah I just want to know why why you think um native women indigenous women are are targeted because of residential school there was a lot of physical abuse there was a lot of um violence I mean we are all like products of residential school residential school were government sponsored church-run boarding schools for indigenous children kids were taken away from their parents and forcibly assimilated into white culture sexual and physical abuse were widespread the last residential school didn't close until 1996 by that time 150,000 first nation's children had gone through the system when the residential school the first wave that were coming back the young men were already physically abused sexually abused and they were angry the family structure was obliterated longtime native health and wellness Advocate Mary TG explains how the violence inflicted on children in residential schools made its way back to the reserve if you're living in a home where there is violence you're most you're more likely to be violent as well so then you have all of those multigenerational effects and because of all the abuses there is a higher rate of violence against women within our communities thousands of First Nations women have been murdered and gone missing across Canada they are also the victims of violence in their homes and communities as a result native women don't feel safe or happy and that leads to some dangerous choices if you're unhappy at home if your life is not good at home that's what I did I hitch shacked got on the road and I left and I ran away and with all the abuse and the violence that happens within the home you don't you don't feel like you're connected or you have family to turn to so you just do things on your own because you really do feel isolated anywhere is better than home you just want to get out you know you take all kinds of risks and you go the threat of violence often drives native women off the reserve and onto the road but in such a remote region with no Transportation they're forced to hitchhike this highway is called the highway of tear is Highway 16 named that way for the number of of girls who have gone missing when I think of hitchhiking I freak out literally every single person I spoke to today had hitchhiked knowing that they're vulnerable knowing that they're compromised knowing that they may be targeted but there's no other way despite these risks many first nation's women will try to flee the cycle of abuse often making the almost 600m journey to Vancouver for a fresh start some of our young girls are leaving their communities to get a better life but also to become safe they're escaping the pain from being abused be sexually or physically abused and that's sort of what they're leaving and so they end up in in the downtown east side this is Vancouver's Infamous downtown Eastside neighborhood it's sometimes times referred to as the largest reserve in Canada because of its massive First Nations population the area is notorious for homelessness drugs and prostitution as many as 70% of the sex workers here are indigenous when they are working in the streets leading that highrisk Life Cell they are escaping from something and usually they're self-medicated to get drugs and how do they get that is by sex trade works or survival sex trade we passed a lot of nation's women I can see why they call it the largest reserve I mean it really is shocking how many people are just living out here on the sidewalk just homeless and tweaked out and bags of drugs and people shooting needles and sharing needles and smoking pipes it's uh it's Bleak Bernie Williams the founder of Sacred Circle A Community Center for atrisk Women spends every night walking the streets looking for women in need of her help I work at 11:30 at night then I don't get off till 7:30 in the morning so when I see these women going out you know making the choices sometimes that they're not their choices some of them that are pushed into it some of them are forced some of them are sold you know like with human trafficking that we hear very little about but it's very real down here I tried to help them you know with services that they need I've learned to be like a great listener and that's a huge thing for them even like that touch just to say hey how are you doing how did you end up in Vancouver doing the work that you do my mother was murdered um November 5th 1977 in the downtown east side two of my sisters were also murdered you know I could have easily been one of the victims and the murderers of your mother and and your sisters were they caught no why do all of these cases go on they just go unsolved they don't matter they don't matter at all they're just another Indian they always say you the only good Indian is a dead Indian and that's still exists this young woman here she was a tree planter this woman that was one of my clients her name um is Angelina still missing even if they can ES abuse on the reserve First Nations women are finding themselves even more vulnerable in Canada's [Music] cities the epidemic of missing and murdered first Nations women isn't confined to Canada's reserves here on the downtown east side of Vancouver indigenous women are in constant danger how many women have gone missing from the downtown east side well the ones that are account 469 we believe that there is well over at least over 200 maybe more you know we spoke to many women when you sit with them like in the alleys or when they share their St wom who are prostituting yes and when you hear them share their stories it's all the same over and over hi we met two women living on the sidewalk in front of Sacred Circle named Crystal and Chanel I just came to stay with my friend to Crystal this is our little home can I take a beac in do you m go for it like a little bed well get all cuddled up in there and it's nice and warm it drops pretty cold though body beats the best okay and you guys feel like you really don't have anywhere to go except for Bernie she's wonderful and you're First Nations I read that 70% of the women who are out working on the streets are indigenous do you see a fair amount of First Nation women oh yeah yeah um I see more First Nations women uh working down here on downtown east side than than white Caucasian girls but I do see a lot of the violence with the native women out here a lot like many homeless women on the downtown east side Crystal and Chanel are addicted to drugs so when was the last time you used uh 10 10 minutes ago and what what kind of drugs are you using now um I I use heroin now and sometimes Crystal ma are you working right now I'm esorting I don't work myself I just I go and I spot for her while I was there Chanel actually had to leave to meet a client how do you feel when she's out there working it's scary I I'm scared for her because there could be a time where she doesn't come back and I don't want that and I have a friend that's missing right now actually and I don't want that to happen to this friend but I'm scared for her when she goes the women out here that you've met they're all aware of these murdered and missing girls is this something that everyone knows yeah they all know they all you know they're very aware that they could be them to a lot of women end up prostituting because because that is your only option sometimes there's nowhere else to go nobody to turn to nobody to help you so what do you do you got to go sell yourself to the devil I guess they call it you know like just survive these high-risk Lifestyles make First Nations women easy targets some guys like in a brag around downtown here you know how easy it is like to kill like a first nation's woman and they have no conscience over it because we are filth to them we are dirty to them we are less than nobody would even miss us like if we were gone because like we just basically don't really exist down here I wanted to understand where such extreme racism comes from so this street here used to be a quick Escape rou I was able to meet up with Daniel Galant a reformed white supremist who spent years on the downtown east side praying on first nation's people this area is a lot of first nation's people I've shot I've stabbed I've uh beat people with baseball bats shovels Chans propane bottles um Vehicles like I I can go on and on did you ever kill anyone not that I'm aware of I don't know why why were you targeting first nation's people it was really easy to to believe that they were a a plague on society that they were leeching off of the white Canadian that they were lazy they didn't they didn't want to work and they they were just useless people filled with social sickness and they had to be gone did you get away with a lot I got away with most of the stuff I did I can't say exactly but I think I had 12 or 13 charges in total and I had about six or seven convictions and I never never did actual jail time do you think that's because your wife the the very fact that I can talk about this stuff publicly if I was First Nations I wouldn't have the privilege of saying what I say I think our society in general doesn't value indigenous people that that's why we see what we're seeing the amount of murdered and missing women is a structural issue and I think is ingrained in our values as a as a society according to Daniel ingrained racism against natives has opened the door to the deadly violence here on the downtown east side it's also the one thing keeping these women from finding Justice if there were say 1,600 missing white women wouldn't we have already had an inquiry by now it's an issue that all Canadian citizens should be aware Ware of you can't live in a society where where we talk about we're in First World in Canada but yet our first nation's people are living in second third world country I think every Canadian should be upset I think every Canadian should be saying I can't believe this is happening in the first world country [Music] Canada Canada's first nation's women are under assault everywhere they turn but many believe the road to change starts within the community itself you wanted honey right Joe and Joyce Bella have lived together for 48 years way and for many of those years Joyce suffered severe emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her husband yeah today Joe and Joyce run Warriors against violence a group that works with First Nations men and women to end domestic violence I was uh spiraling out of control real fast I tried to kill my wife TW in our 24th year of marriage what we've all learned as men that the men are the kings of the castles I heard my dad tell my mom and I told my wife if you ever leave me I'm going to hunt you down and I'm going to kill you she says either I change my ways or this relationship's over that scared the hell out of me where'd she find the courage to talk to me like that um as a victim myself I know that um one of the best things I did for me was to get the help and um you know empowering myself it still didn't stop him from being abusive but he kind of held back on the physical part of it but the other damage that was done is there it's probably will be there for some time and I think you all come to that point in life when you say I've had enough I uh had a girlfriend that I used to to hit back in the day um I will never ever behave in that way again I don't want man ever treated my daughters the way that I may have treated women CU maybe that violent sign comes up on me again I don't want any mad treating my mother with disrespect right I was raised better than that right be good to each other be good to yourselves we're all fragile people thank you for coming coming and spending time with us All My Relations Community efforts like these are the first step towards changing the culture of violence but change also has to happen at the highest levels in June of 2015 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released a report calling the government's forced assimilation of indigenous children into residential schools a cultural genocide later that year Canadians elected liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau one of his top priorities was addressing the issue of missing and murdered first Nations women by launching a national inquiry the constitutionally guaranteed rights of first nations in Canada are not an inconvenience but a sacred [Applause] obligation we know that we have issues of poverty we know we have issues of violence against women but it will be our Solutions coming from our cultural perspective that is going to propel us forward to get over this these horrible atrocities but we also need to look at the role of the government it's got to be a collaborative effort and then only then can we have true reconciliation the recent steps taken by the Trudeau government signal a major shift in the fight for justice for First Nations women but the problem may be greater than any one law or politician can solve we need to address the violence at its source until systemic racism is recognized until there is a national effort around this cause the indigenous women of Canada will never be [Music] safe hey hey hey hey hey [Music] hey

family and friends along with search and rescue teams have been looking for selena not afraid in about a three to five mile radius selena not afraid was last seen around two o'clock on wednesday at the eastbound i-90 rest area between billings and hardin searchers have been looking for not afraid since new year's day when she was last created check radio check selena not afraid disappeared from a rest stop on new year's day in montana's bighorn county it's getting really cold i want her home nine days later and community-led search teams were still looking for the first clue that might lead them to her so we know our mission for today we're looking for any sign of selena anything out of the ordinary you know the drill you guys been doing it so this is beartooth bear tooth yeah how are you buddy we'll find our girl okay selena not afraid's case is an example of what native women face they are almost three times more likely to experience sexual violence compared to white women and homicide is the fourth leading cause of death for those under 20 and the problems often continue even after death according to a 2019 report approximately half of all cases involving murdered indigenous women in montana have been misclassified for causes like suicide overdose or exposure been on bugsy teddy and his wife and their baby little light mikey plain bull garrett our our current active search right now hub williamson bonnie three yarns 2017 we recovered her the next one was henny scott last year we recovered her cassera stops at pretty places she was found i believe by a deputy in town in somebody's yard and now our recent active search is selena in all the previous cases that i've been involved with where the situation is like this here it's it's it's always been a recovery it's never been a happy ending where is selena where is she where's my grandbaby native americans make up 6.7 percent of montana's population but account for 26 of missing person reports and while local officials claim that causes for these deaths and disappearances are varied from drug trafficking to domestic violence the one thing they all have in common is that they take place in a jurisdictional minefield depending on where someone is reported missing or where a victim is found it could fall to either state federal or tribal authorities to investigate and with that many intersecting agencies there are plenty of cracks for these cases to fall through an indian reservation for all intensive purposes is a sovereign nation it is subject to completely different laws governing bodies they're like a country within a country so a big horn county deputy can show up on a tribal member's doorstep on the reservation and that tribal member can say you have no right to be here you have no jurisdiction here it can be very difficult responsibility might fall with the county sheriff's department officers from the federal bureau of indian affairs or the tribal police sometimes the fbi also steps in there are both too many agencies jockeying for authority and not enough resources to go around in late 2019 the crow tribe declared a state of emergency tribal chairman aj nada freyd cited a list of issues including the bia's lack of officers and failure to address the murdered and missing women crisis the crow reservation is roughly the size of connecticut but for years has only had five bia officers recently the tribe assembled its own sovereign police force independent from the bia we're between two communities right now we currently have no radio service we have no cell phone service we have no ways unless we had a sat phone we wouldn't have any way to communicate with anybody and that contributes it's it's very wide open it's very desolate out here the i-90 corridor anybody that's going to denver going to south dakota um trying to get to the west coast it all travels right through here for the most part so we get a lot of drug trafficking out on the interstate and you know with the crime the drugs the domestic violence it's all a perfect breeding ground for people to go missing [Music] so we're gonna go ahead and ask everybody if you could come a little bit close we want to acknowledge all of the families who are here in downtown hardin a rally for the movement shows that selena not afraid's disappearance is painfully familiar families gather to push for answers on their loved ones suspicious deaths why is it that we are more likely to be raped and murdered than go to college why is it that our young girls are just trying to survive and so there are alarm bells that are ringing what is going on the sheer number of indigenous women that have been missing or murdered suggests an epidemic but there isn't a comprehensive data set to confirm them desi rodriguez lone bear a sociologist who researches data in the indigenous communities is working to quantify the sweep of the problem all right okay sarah stops pretty places tribes need to be building their own data sets our data systems have been erased and destroyed over centuries of colonization we have so many cases where our women are being misclassified racially as white as black as asian as latina and not actually american indian and certainly not as citizens of different nations i know every single one of you here have not had justice for your loved one when i reported her missing nobody helped me the only response was maybe she's drinking somewhere what is that say to our people they said henny was just one of those crazy little girls that would take off so what we would never accept this if for example these young girls were non-indian but yet here in southeastern montana we've accepted that negligence is okay what is happening with all of these systems that are supposed to be in place to keep people safe rodriguez lone bear knows this issue first hand her own niece disappeared in august of 2019. casera was last seen alive here in hardin she was at a house party with some friends cousins it was the summer she turned 18. somebody knows something family friends and members of the missing and murdered indigenous women's group held the justice march for quesara stops pretty places whose body was found in hardin on august 29th after five days a body was found she was basically a jane doe here in the bighorn county morgue for days finally the medical examiner in billings did a a dental match was able to determine that it was her and so now here we are six months later her cause of death has now been declared officially as undetermined there are no leads when it comes to inconsistent investigations and lack of information rodriguez lone bear isn't alone many families have been waiting to get answers for years my daughter ellison high wolf today would be her fifth year of passing away high wolf was found dead in a motel room in hardin there are no leads in her case either the bia officer had told us that that we couldn't go see her that she was already in a morgue he didn't give me very much information just the fact that there was a motel fire in and she was there and she was there by herself they determined it smoke inhalation and undetermined i feel my heart deeply in my heart that she was murdered that my daughter was murdered it's not recognized by the sheriff's department in hardin montana we ask questions and they've never been answered tonight the search for selena not afraid has come to a sad end her body discovered less than a mile away from where she disappeared why was she not found sooner well authorities in the area say that this place is big country and things can go unnoticed somehow this young woman who are otherwise healthy turns up dead in a sage brush on her own accord maybe there's nobody that we can get for murder but there is something that led to this young woman to her dying and being her body being found on the side of the road in a sagebrush if the tribe is able to take back over its law enforcement increase its numbers and do a better job of taking care of its of of its own you know of the reservation um i believe that it'll have a an immediate impact on making things better there's also been national recognition of the problem in october president trump signed two bills into law the not invisible act and savannas act named for savannah lafontaine greywind a 22 year old spirit lake nationwoman who was found murdered in 2017. the laws direct the department of justice to create more coordinated law enforcement and data collection in response to missing indigenous persons we want to respect tribal sovereignty and the tribe's ability to maintain their authority and their public safety structure the way they'd like to maintain it but it also adds complication and so what we need to do and what's being done at the national level will be to try to figure out ways that even though we have different jurisdictions involved to be sure they work together more fluidly and more seamlessly so that responses can come quicker and can hopefully be more effective we are so used to our people's deaths being classified as exposure suicide accidents you know and not actually being investigated as suspicious there's something happening here we are sovereign nations that exist within another sovereign nation so there's complexities there in terms of whose sovereignty reigns but ultimately we have self-determination bighorn county is the focal point of the mmiw work that we are doing right now in montana because we have lost so many women recently we're losing women too frequently here in this small part of of montana i'm a social demographer so i'm trained in both sociology and demography and what i do is i try to think through ways to partner with native communities and tribal nations to build and reclaim our data systems because we have to do what we can do for each other we're all in the missing and murder indigenous women database we have you know all sorts of different entries you know that we're collecting variables that we're collecting on these cases one of the biggest flags that we found is that bighorn county has one of the highest numbers across the country of any county there's a puzzle here there are questions that need answered and if anything i'm a researcher and this is in my own backyard we live in the data age right now everything about us is being collected whether we like it or not personally i think as a critical data scholar i think that's very wrong i think it's also very wrong that our native nations are so removed from that nexus of kind of data power there's so much being collected on us but not by us and for us and we need the data the numbers are what drive policy the numbers are what drive investment if we're not being counted or if we're being misclassified or if the data aren't in our control or we don't have access to it then we have these various layers of you know continued kind of barriers to self-determination that self-determination extends to data it has to it has to extend to data and so now tribes are facing you know this kind of new frontier how do they build sovereign data systems how do they leverage you know partnerships and link linkages with all these existing data sets that are out there and how do they build these data systems to drive their own policies to keep their people safe to ensure that their children have a better future and so that to me is this exciting new data frontier for american indians and alaska natives and for our tribal nations you family and friends along with search and rescue teams have been looking for selena not afraid in about a three to five mile radius selena not afraid was last seen around two o'clock on wednesday at the eastbound i-90 rest area between billings and hardin searchers have been looking for not afraid since new year's day when she was last created check radio check selena not afraid disappeared from a rest stop on new year's day in montana's bighorn county it's getting really cold i want her home nine days later and community-led search teams were still looking for the first clue that might lead them to her so we know our mission for today we're looking for any sign of selena anything out of the ordinary you know the drill you guys been doing it so this is beartooth bear tooth yeah how are you buddy we'll find our girl okay selena not afraid's case is an example of what native women face they are almost three times more likely to experience sexual violence compared to white women and homicide is the fourth leading cause of death for those under 20 and the problems often continue even after death according to a 2019 report approximately half of all cases involving murdered indigenous women in montana have been misclassified for causes like suicide overdose or exposure been on bugsy teddy and his wife and their baby little light mikey plain bull garrett our our current active search right now hub williamson bonnie three yarns 2017 we recovered her the next one was henny scott last year we recovered her cassera stops at pretty places she was found i believe by a deputy in town in somebody's yard and now our recent active search is selena in all the previous cases that i've been involved with where the situation is like this here it's it's it's always been a recovery it's never been a happy ending where is selena where is she where's my grandbaby native americans make up 6.7 percent of montana's population but account for 26 of missing person reports and while local officials claim that causes for these deaths and disappearances are varied from drug trafficking to domestic violence the one thing they all have in common is that they take place in a jurisdictional minefield depending on where someone is reported missing or where a victim is found it could fall to either state federal or tribal authorities to investigate and with that many intersecting agencies there are plenty of cracks for these cases to fall through an indian reservation for all intensive purposes is a sovereign nation it is subject to completely different laws governing bodies they're like a country within a country so a big horn county deputy can show up on a tribal member's doorstep on the reservation and that tribal member can say you have no right to be here you have no jurisdiction here it can be very difficult responsibility might fall with the county sheriff's department officers from the federal bureau of indian affairs or the tribal police sometimes the fbi also steps in there are both too many agencies jockeying for authority and not enough resources to go around in late 2019 the crow tribe declared a state of emergency tribal chairman aj nada freyd cited a list of issues including the bia's lack of officers and failure to address the murdered and missing women crisis the crow reservation is roughly the size of connecticut but for years has only had five bia officers recently the tribe assembled its own sovereign police force independent from the bia we're between two communities right now we currently have no radio service we have no cell phone service we have no ways unless we had a sat phone we wouldn't have any way to communicate with anybody and that contributes it's it's very wide open it's very desolate out here the i-90 corridor anybody that's going to denver going to south dakota um trying to get to the west coast it all travels right through here for the most part so we get a lot of drug trafficking out on the interstate and you know with the crime the drugs the domestic violence it's all a perfect breeding ground for people to go missing [Music] so we're gonna go ahead and ask everybody if you could come a little bit close we want to acknowledge all of the families who are here in downtown hardin a rally for the movement shows that selena not afraid's disappearance is painfully familiar families gather to push for answers on their loved ones suspicious deaths why is it that we are more likely to be raped and murdered than go to college why is it that our young girls are just trying to survive and so there are alarm bells that are ringing what is going on the sheer number of indigenous women that have been missing or murdered suggests an epidemic but there isn't a comprehensive data set to confirm them desi rodriguez lone bear a sociologist who researches data in the indigenous communities is working to quantify the sweep of the problem all right okay sarah stops pretty places tribes need to be building their own data sets our data systems have been erased and destroyed over centuries of colonization we have so many cases where our women are being misclassified racially as white as black as asian as latina and not actually american indian and certainly not as citizens of different nations i know every single one of you here have not had justice for your loved one when i reported her missing nobody helped me the only response was maybe she's drinking somewhere what is that say to our people they said henny was just one of those crazy little girls that would take off so what we would never accept this if for example these young girls were non-indian but yet here in southeastern montana we've accepted that negligence is okay what is happening with all of these systems that are supposed to be in place to keep people safe rodriguez lone bear knows this issue first hand her own niece disappeared in august of 2019. casera was last seen alive here in hardin she was at a house party with some friends cousins it was the summer she turned 18. somebody knows something family friends and members of the missing and murdered indigenous women's group held the justice march for quesara stops pretty places whose body was found in hardin on august 29th after five days a body was found she was basically a jane doe here in the bighorn county morgue for days finally the medical examiner in billings did a a dental match was able to determine that it was her and so now here we are six months later her cause of death has now been declared officially as undetermined there are no leads when it comes to inconsistent investigations and lack of information rodriguez lone bear isn't alone many families have been waiting to get answers for years my daughter ellison high wolf today would be her fifth year of passing away high wolf was found dead in a motel room in hardin there are no leads in her case either the bia officer had told us that that we couldn't go see her that she was already in a morgue he didn't give me very much information just the fact that there was a motel fire in and she was there and she was there by herself they determined it smoke inhalation and undetermined i feel my heart deeply in my heart that she was murdered that my daughter was murdered it's not recognized by the sheriff's department in hardin montana we ask questions and they've never been answered tonight the search for selena not afraid has come to a sad end her body discovered less than a mile away from where she disappeared why was she not found sooner well authorities in the area say that this place is big country and things can go unnoticed somehow this young woman who are otherwise healthy turns up dead in a sage brush on her own accord maybe there's nobody that we can get for murder but there is something that led to this young woman to her dying and being her body being found on the side of the road in a sagebrush if the tribe is able to take back over its law enforcement increase its numbers and do a better job of taking care of its of of its own you know of the reservation um i believe that it'll have a an immediate impact on making things better there's also been national recognition of the problem in october president trump signed two bills into law the not invisible act and savannas act named for savannah lafontaine greywind a 22 year old spirit lake nationwoman who was found murdered in 2017. the laws direct the department of justice to create more coordinated law enforcement and data collection in response to missing indigenous persons we want to respect tribal sovereignty and the tribe's ability to maintain their authority and their public safety structure the way they'd like to maintain it but it also adds complication and so what we need to do and what's being done at the national level will be to try to figure out ways that even though we have different jurisdictions involved to be sure they work together more fluidly and more seamlessly so that responses can come quicker and can hopefully be more effective we are so used to our people's deaths being classified as exposure suicide accidents you know and not actually being investigated as suspicious there's something happening here we are sovereign nations that exist within another sovereign nation so there's complexities there in terms of whose sovereignty reigns but ultimately we have self-determination bighorn county is the focal point of the mmiw work that we are doing right now in montana because we have lost so many women recently we're losing women too frequently here in this small part of of montana i'm a social demographer so i'm trained in both sociology and demography and what i do is i try to think through ways to partner with native communities and tribal nations to build and reclaim our data systems because we have to do what we can do for each other we're all in the missing and murder indigenous women database we have you know all sorts of different entries you know that we're collecting variables that we're collecting on these cases one of the biggest flags that we found is that bighorn county has one of the highest numbers across the country of any county there's a puzzle here there are questions that need answered and if anything i'm a researcher and this is in my own backyard we live in the data age right now everything about us is being collected whether we like it or not personally i think as a critical data scholar i think that's very wrong i think it's also very wrong that our native nations are so removed from that nexus of kind of data power there's so much being collected on us but not by us and for us and we need the data the numbers are what drive policy the numbers are what drive investment if we're not being counted or if we're being misclassified or if the data aren't in our control or we don't have access to it then we have these various layers of you know continued kind of barriers to self-determination that self-determination extends to data it has to it has to extend to data and so now tribes are facing you know this kind of new frontier how do they build sovereign data systems how do they leverage you know partnerships and link linkages with all these existing data sets that are out there and how do they build these data systems to drive their own policies to keep their people safe to ensure that their children have a better future and so that to me is this exciting new data frontier for american indians and alaska natives and for our tribal nations you

[Applause] in May 2019 I qualified for Washington state championships in track and field and dedicated my four races to the missing and murdered indigenous women epidemic to me highlighting this issue was not a political stance or a personal demonstration but rather a means of survival we asked Escape Rosalie fished seat stuff Buckle suit option hello my name is Rosalie fish and I just introduced myself in my traditional full shoot seed language I am from the college and Muckleshoot tribes I am honored to be able to speak with you all today what brings me here unfortunately is an epidemic indigenous women and girls Across the Nation are intensely vulnerable to violence so much so that murder is the third leading cause of death in native women in Native communities we all have someone an aunt mother sister or daughter we all have a relative affected by this and I wear red today in remembrance of our Stolen Sisters native girls are critically affected by lack of visibility by the dominant culture and lack of action to protect them if you are American Indian or Alaskan native which I will refer to as native or indigenous or if you come from a community Like Mine The Following will not be new information for the rest please look around you and find five women consider them a represented sample of these native communities and then think of them as your very own immediate or extended wonderfully imperfect family I see your families as wise beautiful diverse broken and brave now consider this according to the National Congress of American Indians as native women they will experience higher rates of violence experience violence more commonly at the hands of non-native perpetrators and as victims of violence be less likely to receive needed services specifically the data tells us what no one wants to hear of the five four will have experienced violence within their lifetimes and they are 1.7 times more likely than a white woman to have experienced violence in the past year more than half will have experienced sexual violence within their lifetimes and they will face murder rates more than 10 times the national average in some counties the urban Indian Health Institute based in Seattle brings our stories to the light of day their 2018 report missing and murdered indigenous women and girls describes how missing and murdered indigenous women disappeared through the cracks not once but three times in life in media and in data of their 506 unique cases identified across 71 Urban cities in the United States more than half of the cases were murder cases 135 cases include victims age 18 or under 42 cases were related to domestic violence and 29 is the median age of victims but the youngest victim being an infant less than one year old and the oldest victim being an elder of 83. I grew up watching community members disappear it was only a few years ago when I discovered that this is happening across the country the absence of Native American representation in Congress contributes to the Erasure of indigenous women some legal practices are in place the special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction allows for the prosecution of non-native offenders by tribal associations if the crime included domestic violence Dating Violence or criminal violation of protection orders this may bring relief to some but the law does not cover sexual assault stalking or sex trafficking this means that Native American women who live in urban areas and experience sexual assault are not protected by these amendments a suspect cannot be convicted unless the victim is native the offense occurred on tribal lands and if the tribe can provide a defendant and diverse jury for the trial 71 percent of native people live in urban settings who is protecting them in January 2019 Deb Holland from New Mexico was elected as one of the first Native American women to serve in Congress her work as a co-sponsor on the violence against women reauthorization act of 2019 means that indigenous women will not be left unprotected forgotten or invisible you have heard about the multitude of women who make up this epidemic the long lasting effect though is felt by native children when mothers grandmothers and female caretakers vanish children are left without the adults they need in their lives this issue compounds in communities with high rates of single mother households like the Pascua Yuki reservation in Arizona where 43 percent of households account for single mothers at the intersection of lgbtq low-income or children with disabilities and you can quickly see how the disadvantages are stacked against them this issue is impacting families who already have difficult lives in the words of Ladonna braithful Allard we are people of trauma to acknowledge a native child is to empower them to acknowledge native youth is to stop erasing them my story illustrates how Native children can fall through the cracks I first experienced racism in elementary school when I was teased wearing my moccasins the older I got the more I was mocked for representing my culture and my Heritage I then only embraced my cultural practices on the reservation and I tried to blend in when I was at school I entered 9th grade as most 14 year olds do I was insecure passive and looking for Direction I was uncomfortable with my sexual orientation in my place in Social settings I was sexually harassed by upperclassmen who evidently faced no consequences for photographing cat calling pinching and grabbing young girls like me without help I found it increasingly difficult to find any joy in my life I began to misuse antidepressants and fall behind in school at 14 years old I decided that my life was no longer worth living I attempted to take my own life on February 9 2016. in the 1964 Olympics Native American Billy Mills shocked the world and came from behind and to win the gold medal in the 10k race since then he has dedicated his life to serving American Indian communities he once said your life is a gift from the Creator your gift back to the Creator is what you do with your life it was not always easy to view my life as a gift sometimes it felt impossible I was fortunate enough to survive my attempt and I spent my 15th birthday celebrating my partial recovery with family I then enrolled at Muckleshoot tribal school at tribal school running became part of my recovery running empowered me and made me feel valuable when I ran at Muckleshoot I ran to represent my community when I arrived at track meets in a tribal school uniform I was perceived by rivaling schools as a joke despite my qualifying times I'll be excluded from larger Invitational meets due to my school size I had been asked if I even owned a uniform during a home sporting event a rival school had put graffiti in our bathroom offensive slurs such as Indian Savage were plastered on the Stalls it became apparent to me that I can't protect Muckleshoot tribal school youth from the racism and Prejudice of others I can however prove these biases wrong through example the best way I could do so was through running training on my own could be isolating and discouraging but I wasn't working for just myself the more work I put into practice the better I performed at meets and therefore the better I could represent my community and challenge the Prejudice I faced from bigger schools through running I could demand acknowledgment it empowered me and saved my life even when I began to slip through the cracks my running would find me and bring me back because of running I now attend college at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge Iowa I did not always know how to use my voice and running gave me a powerful non-verbal platform Jordan Marie Daniel from the Lakota tribe ran in the 2019 Boston Marathon with a red handprint as a way to use her running platform to raise awareness for the missing and murdered indigenous women epidemic when I saw the photo of Jordan in her uniform I felt powerful I felt like I wasn't alone anymore I found her contact information and I asked her permission to follow in her footsteps and to raise awareness from my stolen relatives at my state track meet she was beyond enthusiastic and supported me like a mentor she's since then guided me at the time I was running track and field at Muckleshoot tribal High School I qualified for state championships and I dedicated each of my races to a missing or murdered indigenous woman in my community I asked permission from the families and then created a photo with a poster board and their stories and put it by the race results so that Spectators would need to see that my relatives are real that this epidemic is real and it's happening across the country I painted a red handprint over my mouth as a way to represent the indigenous women that have been silenced through violence along with the letters mmiw down my right leg after I received each medal I brought it to the poster display where I gifted it to one of the women I was representing I won the 1600 for my Aunt Alice Looney who went missing in 2004 from Wapato and was found deceased 15 months later the police had no answers for my family I won the 800 from Jack for Jackie Salyers from the Puyallup tribe who was pregnant at the time of her death Tacoma police shot her as they were attempting to arrest her boyfriend she was a mother of four the officer was never held accountable after being cleared by a review board of his own peers I won the 3200 for Renee Davis a member of my Muckleshoot community Renee and her unborn son masi Molina were shot and killed by Auburn Police during a welfare check with her other two children present I dedicated my sportsmanship medal to Massey I placed second in the 400 for Misty Upham a member of the blackfeet nation and a successful actress who was invited to the Golden Globes for her performance in Frozen River Misty was found deceased in a bottom of a ravine by my reservation after Auburn Police did not look for her and then mislabeled her death as a suicide acknowledgment is power native youth Across the Nation have the ability to use individualized platforms share their messages and their stories indigenous women and girls Across the Nation are intensely vulnerable their self-image is distorted and in the worst cases they are no longer here they are our sisters our mothers our daughters and our aunts as I improved after my suicide attempt I found a greater and new appreciation for life running for missing and murdered indigenous women made me feel like I was finally doing something bigger than myself some of us are more visible than others indigenous women need the larger communities to hold the legislator accountable to combat this epidemic allies can use their power and visibility to advocate for change each of us have a platform mine is running and through platforms such as Athletics art and music we have the ability to speak for those who have been silenced and I am ready to hear from you thank you [Applause]

Transcriber: Tammy Lynn Pertillar Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard I am from the Swinomish and Tulalip tribe. I am here today to carry the message from the silenced. To show you some of Native America's beauty. And to encourage our collective consciousness to reimagine the way we see each other. Can we re-learn to see as human beings? Does the photographic image impact our lives and the lives of those around us? If it does, can we use that image to encourage and inspire one another? Do something for me: try to remember the last time that you saw a Native American in massive media. Is this what you saw? If it is, I wouldn't be surprised, because between 1990 and 2000 there were 5,868 blockbuster-released films. Twelve included of American Indians. All of them showed Indians as spiritual or in-tune with nature Ten of them as impoverished and/or beaten down by society, ten as continually in conflict with Whites. However, the image of the professional photographer, the musician, the teacher, the doctor, were largely absent. What's interesting is how this image manifests itself into our psyche. You see, when this image is shown to a young Native person, they report feeling lower self-esteem and depressed about what they are able to become or would like to become. Shockingly, when shown to the white counterpart, their self-esteem is raised. If society only sees us as these images, it means that our modern issues don't exist. Nor do our efforts like schooling and economic development through sovereignty and Nation building. How can we be seen as modern, successful people if we are continually represented as the leathered-and-feathered vanishing race? For the last ten years, my work has been about counteracting these images, to create positive indigenous role models from this century. My most recent endeavor, Project 562, is dedicated to photographing every indigenous nation in the United States. So far, I've driven 50,000 miles, shot 106 tribes, and shot thousands of rolls of film. And each tribe that I go to, I interview folks, I ask them questions about identity and stereotypes. What does it mean to be a real Indian? How do we deal with blood quantum? Tell me about some of the issues within your community. But most importantly, can you tell me your story? Such as this one: here we have Leon Grant. Leon is an Omaha Indian. He was reared on a ranch in Nebraska. When he was sixteen years old, he decided that he wanted to pursue an education. So he left a note for his folks while they were in town, and proceeded to walk for 49 days until he arrived in Phoenix, Arizona. When he got there, he put himself through a community college, undergrad, theology school, and eventually law school. And then he set up American Indian Centers all across the country. Because Leon told me at that time, Indian People were still considered lesser citizens. This is a photo of my cousin Anna. Anna is Swonomish, Hualapai, Havasupai, Cherokee, Chemehuevi, and Salish. And, I was talking to Anna the other day, and I said, "Anna, do you think racism still exists in America?" Oh, and Anna started crying. And I was like "Oh, Anna!" and she said, "You know, Matika, if you want to know about that, all you have to do is go to the lunchroom. You can see the segregation." She said, "I just don't think it's ever going to change." And I said, "Oh, honey, of course it can change!" You see, I sat in that lunchroom. So I could relate to her. I just love her. This is Marva "Sii~xuuttesna" Jones Marva is from the Village of Nilichinden, which is a tribe in Northern California with a colonized name of "The Smith River Rancheria." However, the people are Tolowa. Marva is rad! You'd love her. (Laughter) And you'll notice her 111 tattoo. When I asked her about its significance, she said, "I always knew I wanted to get my 111. Especially after learning the history of it being outlawed in California. California independent Indian tattooing was outlawed in the early 1900s. I always thought I was going to have one. Learning our history empowered me to get my 111. It was traditionally applied through the tapping method. For me it signifies my commitment to who I am. It signifies my ability to carry forward my ancestors' message and the work that my people have laid for my community. It also signifies courage and strength. I've had it since January 20th of 2011. It'll be two years. I never thought about he experience of people staring at you everywhere you go until I got it. I really wasn't prepared for that. I didn't get it for those reasons. I'm really not one for attention, whether it's negative or positive, it's about a fifty-fifty. Airports, stores and public places, I feel like it's made me not look at people anymore. You can tell that people judge you. You can totally tell when they don't like you. And sometimes they acknowledge you and they say, 'Nice tatoo, sister.' But some people are just like, 'Who is this freak?' 'Why would you do that?' I thought you could tell it's tribal. But I guess people don't know. So it's brought on a new sense of patience for me." This is a photo of a White Mountain Apache crown dancer. I had the rare opportunity to take this photo while I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They represent the mountain spirit gods, and dance for traditional, sacred reasons. This is Starflower Montoya. Star is Barona and Taos Pueblo. She's wearing her traditional manta that she received during her coming of age ceremony. When I asked Star, how do we navigate being an Indian in 2013, she said: "My grandma said it best: 'You have to wear your moccasin on one foot, and your tennis shoe on the other.'" (Laughter) This is Paul Chavez. Paul is Bishop Paiute and Apache, which is in the Owens Valley. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. Paul has spent his life dedicated to the preservation of Native culture. First by serving as the tribal chairman, by setting up TANF programs throughout Indian Country and by working with Native youth. While I was visiting Paul in Paiute country, I was most taken aback by the story of the "paya," which means "water" in Paiyute. Pre-colonization, the Paiyute people constructed and managed 60 miles of intricate irrigation systems for millenia, long before the city of Los Angeles secured its largest water source through modern engineering over a century ago. After the Indian Wars of 1863, surviving Paiute returned home to find their ancient waterworks taken over by white settlers. Today, 150 years later, the Paiute tribe is still in litigation for those waterworks. It's a fine example of our tribes' continued struggle for sovereignty. When I talked to Paul about these issues, he said, "The important thing is that we are here. We survived. If you think about it, every Native that is alive today as a result of our ancestors surviving. So you have to ask yourself, 'Why are you here?' 'Why am I here?' I've come to the conclusion for myself that we are here to carry on as a tribe. Otherwise, we will become our colonizers. We will just blend in. And that's our struggle, not to do that, because being a Native person from here, or wherever you are, there's value in being who you are. Not only as a tribe, but for the sustainability of the Earth. It has a lot to do with our traditional, sustainable ways. The most fundamental part of being sovereign is believing you are sovereign. Believing that you are a nation. That's the basis. Then, the next step is acting upon that. This is Jane Blackman. Jane is from the Pala tribe in Southern California and she is a devout Catholic. Jane wanted to have her photo taken in the mission. Here we have a photograph of Hayes Lewis. Hayes is the superintendent for the Zuni school district And it's really exiting. The Zuni tribe just broke away from the neighboring district. When we were talking about how it was that they had come to decide this, we were talking about how federal policy has affected education, he said, "The next step in development is actually changing the policies and the structure of education that will make a difference. If you just take the structure of education the way it is, with its policies, practices and mandates, what difference does it make if you don't go back into the community and basically rebuild from the bottom up?" This is Guylish Bommelyn. Guylish is also Tolowa. He is an Athabascan speaker. He teaches his language in the tribal school there. Since I've been on this journey, I've met Athabascan speakers in Alaska, in California, in Arizona, in New Mexico, and the southern tribes say that the northern ones got tired of walking. (Laughter) This is Mary Evelyn Baumgarten. Mary is just lovely. Mary is a retired professor from the University of New Mexico where she taught indigenous education. Mary is passionate about training teachers to work within indigenous communities. After a very long conversation about the history of boarding schools in this country, and assimilation, she said, "When are we going to stop asking our children to choose between cultural education and western education? I think we are ready to stop the assimilation process. The time to change is already among us." This is Anthony "Thosh" Collins from the Salt River Pima tribe. Thosh is a bird singer. That's his rattle there. Thosh is dedicated to total body wellness by eating mostly plant-based foods. When I'm with Thosh, it is always way easier for me to choose the salad over the French toast! (Laughter) So, I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We went down for the Gathering of Nations. I got there and I was like, "Oh, my God! There's 21 tribes in New Mexico. Who am I gonna photograph, and how am I going to reach all of these people?" So I put it on Facebook: "I'm looking for friends, and I need to go to all of these tribes." And I realized that my friend Dana's mom was from Navajo Nation and Valerie called me and she said, "I'll take you." So we drove, and drove and drove and drove down a dirt road until we finally arrived here at Ray and Fannie Mitchell's house. Ray and Fannie are 82 and 83 years old. They've been married for 65 years. They only speak Diné. So, their daughter translated for me. Ray is a retired railroad worker. He's retired to ranch life. Fannie is a weaver. Here where they live on Navajo Nation, they live without running water or electricity. They live on a sheep camp. Fannie shears the sheep, dyes the wool and weaves the rugs. When I was going out there, I was feeling so sorry for myself, because it was my birthday. And I was upset that I was getting another year older. But also because I was away from my family and my friends and then I got here and they made me mutton stew and handmade tortillas and they prayed for my journey and they made me feel like family. And I just felt so blessed. So, I was going into the famous Grand Canyon to photograph the Havasupai People. And I called Matthew. After I got permission from the tribal council to go there, I said, "I would like to come on Friday." He said, "Well, do you hike?" (Laughter) I was like, "I have running shoes." He said, "Okay, fine. Do you ride horses?"" And I said, "Yeah! I have cowboy boots." (Laughter) He was like, "We're going to put you on a helicopter." (Laughter) So they took me down into the Grand Canyon. Matthew says to me, "Matika, to get here, all you have to do is drive up old Route 66. You'll see a sign for Havasupai. Turn right there. Drive until you see a helicopter. When you get there, tell the pilot you're an Indian, He'll let you on; he'll bring you down." (Laughter) I was like, "What?" (Laughter) So, my mentor told me that "Courage is having fear, and doing it anyway." So I mustered all of my courage: I got in my car, and I drove Route 66, I looked for the sign. I took the right, I found the helicopter, I showed him my tribal I.D. I got on the helicopter and I arrived down there. When I got off the helicopter, Benji and Matthew were waiting for me and all of my fear dissipated. This photo was taken at about 11:00 at night after a full day of shooting in the Canyon and all around their beautiful village. The Havasupai People consider themselves the guardians of the Grand Canyon. "Havasupai" means, "The people of the blue-green water." This is Matthew in his traditional regalia with his daughter. So the next day, I took this photo: this is Rex Tolusi. When Benji brought me over to see Rex, Rex said, "I really have a hard time talking with outsiders, because in 2000, surveyors came in, and they took our blood. They said they were going to help us with diabetes. And then they used our blood to try to prove that we weren't from the Canyon." So I didn't set up my microphone, I didn't take my camera out of my bag. I sat and visited with Rex for a while. We talked about what it's like. I said, "I, too, I grew up on a Rez, I, too have suffered from the effects of our inter-generational trauma, I, too, am recovering." And we had similar paths, as teachers in tribal schools. And we cried for the students that we'd lost. Finally, after Rex heard that I could make really good fried bread, (Laughter) he said, "You can turn your microphone on." "What would you like me to tell the people?" He said, "Remind them that we all come from the same Mother Earth. I think they may have forgotten. Tell them that all of us, the brown, the red, the yellow, the purple, we are all from the same place. Our job is to take care of our Mother. But mostly, tell them we survived." As I was driving out of the Grand Canyon, on the road to come here, I was just so overwhelmed by gratitude. I was crying. And I started thinking about all the people that have supported my journey so far: the generous Kickstarter contributors, the people that have fed me and housed me, and prayed for me. And sent me off in a good way. I realized that people are supportive because they believe in a cause. Because, at the core of it all, we all want to remember that we come from the same place. That we belong to one another. So, the journey continues! Thank you. (Laughter) (Applause).