PAUL HAMBY
The stateâs collaborative body dedicated to halting the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people met in person after more than a year Wednesday, where guest speakers outlined the progress made and their goals for the future.
During the first of two days slated for the conference held in Helena, members of the Montana Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force heard from investigators, lawmakers and students. Although progress has been made through the state Legislature in the years since the formation of the task force, Native American men and women are still disproportionately among those in the state reported missing and suffering from violence.
Sen. Mike Cuffe, a Eureka Republican who carried two of the most substantial voting bills to pass, said the session was the most consequential for Montana’s elections since his first
Democratic lawmakers from Montana’s American Indian Caucus entered the 2021 legislative session with the numbers stacked against them. Minorities within a minority party, Native American lawmakers often found themselves trying to snuff measures seeking to restrict voting access, limit the presence of wild bison on Montana lands, and rework public assistance programming. But there were successes, too. Native American lawmakers passed legislation to support Indigenous language education, and funding to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people was again approved by the Legislature and the governor. The caucus also found success working together on issues and presenting a unified message on social and natural resource issues.
Montana leaders gather to mark signing of bills on missing, murdered indigenous people
and last updated 2021-04-22 21:40:55-04
HELENA â Montana leaders gathered in Helena Thursday to mark their continued efforts to address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people.
Gov. Greg Gianforte held a ceremony for the signing of a suite of bills aimed at showing the state is committed to continuing the dialogue about how to deal with what has been called an âepidemic.â
The missing and murdered indigenous persons crisis has tragically impacted far too many families in Montana, and let me be clear: It must end,â said Gianforte.