ICT NEWS - August 21, 2026 | MMIWG Montana

 

#MMIW in the United States #StolenSisters (reblog 2022)

(reblog from 2022)

Violence is the third leading cause of death for native women between 10 and 24 years of age and the fifth leading cause of death for women 25 to 34 years (Simpson 5). Today American Indian women face murder 10 times the national average according to the Department of Justice.  The government has failed to address the violence against Native women despite staggering statistics that provide evidence for the high rates of violence perpetrated against this marginalized group (Simpson 5).  In 2015, the federal government approved an act that would provide additional resources to improve tribes’ access to databases that had data of MMIW but have not followed through.  In response to the lack of a database that includes all the MMIW, I have created a web map that will visualize the Indigenous women that have been reported missing and murdered.  The ultimate goal is to try to understand what is unique about the situation that causes Native American women to experience higher rates of violence. In the future I hope to be able to provide statistical analysis for my theory about the relation between map camps and missing women.

Keep Reading 

SOVEREIGN
BODIES
INSTITUTE

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The MMIWG2 Database logs cases of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, and two spirit people, from 1900 to the present.

There are many lists and sources of information online, but no central database that is routinely updated, spans beyond colonial borders, and thoroughly logs important aspects of the data, and overall, there is a chronic lack of data on this violence. The Database works to address that need, by maintaining a comprehensive resource to support community members, advocates, activists, and researchers in their work towards justice for our stolen sisters.

 The Database originally included cases from the US and Canada, but starting in 2019, we have expanded its reach to include all Indigenous women, girls, and two spirit people. We will continue to pursue archival research in the US and Canada, and will rely on partnerships with Indigenous women’s collectives and organizations in other regions to include our sisters indigenous to lands occupied by other colonial entities.

The kind of information the Database cares for is determined by ongoing consultation with Indigenous communities. The Database currently logs the following:

​About Victims:

Name, Indigenous name and translation, tribal affiliation(s), birth date, age, if they were a mother, if they have other MMIWG2 cases in their family

​About Perpetrators:

Race, gender, relationship to the victim

​About the Violence:

Missing or murdered, incident date, violence perpetrated against murder victims after they are deceased, relevant issues (domestic violence, sexual assault, sex work/sex trafficking, foster care, police brutality, trans victim, death in custody, unsheltered, residential/boarding school)

​About Police & Court Response:

Reward amount (if any), case classification, conviction status, which entities located deceased individuals

​About Geography:

City, state/province, country, location type (tribal land, rural, urban)

 

NOT ONE MORE: Report on MMIW wiped off Federal website

STORY: 

The commission titled its report Not One More and detailed calls to action for multiple federal agencies — including the Departments of Justice and the Interior, Health and Human Services and the Administration for Children and Families. This year, legislators and policymakers were supposed to establish ways to better track the missing, and step up efforts to find them. 

https://ictnews.org/news/mmiw-report-a-casualty-of-federal-purge-of-government-data/ 

 

 BACKGROUND:

 But on Feb. 18, the 212-page, comprehensive set of findings and recommendations that 41 commissioners worked on for three years suddenly vanished from the U.S. Department of Justice website.

Advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women raise awareness

by: Maddie Biertempfe May 5, 2025 

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – As the president aims to root out diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal government, some lawmakers say important policy documents have been swept up with it.  That includes a report aimed at addressing missing and murdered indigenous people.

“It’s really kind of a slap in the face of the community that we’re trying to work with and protect,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).

Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s bipartisan “Not Invisible Act” created the commission that reported those recommendations.

President Trump signed it into law his first term, with the White House at the time touting him as, “the first president to formally recognize the tragedy…”, but now the report isn’t on the DOJ site anymore.

An Interior Department page that links to the DOJ has a note that says links may not work and quote, “…any previously issued diversity, equity, inclusion or gender-related guidance on this webpage should be considered rescinded.”

The DOJ does still have a page dedicated to missing or murdered indigenous people that summarizes the report’s recommendations.

The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment when asked about why the report was removed.

Cortez Masto says on this National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, lawmakers and the administration should be working together to address the tragedy.

“This is not a partisan issue. This is bipartisan. We’ve got great legislation coming from it,” said Cortez Masto.

Cortez Masto is currently working to pass two bills aimed at supporting tribal law enforcement. 

REPORTS:

https://mmiwhoismissing.org/mmip-reports 

How is there still no office for Indigenous rights complaints?

 

It has been six years since the idea arose among the Calls to Action in the 2019 Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. MMIWG Call for Justice 1.7 urged the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to establish a formal mechanism to resolve complaints on Indigenous and human rights, to be developed in partnership with Indigenous peoples. 

GOOD READ: https://icmagazine.org/how-is-there-still-no-office-for-indigenous-rights-complaints/

MMIWG and Sex Trafficking Report

A new report by Thomson Reuters highlights the intersection between missing Indigenous women and human trafficking in Canada. The report says Winnipeg, Edmonton and the Prince Albert-Regina-Saskatoon triangle had the most MMIWG cases, and that they swiftly go from missing to appearing on sex ads. 

 

The report, which was released Tuesday, analyzed 185 cases from 2010 to April 2024 and found Winnipeg was the city with the most disappearances, with 14 per cent. It was followed by the Edmonton metropolitan area with 10.5 per cent and the triangle between Prince Albert, Regina and Saskatoon with 10 per cent. The report noted that Winnipeg’s large Indigenous population and robust reporting of missing women and girls may have an impact on the numbers.

READ:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/winnipeg/article/manitoba-may-be-feeder-province-for-sex-trafficking-on-mmiwg-report/ 

Members of Congress Call on DOJ to Restore the ‘Not Invisible Act’ Findings, an Accounting of Missing and Murdered Native People

 

President Donald Trump surrounded by tribal leaders as he signed the Not Invisible Act during his first term in office. Still image from White House video.

The Not Invisible Act requires the Departments of Justice and Interior to create a joint commission on violent crime involving Indigenous communities. It also details how federal agencies should address what it calls an “epidemic”: the high rates of Native American youth and adults who are missing, murdered or victims of violence. 

“We ask that the DOJ take immediate steps to restore the Not Invisible Act Commission Report. Removing the data from public government websites obstructs long-overdue justice and harms any efforts to combat the crisis.”

— June 9 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi

READ MORE:  https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/members-of-congress-call-on-justice-officials-to-restore-the-not-invisible-act-findings-an-accounting-of-missing-and-murdered-native-people/262550 

What You Need to Know: Apache Stronghold, Chi’chil Biłdagoteel

 6/6/2025: ARIZONA:  The Future, MINING, Man Camps and MMIWG

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As Lian BigHorse helps her daughter prepare for her coming of age ceremony, she quietly tells the tragic story of Emily Pike, a teenage girl from her community who went missing, and was later found murdered, earlier this year.

“We’re talking about how to start educating our community locally on what’s happening, and the impacts of losing even one person,” said BigHorse, the daughter of Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr., an Elder who has been working for decades to protect Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, a sacred site in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest.

BigHorse explains how extractive resources correlate directly with increased sexual violence, exacerbating the crisis of MMIWG+. “People don’t know – because it’s so under-reported, and rarely are perpetrators brought to justice,” she said. 

As a director of children’s mental health at San Carlos Apache Tribe, and professor of Native American Studies at the American University of Sovereign Nations, she wants more people to understand what’s at stake.

“Our community doesn’t understand what’s happening across the nation.”

With minimal infrastructure surrounding them, mining “boom towns” have historically been vulnerable to crime, states the U.S. State Department’s office to monitor and combat human trafficking. “The link between these industries and sex trafficking is increasingly an issue of grave concern.”

Superior Mayor Mila Besich says she supports the planned Resolution Copper Mine, but is candid about her concerns that come with an influx of workers, and the risk of increased gender-based violence. 

“Mining is inherently like a frat house,” she explains, drawing comparison to gender-based violence in the military. “When workers are brought in from far away, and families are separated, that mentality takes root.”

“I’m vehemently opposed to man camps – not going to happen,” she said, unflinching in her resolve “I do not want to be number one in domestic violence. I do not want to be number one in STDs.” 

“Areas where extraction activities occur are usually remote and may be difficult to access, meaning that workers are isolated from government oversight and community support, and may have less access to protective services, legal advocates, and law enforcement personnel.” 

MUCH MORE👇 

FBI Director Patel Commits to Working with Senator Murkowski on MMIW

Washington, DC – During a U.S. Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee hearing this week, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) secured commitments from the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to work with her on critical public safety issues for Alaska.  As Alaska struggles with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls cases and fentanyl-related deaths, Director Kash Patel pledged to make Alaska a priority as the Bureau addresses these life-and-death matters.   READ:  https://alaska-native-news.com/murkowski-working-with-fbi-director-to-address-mmiwg-and-fentanyl-in-alaska/78708/

 

May 6, 2025—Red Dress Day events held across Canada; new MMIWG data project

May 6, 2025 APTN News Brief

Our lead story: a look at some of the MMIWG events across the country for Monday's National Red Dress Day, when communities gathered to honour and remember the lives of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls.

 

MONTANA, USA:  https://youtu.be/bbuOPWniKTI?si=8WH0PW5hbJ7iH4x7

 

 

MMIP San Diego

 

In southern California, a coalition of Native American tribes, community advocates, and law enforcement are holding their first-ever summit to address Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP).

Danielle Bush is the program director for MMIP San Diego, which will host the summit this Saturday at the Viejas Casino and Resort. She says one of the breakout sessions will be on human trafficking.

“What are the warning signs, red flags of that? And what to do if you or a loved one, or you just see someone who might be in that situation what steps you can take, because we’re trying to end that heinous crime in the community.”

Another breakout session will be with regional law enforcement.

“The goal of that is to educate people about the Savannah Act and about the Feather Alert, and what are your rights, and how to proceed if you have a missing relative or anything that law enforcement can provide support on and building those relationships.”

The final breakout session will be on healing and support services, specifically for the tribal community.

Bush says the San Diego area is close to the U.S-Mexican border, which poses challenges.

“With our proximity to the border and for other reasons, San Diego is a hotspot for human trafficking. I believe third in the country, it’s up there. It’s definitely an issue in the community that we’ve been trying a multi-pronged approach to attacking.”

Bush says MMIP San Diego hopes to grow its resources, so invites anyone in the southern California region to reach out and connect with the organization.

National Native News:  https://www.nativenews.net/

Data Genocide | Missing, Murdered, Indigenous People (MMIP) Data (2025)

Journey of VAWA and MMIP | Official Trailer 2025

We Are Not Garbage

 

Faded red dresses representing missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and gender diverse people hang on the fence of the Brady Road Landfill. Photo by Crystal Greene

IMPORTANT STORY:

https://ricochet.media/indigenous/mmiwg/were-not-garbage-how-buffalo-woman-was-identified-as-ashlee-shingoose/

New book educates on reality of sex trafficking

 By Miriam Lafontaine - February 21, 2025

The book was originally published in French. Miriam Lafontaine/The Eastern Door

Sex trafficking happens in every community.  That’s the message behind Caught in my Dreamcatcher, a new book written by two Montreal police officers. 

“It hits in the best of families. It hits no matter where we come from. It’s a crime of opportunity,” said Josée Mensales, who co-wrote the book alongside her colleague Romy Verge-Boudreau.  

The two also work for the Surete du Québec (SQ) unit dedicated to arresting those who profit off the sale of others, touring communities all over the province prior its publication last week.  

Caught in my Dreamcatcher (ISBN : 9782925118640) is currently being sold at Renaud Bray. Both print and e-book versions of the book can also be purchased directly from the website of its publisher, Éditions Hannenorak.   PUBLISHER: https://editions.hannenorak.com/catalogue/monnaye-e-par-mon-marchand-de-reves/

 

KEEP READING: 

https://easterndoor.com/2025/02/21/new-book-educates-on-reality-of-sex-trafficking/

MMIWG: Cold Case Solved in Iowa

HUNTER: Iowa MMIWG cold case bust shames virtue-signalling Canada

In America, they've closed cases, made arrests and brought justice

Brad Hunter  Jan 23, 2025 TORONTO SUN NEWSPAPER

Indigenous mother of two Terri McCauley, 18, was murdered in 1983. American cops have closed the case. ISP

The shotgun blast took Terri McCauley’s face off, killing her instantly.

She was found murdered on Sept. 27, 1983, in Sioux City, Iowa and for more than 40 years, her case was cold as a cucumber.

A member of the Omaha Tribe, McCauley, 18, fell under the dark umbrella of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG).  There have been varying estimates of the casualty figures but it’s somewhere between 4,000 and 7,000.

But while Canada has been content to virtue signal and sloganeer just enough to keep the denizens of the Annex, Westmount and the Glebe smug, America has taken action.  Adding insult to injury for the woke, the bold initiative was started by President Donald Trump during his first term in office.

Canada’s chattering classes talked, self-flagellated, scolded and offered meaningless tears.  In America, they’ve closed cases, made arrests and brought justice, relief and maybe some closure to the families of the dead.

MMIWG: A criminology professor has warned that the real number of murdered Indigenous women and girls could be double official estimates.

The U.S. formed half a dozen task forces in “Indian Country” to solve the murders and disappearances. Canada?  Not so much.

Toronto Police cold case boss Det. Sgt. Steve Smith told the Toronto Sun that it isn’t as if this kind of initiative hadn’t been brought to the current government.

“With TPS, we have the ideal model to serve all of Ontario,” Smith said, adding that for the past three years, the solicitor general has provided funding to tackle 30 unsolved murders, unidentified bodies and historic sex assaults.

COLD CASE WHIZ: Det. Sgt. Steve Smith of the TPS. DATELINE

“Federally, we asked numerous times for funding to set up a national task force to make the expertise accessible across Canada but there was zero traction.

“We’re hoping to take it up again with a new federal government. So many of the MMIWG cases are easily solvable.”

Smith and TPS have been at the forefront of the revolution in cold-case investigations. Using genetic genealogy, they have closed some of the city’s most vexing homicides: Christine Jessop, Susan Tice, Erin Gilmour and others.

But anyone will tell you, that land acknowledgements are cheap and easier than solving a homicide.

McCauley — a mother of two — was last seen that terrible day 41 years ago getting into a car with an unknown man. Her body was found 10 days later.

The wheels of justice grind slowly, but grind they do. Last week, cops announced that they had arrested Thomas Popp, 62, of Lakeview, Washington. He is now charged with first-degree murder.

The arrest of Popp and others by MMIWG cold-case task forces has given renewed hope to Native American communities that maybe, just maybe, justice will be done after decades of agony.

REMEMBER: A makeshift memorial to murdered mother of two Terri McCauley. Cops say they've arrested her killer after more than 40 years. FACEBOOK

“Since Monday, I think it definitely has given hope and courage for these families to continue to fight for justice for their families or their relatives who have gone missing and murdered,” Trisha Rivers, of the Great Plains Action Society, told reporters.

She added that the arrest shows what can happen when cops and the justice system work with the Native community.

Rivers said: “This case means so much to everybody in Indian Country because I feel like all of us can relate to it in some kind of way that makes sense.”

Meanwhile, in Canada, bureaucrats get fat, money is spent on fecal hygiene in Ghana, and the agony of the affected families and their communities continues apace.

bhunter@postmedia.com | @HunterTOSun

 

MORE:

Man charged in 1983 murder in Sioux City

Radio Iowa| 14 days ago

An arrest has been made in the cold case murder of a woman in Sioux City four decades ago. Thomas Duane Popp is charged in the shooting death of 18-year-old Terri McCauley in 1983. A grand jury convened in Woodbury County last week and indicted the 62-year-old Popp for first-degree murder and he was arrested

 

Feds Release Media Guidelines for Reporting on MMIP Cases

• Yahoo News

By Elyse Wild

December 11, 2024

Family affected by the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Crisis feel lackluster media coverage influences how cases are perceived by the public and pursued by law enforcement. That’s according to new guidelines released by the federal government this week on best practices for media coverage of MMIP.

The guidelines result from roundtable discussions moderated by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland and attended by more than 200 participants, including journalists, survivors, community advocates, and Tribal and federal officials.  Among the participants where members of the  Not Invisible Act Commission, a 41-person committee tasked with developing recommendations improving intergovernmental collaboration on violent crimes in Indian Country and providing resources for survivors and victims’ families.

Between 2022 and 2023, the Commission held seven in-person listening sessions across Indian Country, plus one virtual session.  According to the Commission’s 212-page report, more than 600 individuals attended the hearings.  Of those, 260 gave testimony to the NIAC, sharing their expertise, experiences, and recommendations to address and reduce the tragic consequences of the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked American Indians and Alaska Natives. Many families and survivors expressed concern at the lack of media coverage or coverage that reinforces long-standing prejudice against Native communities.  

The new recommendations encourage journalists to focus on an MMIP humanity rather than any potential criminal background. Also, the guidelines urge media to contextualize cases within the disparities faced by Native communities, wrought by generations of forced assimilation, broken treaty promises, and gross underfunding for health and public safety. Using language such as “crisis” vs. “epidemic” and “at-risk” vs. “vulnerable” is encouraged.

The report also features guidelines for strengthening collaboration between law enforcement and journalists, including designating public information officers to release timely information on MMIP case developments to the media. 

The MMIP crisis is characterized by Native American communities experiencing disproportionately high rates of assault, abduction and murder. The crisis dates back decades, underpinned by systemic apathy, jurisdictional confusion, and underfunded law enforcement. There is no nationwide data system for MMIP information, and the actual number of MMIP cases is unknown; however, the Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates there are 4,200 unsolved cases.

LINK: https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/feds-release-media-guidelines-for-reporting-on-mmip-cases

COST CUTTING: Federal government nickel-and-dimes Indigenous Peoples

• Annapolis Valley Register
• 5 Dec 2024
• PETER MCKENNA Peter McKenna is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.

THINH NGUYEN

In an example of Ottawa’s cost-cutting and penny-pinching when it comes to spending on First Nations concerns, only five per cent or so of the government’s promise to spend $724 million on supporting Indigenous women and girls with new shelters and transitional housing has so far been spent.

Back in July, the governing Liberals decided to quietly announce they were cutting funding to Indigenous searches for unmarked children’s graves around residential schools.

Indigenous communities were initially offered up to $3 million per year to help defray the costs of identification.

However, the federal government chose to cap those funds — in the absence of any consultations with Indigenous leaders — at $500,000. Thankfully, the Trudeau government reversed course in August and restored the original funding allotment of $3 million.

It is instructive to note that Ottawa has constitutional competence for — and thus a fiduciary responsibility to — Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

All of this got me thinking about one of the most enduring features of Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations in Canada — namely, the federal government’s obsession with pinching pennies when it comes to our Indigenous communities.

DELIBERATE FRAMEWORK

One of the critical areas of investigation around this topic is fully understanding its key drivers.

Why would monetary considerations be top of mind for colonial and Canadian governments for hundreds of years? What should we infer from that fixation with dollars and cents?

Significantly, I’m not talking about budget constraints, lower reserve costs, special circumstances or an increase in wealthier Indigenous communities.

I’m suggesting there has been a deliberate and ongoing mindset in Ottawa that starts with this premise: How do we find ways to cut funding for Indigenous Peoples?

The whole point of colonial and Canadian government policies toward Indigenous Peoples was to assimilate them and, if that didn’t work, to eradicate them outright. (kill off)

That way, the federal government’s “honour of the Crown” and its fiduciary commitment would come to a screeching halt. Crudely put, the costs associated with “Indian status” would no longer be necessary.

SEVERING BONDS

Residential schools in Canada were intended, among other things, to sever the bond between Indigenous children and their parents and reserve community. As they assimilated into white society, this would eventually lead to fewer First Nations people on the government’s payrolls.

The schools (many were of poor construction and deadly firetraps) were a case study in cost-cutting: Indigenous children constantly complained of being hungry and cold and often went without medications. Even when children died at these schools, the government refused to pay the costs of returning them to their Indigenous families.

Similarly, the horrible “Sixties Scoop” was a continuation of this same line of thinking: force Indigenous kids into foster care and foreign adoption to reduce costs over time.

The federal government moved in the late 1950s with the express intention of saving money by turning the care and welfare of Indigenous children over to provincial child protection services.

With respect to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the Trudeau Liberals have been excruciatingly slow in implementing many of the final report’s 231 “calls for justice.”

Only five per cent or so of the government’s promise to spend $724 million on supporting Indigenous women and girls with new shelters and transitional housing has been spent.

From the advent of colonial governments in Canada in the mid-1700s, each one has sought to reduce expenditures for Indigenous Peoples. Officials in the old Department of Indian Affairs — long before its current iteration as the Department of Crown Indigenous Relations — were always crunching the actuarial numbers to identify when payments to Indigenous communities would finally end.

Don’t forget the cost-savings sought through violating solemn treaties, withholding annuity and land dispossession payments, building low-budget “Indian hospitals” and even denying benefits for returning Indigenous soldiers from the world wars.

Much of the cutting of Indigenous monies is consistent with a colonial mindset or project that has devalued, dehumanized and degraded Indigenous Peoples from the very beginning.

The racist rationale was simple: they were only going to die off anyway, they would forever be ””uncivilized,” pagan “savages,” they would never be smart enough to know what to do with the land and financial resources, and they would always be expendable, largely invisible and, most assuredly worthless.

I’m sure that I’ve missed many other examples of damaging government cost-cutting. But one common theme that is painfully obvious is that Canadian governments have historically sought to short-change Indigenous Peoples.

In the end, the First Peoples just weren’t worth spending government money on. You have to conclude that the real power brokers of this country never really accorded them much value from the outset.

 

Article Name:Federal government nickel-and-dimes Indigenous Peoples

Publication:Annapolis Valley Register

Author:PETER MCKENNA Peter McKenna is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.

Start Page:A7

End Page:A7

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/annapolis-valley-register/20241205/281689735385006

 

5 Middle Grade Books To Read For Native American Heritage Month And Beyond

These new middle grade books by Indigenous authors educate about residential schools and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Margaret Kingsbury  Nov 11, 2024

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

November is Native American Heritage Month. These new middle grade books by Native American and Indigenous Canadian authors explore various topics, from residential schools to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, in fiction and nonfiction formats. They’re all wonderful books.

Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan

This is a lovely middle grade novel centering two Cree girls in Alberta, Canada. Summer spends every summer on the reservation where her mom’s family lives. She and her little brother and cousin Autumn swim in the lake, collect sweetgrass, pick berries, and have a wonderful time. But this summer is a little bit different. Authorities have gathered around a former residential school—one where Summer’s grandfather had been kidnapped and taken to as a child—to scan the ground with new technology. They’ve discovered the bodies of Indigenous children buried there. Meanwhile, Summer begins having vivid dreams of the past about a girl, named Buffalo Dreamer, who runs away from the school when her friend Ann disappears. It’s a slim, fantastic novel.

Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools by Dan SaSuWeh Jones

If your middle grader wants to investigate more about residential schools after reading Buffalo Dreamer, then check out this detailed and gut-wrenching middle grade nonfiction. It combines the author’s family history with nonfiction investigation. The author’s grandmother, Little Moon There Are No Stars Tonight, was forcibly taken from her family home by federal authorities when she was just four years old, and taken to a residential school to rid her of her Ponco culture and heritage. Jones traces her story from the time she was stolen to when the residential school was shut down during his lifetime. It’s a very informative read, and I recommend it for upper middle grade readers.

Red Bird Danced by Dawn Quigley

This is a beautiful, accessible middle grade novel-in-verse told from the perspectives of two Ojibwe tweens who live in a Native American urban housing community. Ariel’s aunt is missing, so she chooses to study the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) crisis for a school project. She’s also learning how to dance the jingle dance, though part of her wants to learn ballet. Tomah has a reading disability and struggles in school, though he hides the problem from teachers and his family. Words dance on the page. However, he’s an excellent storyteller and a valued member of his Native community because of it. He loves feeding the birds. Ariel and Tomah are friends, both slowly untangling what it means to be Native and their roles in their community.

READ MORE:  https://bookriot.com/middle-grade-books-native-american-heritage-month/

Inuit Voices: What is lacking is political will #MMIWG

News  Sep 12, 2024  MMIWG

Pauktuutit leader calls for Inuit voices to be heard in fight against violence

Nancy Etok shares experience from meeting with Indigenous women from U.S., Mexico earlier this month in Mexico City

Pauktuutit president Nancy Etok, left, speaks at the Sixth Convening of the Trilateral Working Group on Violence Against Women and Girls in Mexico City, which ran Sept. 3 and 4. (Photo courtesy of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada)

By  Kierstin Williams

Inuit voices must be included in conversations about ending violence against Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people, says Pauktuutit president Nancy Etok.

Etok attended a trilateral working group that included representatives from Canada, the United States and Mexico on Sept. 3 and 4 in Mexico City on behalf of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, the national non-profit Inuit women’s organization.

The meeting aimed to address the alarming rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

“We were able to share what kind of work we do at Pauktuutit,” Etok said, adding she also had the chance to listen to what Indigenous women had to say about finding solutions.

“If I were to close my eyes and just listen, all women were facing all of the same struggles with violence,” she said.

The trilateral working group was established as a result of the North American Leaders Summit in June 2016, which brought national leaders from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico together to discuss the “alarming” rates of violence against this demographic, a joint statement from the group released Sept. 5 said.

This month’s meeting marked the sixth time the working group has convened.

Etok said the discussions in Mexico City highlighted the ongoing failure by governments to implement promises made to Indigenous communities.

For Canada specifically, she said the federal government must be held accountable on following through on recommendations stemming from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The MMIWG inquiry was hosted across Canada between 2016 and 2019. It gave Indigenous women and girls the chance to provide testimony about their experiences with violence, police, the justice system and other colonial systems.

In its final report, released in 2019, the inquiry said high rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls amounts to a genocide. It released 231 calls to action aimed at governments, institutions and the public.

“The Government of Canada has been given a clear path forward to end this genocide. What is lacking is political will,” said Etok.

In a joint statement from the meeting, the trilateral working group called on the three countries’ governments to respond to the group’s demands from previous years by Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The group wants to see a “matrix” of each of the trilateral group’s demands by year. It should provide corresponding information as to how the governments have responded to these demands, and include resources developed and future plans for continuing efforts on the group’s requests.

“Pauktuutit is going to keep asking on what the government committed to. They need to start delivering,” said Etok.

“Inuit women’s voices must be heard and it’s absolutely essential that Pauktuutit is included in those conversations because we have the ideas, we have the solutions, and we are ready.”

Members of the working group are scheduled to have quarterly meetings to allow Indigenous leaders to independently shape the group’s agenda and focus on priorities outside the influence of the three national governments.  Indigenous leaders in the U.S. are set to host the first meeting on Jan. 15.

“With unwavering resolve and collective commitment to justice, we stand united in our mission to create a future where Indigenous rights are honoured, respected, upheld, and protected,” reads a portion of the group’s statement.

A new beginning for Native representation on TV

 Their Shows Might Be Over, but They’re Just Getting Started

Historic Emmy nominees Lily Gladstone, Kali Reis, Sterlin Harjo, and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai all see their celebrated shows ending as a new beginning for Native representation on TV.

By Marcus Jones August 24, 2024  

 

'Reservation Dogs,' 'True Detective: Night Country,' 'Under the Bridge'

FX/HBO/Hulu

However exciting it was for Lily Gladstone to receive her own first Emmy nomination for her work in the Hulu series “Under the Bridge,” the more meaningful aspect of her Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie nod was seeing “True Detective: Night Country” breakout Kali Reis be honored as well. “I love that I’m not alone in this category. Having just had a bunch of first time historical monikers applied to me, there’s something that’s very lonely about that,” the recent Oscar nominee told IndieWire over Zoom. “So it’s great to carry that with another actress who turned in just this stellar performance, and then just represents a whole other aspect of how diverse and how important it is to highlight how diverse Indian country is.” 

 

The conclusion of “True Detective: Night Country,” highlighting some of its Native actors that had mostly stayed in the background, was a twist the star did not see coming, but thoroughly appreciated. “Coming from the Native community, the nosy-ass aunties know everything. They know everything. If you want to know the tea, go to Auntie’s house,” said Reis. “Also on a serious note, the invisibility, the very thing that is something that we ‘are’ or people look at us or don’t look at Native people, especially Native women, as invisible, that invisibility is the very thing that was a superpower.” It reflected the ways in which indigenous organizations have to take finding answers for missing and murdered indigenous women into their own hands in a way Gladstone also found “invigorating.” 

 

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https://www.indiewire.com/awards/consider-this/native-representation-emmys-lily-gladstone-reservation-dogs-kali-reis-1235039649/