First Meeting of Wisconsin Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force Held

Monday, December 7th, 2020 -- 9:01 AM

(WBAY) -The state of Wisconsin continues to move forward with the missing and murdered indigenous women task force in Wisconsin.

Friday the newly-formed group held its first meeting.  The first Wisconsin Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force meeting began with a song and prayer.  “I would like to say a prayer for all the spirits of the murdered women and all the spirits and physical, mental, spiritual, emotional well-being and health for those still missing,” said Donna Yahola, a Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa tribal member.  Oneida Nation Councilwoman Jennifer Webster is one of the task force members.  “It’s kind of like, it’s about time,” said Webster.  She along with at least one member of each tribal nation, and Attorney General Josh Kaul and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes participated in the first meeting.  “I think this first meeting is to identify who’s all on the, on the team, and then put together some priorities of what we want to do in the next year,” said Webster.  Some of the priorities discussed included getting more data on these crimes and identifying jurisdictional issues that may contribute to the lack of information.

“So that all that information, that tracking information, all the human traffic can all be put into one dashboard and be consolidated for all the tribes to use,” said Webster.  Beyond gathering data and identifying what problems contribute to the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women, the end goal is to plan out possible solutions that could be implemented at a state level.  “We’re so appreciative of the attorney general, of realizing that there really is a crisis out there, and acknowledging there is a crisis and we need to do something about it,” said Webster.  Kaul said that he hoped the task force could publish a report sometime in 2021.

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