Wellstone Action!

While attending Camp Sheila Wellstone in Indian Country this past February, Bonnie Clairmont practiced developing a message and giving testimony on how domestic and sexual violence impacts Native communities. Not long after this experience, Bonnie traveled to Washington to put her skills to real-life use - testifying before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Wellstone Action celebrates Bonnie's leadership on this critical issue. Read more below in an except from an article in the Billings Gazette. To read the full article, click here.

Senate hears of tribal law enforcement struggles

June 22, 2007

By NOELLE STRAUB Gazette Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Crime and violence in Indian Country continues to worsen, in large part because the federal government has not made law enforcement there a priority, native leaders and former federal officials testified Thursday. Drug trafficking, gangs and violence against women fester, but a lack of clear law and jurisdiction means offenders often do not face prosecution, they said. Some local officials have lost confidence in Bureau of Indian Affairs offices, they added, and Justice Department officials considered firing federal prosecutors who focused on Indian issues. The hearing was the second this year on law enforcement in Indian Country held by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. The rate of violent crime on Indian reservations is 2½ times the national average, Indian women are victims of rape and sexual assault at three times the national average, and tribes face an epidemic of drug trafficking, several witnesses said. "The testimony given by all of you is in some ways very depressing because it describes a law enforcement system that is broken," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., the committee's chairman. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., advocated better resources for law enforcement in Indian Country. "In Montana we have seven reservations. I live within 25 miles of one of them myself, and I can tell you the jurisdictional issue is a big issue," he said. "But probably a bigger issue than that is sheer numbers of law enforcement people that are available." Joseph Garcia, president of the National Congress of American Indians, called for more resources, better cooperation across jurisdictions, enhanced tribal law enforcement authority and a higher priority by federal and state authorities. Sexual violence against American Indian women has reached epidemic proportions, said Bonnie Clairmont, a victim advocacy program specialist with the Tribal Law & Policy Institute. Clairmont lives in St. Paul, Minn., but her work takes her throughout Indian Country, she said. "What is most troubling is that the vast majority of Indian women often face insurmountable barriers to accessing services and realizing any type of justice for the horrendous acts of violence they have experienced," she testified Clairmont helped interview victims for a recent Amnesty International report on violence against Indian women. The report cited Justice Department statistics showing that Native American and Alaskan Native women are 3 times more likely than other American women to be raped. She said those numbers are underreported. She described a "typical scenario" where many Indian women who have been raped call law enforcement but don't get a response because of lack of staff or jurisdictional issues. Some women then drive themselves many miles to a medical center, she added, only to be turned away because Indian Health Services facilities often lack rape kits or anyone trained to perform exams. She said money and policing alone will not solve the problem. Instead, the federal government must work more closely with tribal governments to overcome jurisdictional issues that prevent perpetrators from being prosecuted and to come up with comprehensive plans. Exams and services for victims must be provided, she added. Dorgan and other lawmakers expressed appreciation for the specific recommendations. He said he has become "weary" of hearing about the problems. "Nothing ever seems to happen except we have hearings and talk about it," he said. "We're going to make every effort to develop new initiatives. ... It's just almost unbelievable what we are hearing and seeing and things aren't getting better."