Legislature(2023 - 2024)DAVIS 106
03/22/2023 03:30 PM House TRIBAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit Alaska Working Group | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON TRIBAL AFFAIRS
March 22, 2023
3:34 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative CJ McCormick, Chair
Representative Ben Carpenter
Representative Maxine Dibert
Representative Jennie Armstrong
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Sarah Vance
Representative Josiah Patkotak
Representative Jamie Allard
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN~ GIRLS~
AND TWO SPIRIT ALASKA WORKING GROUP
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
EMILY EDENSHAW, President and CEO
Alaska Native Heritage Center
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit presentation.
DEBRA O'GARA, Assistant Professor
Tribal Governance Department
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit presentation.
KELSEY POTDEVIN, Manager
Education and Outreach
Alaska Native Justice Center
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit presentation.
CHARLENE AQPIK APOK, PhD, Executive Director and Co-Founder
Data for Indigenous Justice
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit presentation.
KENDRA KLOSTER, Co-Director
Law and Policy
Alaska Native Women's Resource Center
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in the Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit presentation.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:34:41 PM
CHAIR CJ MCCORMICK called the House Special Committee on Tribal
Affairs meeting to order at 3:34 p.m. Representatives
Carpenter, Dibert, Armstrong and McCormick were present at the
call to order.
^PRESENTATION(S): Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls,
and Two Spirit Alaska Working Group
PRESENTATION(S): Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls,
and Two Spirit Alaska Working Group
3:35:38 PM
CHAIR MCCORMICK announced that the only order of business would
be the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two
Spirit Alaska Working Group presentation.
3:37:24 PM
EMILY EDENSHAW, President and CEO, Alaska Native Heritage
Center, commenced the presentation with an introduction to the
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit
Alaska (MMIWG2S) Working Group. She said that MMIWG2S people is
a crisis in Alaska and shared her personal experience of having
lost her mother, who was murdered and whose killer has never
been convicted. She said that the rate for MMIWG2S people is 10
times as high as the rest of the country; Anchorage ranks third
in the nation for such a statistic.
3:40:54 PM
MS. EDENSHAW began a PowerPoint [hardcopy included in the
committee packet], on slide 3, which detailed the MMIWG2S
Working Group's goals and objectives as an organization. She
elaborated on her previous comments and shared further details
and statistics related to MMIWG2S people and emphasized the
importance of justice being reached for those it has been lost
upon.
3:45:19 PM
DEBRA O'GARA, Assistant Professor, Tribal Governance Department,
University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), introduced herself to the
committee as a traveling court judge and practicing lawyer and
explained her connections to the MMIWG2S Working Group.
3:46:11 PM
KELSEY POTDEVIN, Education and Outreach Manager for Alaska
Native Justice Center, introduced herself to the committee and
explained her connections to and experiences with the MMIWG2S
Working Group.
3:46:29 PM
CHARLENE AQPIK APOK, PhD, Executive Director and Co-Founder of
Data for Indigenous Justice, introduced herself to the committee
and shared that her grandfather's death was wrongly classified
as a suicide. She said that her aunt went missing and was never
found and shared that she is the cousin of the woman who was
kidnapped and murdered in Anchorage, Alaska, years ago.
3:47:41 PM
KENDRA KLOSTER, Co-Director, Law and Policy, Alaska Native
Women's Resource Center, introduced herself to the committee as
a mother of three and said that she wants communities to be safe
and for kids to be safe at home and on the streets.
3:48:50 PM
MS. EDENSHAW resumed the presentation on slide 4, which detailed
the advocacy that the MMIWG2S Working Group engages in on behalf
of MMIWG2S people. She continued to slide 5, which explained
what the red painted hand symbol meant and it's significance to
the MMIWG2S movement. Slide 7 described the history of
indigenous boarding schools and cultural trauma in Alaska and
explained how its lasting effects have led to crisis both in
Alaska and around the country.
3:53:17 PM
The committee took an at-ease from 3:57 p.m. to 3:59 p.m.
3:59:33 PM
MS. O'GARA resumed the presentation on slide 8, which described
and emphasized the disproportionality of victimization of Alaska
Native/American Indian women with regard to violence by listing
a number of points and statistics supporting the claim.
4:03:40 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CARPENTER asked whether the 50 percent of sex
offense cases in Alaska being accepted for prosecution in 2018-
2019 included cases brought up by a grand jury.
MS. O'GARA answered that the main reason cases are not actually
brought before a prosecutor is because the cases are not being
investigated. She said that the lack of investigations is more
indicative of a systemic issue of the court system and said that
new consent laws would make charges easier to bring up against
an assailant.
4:06:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CARPENTER asked Ms. O'Gara if she was aware of
any statutes related to a community's or law enforcement
agency's ability to bring about charges against someone.
MS. O'GARA said that she couldn't reference any statutes in
front of her currently and elaborated on her previous comments
related to the unfair numbers of prosecution with MMIWG2S
people.
4:10:08 PM
MS. O'GARA resumed the presentation on slide 9, which displayed
a graphic that expounded on the previously mentioned statistics
mentioned on slide 8. She continued to slide 10, which further
elaborated on specific statistics and cases surrounding MMIWG2S
people.
4:14:57 PM
DR. AQPIK moved to slide 11, which highlighted that MMIWG2S
people are real people, not just statistics, whether they be
mothers, daughters, fathers, or uncles. She continued to slide
12, which emphasized that murder is the third leading cause of
death among Alaska Native/American Indian women and girls ages
10-24.
4:17:45 PM
DR. AQPIK moved to slide 13, which highlighted that only 116 of
the 5,712 reported cases of MMIWG2S people were logged in the
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) database. She continued to
slide 14, which emphasized that common consumer media does not
ever mention cases of MMIWG2S people, which in turn reduces the
public's awareness of the issue. She moved to slides 15 and 16,
which gave specific analysis and attention to common consumer
media's articles and coverage surrounding MMIWG2S people.
4:22:08 PM
DR. AQPIK continued to slide 17, which outlined the statistics
not often highlighted in data groups cited in regard to MMIWG2S
people. She moved to slide 18, which explained how those
certain statistics are lost in the process of data collection.
4:25:17 PM
DR. AQPIK continued to slide 19, which further elaborated on
lost statistics in regard to MMIWG2S people by explaining
specific obstacles and barriers to collecting data that are
encountered with MMIWG2S people's cases. She continued to slide
20, which highlighted seven key items to be addressed to improve
MMIWG2S people's data collection practices.
4:29:57 PM
MS. KLOSTER continued to slide 21, which highlighted the MMIWG2S
Working Group's successes by listing a number of state/federal
policies that had been passed by the group and also described
leaps made in the awareness and healing of MMIWG2S people.
4:35:03 PM
MS. KLOSTER moved to slide 22, which described the MMIWG2S
Working Group's advocacy within the Alaska State Legislature by
listing a series of bills that had been passed and committee
hearings in the name of MMIWG2S people. Slide 23 listed a
series of the MMIWG2S Working Group's recommendations and
proposals of changes to be made to Alaska's operating budget.
4:41:55 PM
MS. O'GARA picked up the presentation on slide 24, which listed
a series of the MMIWG2S Working Group's recommendations of
policies for the legislative and executive branches to adopt.
4:46:15 PM
MS. O'GARA elaborated on slide 24 by explaining that the MMIWG2S
Working Group's policies would require interagency cooperation
and said that providing the tools to achieve clarity with regard
to prosecution and jurisdiction are prudent in the issue of
MMIWG2S people.
4:52:19 PM
MS. O'GARA continued to slide 25, which emphasized that every
person, no matter their origin, deserves to feel safe in their
home and in their community. Slide 26 described a series of
resources that communities could utilize to help stop the issue
of MMIWG2S people from occurring and provide resources to the
individuals and families affected by the issue.
4:58:04 PM
MS. EDENSHAW concluded the presentation on slide 27, which
listed a series of statements to acknowledge the issue of
MMIWG2S people and acknowledge that there are things that can be
done to solve this crisis.
4:59:31 PM
CHAIR MCCORMICK thanked the invited company for their
presentation and acknowledged that it touched on a number of
topics seldom discussed. He commented that there was a former
orphanage close to where he grew up and asked if the MMIWG2S
Working Group could research the history of that orphanage,
given the recent discoveries of the atrocities at other boarding
schools and orphanages that had occurred across North America.
5:01:04 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Tribal Affairs meeting was adjourned at
5:01 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HTRB MMIWG2S Work Group Presentation 03.20.23.pdf |
HTRB 3/22/2023 3:30:00 PM |
HTRB MMIWG2S Working Group |
| HTRB Emily Edenshaw Testimony 03.22.23.pdf |
HTRB 3/22/2023 3:30:00 PM |
MMIWG2S Working Group |