Federal commission asks Indigenous communities to share stories on missing and murdered relatives

Daisy Mae Heath went missing just before Halloween in 1987. After 20 years, her sister Patricia Whitefoot was sent partial remains after federal law enforcement ruled the death a homicide.

If alive, Daisy would be a Yakama Nation elder in her sixties.

This is one story of many in the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Whitefoot (Yakama Nation) now, 35 years after her sister went missing, works on a federal commission that aims to address this issue and wants to hear from others who have gone through similar situations.

This is the work the Not Invisible Act Commission is doing, a group established with a corresponding federal law passed in 2020. 

The commission’s purpose is to deliver recommendations to Congress on how to best address and fight missing and murdered Native people or those who have been victims of human trafficking.

On Thursday and Friday, commissioners are set up in Albuquerque, New Mexico to hear from survivors, families, law enforcement, task forces and others who want to speak about issues regarding the disappearance and violence facing Indigenous people for decades.

There are mental health professionals and victim specialists — designated with a blue strip on their name tags — available if anyone needs them during the public comment on Thursday and Friday. Other services like telehealth, traditional healing and community resource lists will also be available.

Commission member Glenn Melville (Makah Tribe) noted at a panel hearing on Wednesday that any statements people make to the commission could be publicly released in the future. However, the public comment period the rest of the week is closed to media members.

This is the sixth hearing the commission has held. There will be one more in-person hearing in Montana in late July, and virtual hearings in early August.

Commissioners will develop a report after all the hearings with recommendations on how to address the crisis, including suggestions on law enforcement resources, resources for victims and families, and necessary administrative changes.

The report should be finalized around fall, John Grandy, spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Interior, said. It has to be finished by October.

It will then be sent to Congress. Grandy said it will likely be publicly available at some point.

Heidi Todacheene (Navajo) is the senior advisor to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. She said the commission’s work won’t get done overnight, but community participation and testimonies will be used to fight and address injustices.

She brought up a life-threatening domestic violence incident in Albuquerque she survived, an experience that gives her first-hand knowledge “to the lack of critical resources for survivors and families that’s desperately needed.”

The public hearings over the next two days will help combat the “long-standing epidemic” that is the missing and murdered Indigenous people’s crisis and human trafficking, she said, which lacks national attention.

Elizabeth Hidalgo Reese (Nambé) is the White House senior policy advisor for Native affairs. She agreed that the commission needs to hear from the affected communities to “understand this problem from every angle.”

“I know from my own experience that nothing about this feels right. It’s all wrong. And it feels wrong,” Reese said. “It’s wrong that this happened. It’s wrong that systems fail to protect you or your loved ones. And it’s wrong that now you need to talk about it as a part of fixing it.”

Reese said these issues aren’t invisible, despite people feeling that way, and said she recognizes “what days like this take, what they cost and how they feel.”

Alexander Uballez, U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, this approach is meant to be victim-centered, trauma-informed and culturally competent.

Investigations or putting people in prison won’t bring back a murdered loved one, he said, education and prevention can help confront the crisis.

He said prosecutions are still part of the strategy to combat the violence. Prosecutions have increased by 13% in the past year, he said, including an 83% increase in violent crime prosecutions.

There’s still a lot of work to be done, Uballez said.

“I want to thank the families and friends of missing and murdered Indigenous people who will testify here this week in the tribal community,” he said. “Together, we will meet the case of each missing and murdered Indigenous person with urgency, transparency and coordination.”