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Tammy Baldwin hears Wisconsin tribes’ concerns on murdered Indigenous women, broadband access, wolf hunt

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APOSTLE ISLANDS – Sen. Tammy Baldwin met with tribal officials on the Red Cliff Ojibwe Nation Reservation this month to discuss some of the issues affecting Indian Country and promised to address some of those concerns in Washington, D.C.

One of the issues Baldwin’s office said she’ll work on is addressing the epidemic of murdered and missing Indigenous women by strengthening the Violence Against Women Act.

Murder is among the leading causes of death for American Indian/Alaska Native women, but formal data on the problem are not available. And Indigenous women in the U.S. are three times more likely to be murdered than white women, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who is the first Native American to hold the position, announced the creation of a national unit to address the issue this year.

And last year, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul created the MMIW (Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women) Task Force, which aims to provide suggestions to law enforcement and elected officials about how to address the epidemic.

Baldwin’s office said she also will address broadband issues on rural Indigenous reservations.

“Lack of broadband access is still a major issue for tribal schools, economic development and mental health,” Baldwin’s office said in a statement. “The (Red Cliff) tribe has applied for a grant at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program and Sen. Baldwin provided a letter of support.”

Baldwin said she also supports a $2 billion investment in the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program to be included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers last year created a task force to look at expanding broadband access across the state, including on Indigenous rural reservations. The problem was amplified when students needed to work from home because of pandemic.\

Baldwin said she also supports funding and integrating Indigenous language programs into public schools.

Tribal education departments, as well as grassroots organizations, are working to increase Indigenous language proficiency throughout Wisconsin.