A Special Message From Sen. Mary Kunesh

Nigigoonsikwe (Little Otter Woman) on Leech Lake Reservation. Nigig (Leech Lake) walks Highway 2 with others in honor of MMIR who go missing on this multi-state highway. Participants carry a staff that moves from person to person until the walk ends and a saging ceremony begins. February 2021 was the fourth year of the walk.

“Don’t put the report on a shelf and let it gather dust!” We heard that from the Canadian team that created its own inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous relatives (MMIR). Those words haunt me as we close our regular legislative session without completing our work.

One of the bills left on the table is the formation of a permanent MMIR office tucked into the Department of Safety. The decision to make this office a reality lies in the hands of two men: Leader Paul Gazelka and Chair Warren Limmer.

The legislation to create a new, historic office to continue the work of Minnesota’s MMIR Task Force easily passed the House and is prioritized by Governor Walz and Lt Governor Flanagan. Can you help us clear the roadblock to passage of SF 1989 in the final Public Safety and Judiciary Omnibus bill?

For hundreds of years, our Native communities have been at the whim of colonial dominance. Let’s not allow the historic neglect to continue.