SALT LAKE CITY — Native American communities and others gathered at the Utah Capitol to celebrate the passage of legislation that will create a task force to take an in-depth look at the disproportionate violence inflicted against indigenous women and girls.

HB116, sponsored by Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, soared through the Senate unanimously Tuesday under a suspension of the rules that made it so it only needed to be read once to pass. The House promptly approved the final amendments made on the Senate floor later that day, clearing the path to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert’s desk for his signature.

Yolanda Francisco-Nez, executive director of Restoring Ancestral Winds, said the violence inflicted against Native American women is worsened by incomplete data, poor institutional practices and protocol, and lack of resources.

The Urban Indian Health Institute published a report a few years ago that found Salt Lake City has the ninth-highest number of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls — the same study also ranked Utah as having the eighth most cases.

Even this data is hampered by reporting discrepancies.

Annita Lucchesi, the executive director of Sovereign Bodies Institute and producer of the report, said there were issues gathering the information from Salt Lake City.

“We had filed a (Freedom of Information) request with Salt Lake City (Police Department) and we did get data back and they later confirmed they made mistakes in that data that they didn’t really give us accurate information,” Lucchesi said.

Nationwide, American Indian women face a murder rate more than 10 times the national average, according to the Department of Justice.

Francisco-Nez said she wants to feel confident about her eldest granddaughter’s safety when she goes to a church activity, plays outside or does anything on her own.

“But because my granddaughter is Navajo — my granddaughters are Navajo — I’m not comfortable right now letting her go to places by herself,” she said. “Especially in Salt Lake City where I know that because she is an indigenous young woman she is vulnerable.”

The task force, which will identify gaps in local, state and federal enforcement agencies regarding data collection, has been two years in the making. Romero said she’s been working on the issue with Restoring Ancestral Winds for some time.

“What this task force will do is is let everyone in Utah know that there are many voices here in Utah and that we have to make sure we protect all voices,” Romero told the crowd who showed up to celebrate the legislation’s passage Tuesday.

Why a task force and what would it do?

A task force is necessary because there are gaps in reporting murdered and missing indigenous girls and women, Francisco-Nez said.

“There is a degree of these intersectional barriers of systematic oppression that continues to affect our Native communities and my hope is to see the task force will be able to really take a deep dive into understanding why the statistics are so high and where are we missing the mark as a society,” Francisco-Nez said.

The task force wouldn’t just focus on populations living on reservations. Like Francisco-Nez’s granddaughter, about 71% of Native Americans live in urban areas.

She explained that when an indigenous woman or girl is murdered they are often misclassified as a suicide or different cause of death.

It was only a few years ago that the national missing persons database even entered American Indian as the race of an individual, Francisco-Nez said.

Lucchesi, a survivor of domestic and sexual violence, created the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Database to help fill data gaps by logging cases in both Canada and the U.S. In 2019 she launched Sovereign Bodies Institute to house the database so it can be “collectively owned by indigenous people.”

Who would be on the task force?

The nine member task force would be composed of Romero, Senate sponsor Sen. David Hinkins, R-Orangeville, a member of a nonprofit organization serving Utah’s Native American community, a representative of a victim advocate organization, a representative from a Utah Native American tribe, the director of the Division of Indian Affairs or the director’s designee, the executive director of the Department of Human Services or their designee, the attorney general, and the Department of Public Safety commissioner of public safety.

The federal government recently started its own task force to examine violence against Indigenous women and girls.

Francisco-Nez said the task force, titled Operation Lady Justice, is important because it highlights “the injustice that is happening to victims in Indian Country in urban settings.”

Though some, including Democratic Congresswoman Deb Holland of New Mexico, criticized the task force in a press release, saying “the DOJ’s plan reflects a lack of consultation and with tribes, which is a pattern of this administration on all Indian Country issues.”

Utah’s task force, however, will include an individual from a Utah Native American tribe along with representation from organizations already serving the community.

Francisco-Nez said that including the voice of a Native American women would bring her personal experience to the task force and would also enable the other members to better consider situations they may not understand or have ever experienced — especially because elected officials are often part of the majority population and may have different priorities.

Why is it difficult for tribes to prosecute perpetrators?

Hinkins, who serves as a chairman for the Native American Legislative Liaison Committee and whose district covers the Navajo Nation, told the Deseret News he believes a task force is necessary because there are difficulties coordinating between the county sheriff and the Navajo police force.

He said his sheriffs don’t have any jurisdiction on the reservation nor does the Navajo police force have any off, which makes coordinating on missing and murdered cases difficult.

“Hopefully we can get this worked out where we can have our detectives follow up and see where these people are disappearing and being abused,” Hinkins said. “We are just hoping we can save lives.”

Francisco-Nez explained that nonnative people who come onto reservations to commit a felony generally get away with it.

If caught, tribal police can hold them for a minimum span of time, she said. Tribal police can call the FBI who will come onto the reservation to conduct an investigation and decide if the case is winnable.

“In the past we have seen the FBI not prosecute these offenders. What you have is individuals that are essentially coming onto the reservation, committing a crime and getting away with it,” she said.

In 2010, then-President Barack Obama signed the Tribal Law and Order Act intending to address crime in tribal communities by encouraging the hiring of additional law enforcement officers and enhancing their ability to punish perpetrators.

But there are a lot of requirements under that act that many tribes do not have the capacity to fund what it’s going to take to implement that act, Francisco-Nez said, pointing out that tribes need to meet specific requirements to use the act within reservations.

Moving forward

Later in the afternoon after the Legislature passed the bill, indigenous women, girls and others from the Native American community gathered to celebrate.

“Today is a day of celebration and healing,” Francisco-Nez told listeners in the Capitol’s rotunda. “We do not walk alone. The prayers of many have been answered.”

Romero and Hinkins each left their respective floor time to say a few words.

“We need to insure that women who are marginalized are not silenced and that their voices are heard.” Romero said. “As an elected official, as a women of color, that’s my role here.”