Sierra Club Announces Support for Savanna’s Act, Joins Native-Led Movement for Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

Washington, D.C., -- Today, on the Day of Remembrance for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Sierra Club is joining the Native-Led movement for justice and endorsing Savanna’s Act.

Savanna’s Act is legislation introduced by Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). The legislation is designed to improve coordination and data collection among tribal, local, state and federal law enforcement in cases involving missing and murdered Native women.

“Savanna’s Act was named in memory of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a citizen of the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, one of the GPTCA tribes. At this moment, our women and girls are disturbingly vulnerable. The GPTCA tribes, particularly the Lakota-Dakota Nations in South Dakota, are in the eye of the human trafficking storm. The K-XL ‘man camps’ will increase that threat, which makes the passage of Savanna’s Act with our amendments all the more critical.” -- A. Gay Kingman, Executive Director, Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association

“I stand before you today, a full-blooded Native American woman, a Northern Arapaho/Hunkpapa Lakota. The statistics that hang over my head are these: I am among the most stalked, raped, murdered, sexually assaulted, and abused of any women in any ethnic group, and I am among those who suffer domestic violence 50 times higher than the national average. Savanna’s Act is long overdue.” -- Lynette Grey Bull, Senior Vice President – Global Indigenous Council & Founder of Not Our Native Daughters

“If you have a pulse, MMIW impacts you. You took form in the womb. You were nurtured surrounded by sacred water. You were born of a life-giver, a woman, and that woman was once a girl. Violence does not discriminate, and neither should our laws. Savanna’s Act, complete with the GIC-RMTLC-GPTCA amendments, is the least we can do for those who have been silenced. Upon passage, it will become their collective voice.” -- Rain Bear Stands Last, Executive Director – Global Indigenous Council/Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council MMIW Delegate

“In 15 years of conflict in Iraq the US suffered 4,541 fatalities. In 2016 alone, there were 5,712 reported MMIWG cases in the US. That should provide pause and context. We need to keep pushing this legislation until it is signed into law and ensure that Congress appropriates the funds to implement Savanna’s Act, complete with our amendments that are being moved by Senators Tester and Daines.” -- Tom Rodgers, Executive Vice President – Global Indigenous Council/Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council MMIW Delegate

“Savanna’s Act is a first step toward addressing the international crisis of murdered and missing Indigenous women -  a crisis that has impacted women in my own family. Thanks to the hard work and advocacy of Native-led groups, this legislation has real momentum. Sierra Club’s climate justice work and the struggle for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women are deeply interconnected. In fact, one of the drivers of violence against Native women is the well-documented ‘man camps’ which arise around pipeline construction and other fossil fuel industry sites. Native women deserve to feel safe - and be safe - on their homelands. Together, let's make it happen.” -- Nellis Kennedy-Howard, Sierra Club’s Director of Equity, Inclusion and Justice

Background on Savanna’s Act:

The tribal alliance of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council (RMTLC), the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association (GPTCA), and the Global Indigenous Council (GIC) has been at the forefront of recent efforts to secure meaningful legislation to combat the MMIW epidemic. Three bills introduced this year by Senators Murkowski, Udall, Smith, and Cortez-Masto incorporate recommendations made by the GIC-RMTLC-GPTCA alliance. In February 2019, Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), introduced the Studying the Missing and Murdered Indian Crisis Act. This legislative call for the Government Accountability Office to conduct a full review of how federal agencies respond to reports of missing and murdered Native Americans and recommend solutions based on their findings, originated with the RMTLC. In April 2019, Senator Tester and Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) committed to championing the GIC-RMTLC-GPTCA amendments to Savanna’s Act and to fulfilling that commitment by securing the inclusion of those amendments in the final bill. The amendments were previously supported by the bills original sponsor, former senator, Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and in the House, Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and Congresswomen Sharice Davids (D-KS) and Deb Haaland (D-NM).