The Missing Indigenous Person Task Force hosted a community listening session at the Helena Indian Alliance.
The community was invited to attend the event and discuss problems facing missing person cases.
According to the task force, indigenous people represent about 7% of Montana's population, yet they represent about 21% of missing person cases in the state.
The task force said, out of 145 missing person cases as of March 12, 2020, 31 of them involve indigenous people.
“As the task force, we really wanted to make sure that we fully understood the scope of missing persons in Montana and to do that, we really felt that we needed to go out, to talk to each community about what their needs and what their resources are to address the issues,” says Melissa Schlichting, the Presiding Officer of the task force.
“I think it’s always great to attend events where you can learn more about your neighbors and learn how to help them better. I always take the chance of doing that if you have the opportunity,” says Blake Sexton, an attendee at the event.
The next task force learning session is scheduled for April 15th, 2020 in Great Falls.
