New office in Denver to help find missing & murdered indigenous people: 'We needed a seat at the table'

Native communities across the country face a crisis of violence. Indigenous women and girls are more likely to be murdered or killed than any other group. 

After years of diligent effort, indigenous Coloradans are celebrating the creation of a new task force.

"It was meant to gather our community, so we can share our story, and then celebrate this as a win, for our community and for our families, with missing and murdered indigenous relatives," said Donna Chrisjohn, an advocate and co-chair of the Denver American Indian Commission.

On Wednesday, community members gathered at the Denver Indian Center to acknowledge the recent passage of SB22-150. The bill creates a standalone office that will focus on missing and murdered indigenous people in the state. This includes assisting with investigations and providing assistance for families.

It will also focus on policy building, and communications with state, local, and tribal governments.

"This came from the community. This came with input with these state agencies and understanding that we needed a seat at that table with that office to solve this crisis," said Raven Payment, who's been working behind the scenes to help create the taskforce.  

While the state only recognizes about 17 missing and murdered relatives, Chrisjohn said it's actually around 55, and while the creation of this office is a moment to celebrate,  there's still work that needs to be done.

"At the end of the session they did pass an amendment without our consent, and pushed the bill through, so that gave us like 70-80 percent of the bill, but we still have measures in that that we need to continue to fight for, and that will happen in the next session," said Chrisjohn.

Until then advocates want the community to know that the task force is there to support them.

"We have an office now that they can go to, that can be trusted to do what's right for the community without retraumatizing them," Payment said.

CBS4 reached out to Gov. Jared Polis' office to ask them about the task force, but they did not return our request as of this writing.