Nearly $1 million federal grant will boost Lummi Nation’s fight against domestic violence

Lummi Nation is receiving close to $1 million in federal funds to fight violence against women and children and retain tribal sovereignty over crimes committed on tribal land.

An award announced last week from the U.S. Department of Justice gives the Lummi Indian Business Council a total of $863,977 through the Office on Violence Against Women Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction Grant Program, according to a statement from U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

Funds will help pay for services for crime victims and provide support for tribal governments, including law enforcement, prosecutors, and tribal courts, to enhance safety and support tribal sovereignty, Cantwell said in a statement.

“Indigenous women and girls are at higher risk for murder, domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and stalking — tribal governments in the state of Washington need more resources to solve and prosecute these cases,” Sen. Cantwell said.

Grants totaling $6.9 million were awarded to police departments across the state, as well as the several Indigenous tribes. Money will also help prosecution of sex crimes and domestic violence, speed toxicology of fentanyl overdoses, and reduce a backlog of sex crime DNA testing, the statement said.

For Lummi Nation, funds “will help support the tribe in prosecuting domestic and sexual violence, trafficking, stalking, violence against children, violation of a protection order, and assault of a tribal officer. The project also aims to help the tribe maintain sovereignty, including when a crime is committed by a non-tribal member on tribal land,” according to a separate statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Cantwell voted to pass Violence Against Women Act in 1994 as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She has continued to support reauthorizing and expanding the law and helped to strengthen protections for Indigenous women and children, according to the statement.

More than 1.5 million — or 84% — of American Indian and Alaska Native women report experiencing violence in their lifetime, according to the National Institute for Justice.