PORTLAND, Maine (AP) The reauthorized Violence Against Women Act includes language to make sure Maine’s Native American tribes are protected under it.
Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree, who pushed for the inclusion of the language, said Monday the change brings Maine’s tribes under the jurisdictional provisions of the Violence Against Women Act, as it does for other nationally recognized tribes.
Pingree said the previous lack of inclusion of the tribes caused them to “lose out on protections that have been extended to every other federally recognized tribe in the country.”
Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis said Native American women living in Wabanaki territories in Maine previously lacked access to protections and resources afford their peers elsewhere.
The tribes “will now be able to use all the resources available to protect Native women, children and public safety officers located on our lands,” he said.
