For 45 years the White Buffalo Calf Women's Society has served vulnerable women and children in South Dakota.

The Society, a 5013 C non-profit programme, is located in south central South Dakota and was the first organisation of its kind in the United States, a Native American-run service providing shelter and support to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.

Prairie Rose Chapin, a Rosebud Sioux woman, is the Executive Director of the Society and spoke to National Indigenous Times during the 18th Annual Government-to-Government Violence Against Women Tribal Consultation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last week, involving federal authorities consulting with Tribal organisations and leaders, which is mandatory under federal US law.

"White Buffalo Calf Women's Society… was created and funded by Lakota grandmothers who saw there was a need to address violence against women, children and elders, and support those that are afflicted by domestic violence and family violence," she said.

"We are grateful for what we do have now as we progressed over time, the dynamics and designs of the White Buffalo Calf Women's Society is to provide an array of services to women that are affected by domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, human trafficking… We do young people's programs, youth programs, as well as the teen dating.

"We also go into the schools and do… programs for young ladies and younger girls. So that way, they're starting to learn about how to keep themselves safe and how to help others that are in need or need safety."

The Society's shelter, founded in 1978, now includes a 36-bed facility which Tribal leaders hope to expand.

"As much as a we are celebratory (for the upcoming 45th anniversary of the Society) it is almost with much sadness that we have to convey that we're still incurring family violence in our communities," said Ms Chapin.

"And the need for this growth, you know, went from, you know, from eight beds to what is now 36 beds and still needing more.

"We do help other Tribal nations, we help those in need. Now we're putting enlightenment on the LGBTQ communities as well. We have seen a few of those coming through our doors as well, in their time of need. Whether they're gay, bisexual or lesbian, we're going to help everybody."

As a 5013 C operation the Society relies on the assistance of those who "have the generosity, or the need, to help our shelter programmes be successful".

Ms Chapin noted that the OVW (Office of Violence Against Women) Office of Victim services under the Department of Justice Tribal consultation arose from an executive order issued by the White House in 2004 "for the United States government to have meaningful tribal consultations with the tribes, so United States government is able to create and develop objective plans to help the Tribal nations regarding violence in our communities and mostly regarding with women".

She added that social media had changed the dynamic of people's lives and so changed the nature of the Society's work.

"It also now incorporates the moral understanding with our culture, culture-specific areas such as bullying, stalking, family stalking, other people stalking, peer pressure, suicide issues. And there is so much - an array of - violence that is related to social media. So, we are trying to address those issues as well."

Ms Chapin noted that the "trust – responsibility" relationships between the US government and the sovereign Tribal nations are at the heart of the treaties.

"When they agreed to these treaties: it was our health care systems, it was our food, our rations, and, of course, our public safety and the general wellness - when they switched lands for this, for that, with our government treaties," she said.

"That's why these tribal consultations are so meaningful, because they listen to the tribes and are trying to help address the issues within the tribal communities."

Ms Chapin noted there are well over 500 federally recognised Tribal nations in the United States with distinct needs.

"That lets you know how many tribal leaders have sent designees, representatives - as well as tribal leaders themselves - that are here (at the consultation conference in Tulsa) to convey the information that is so dire in our communities," she said.

"The Department of Interior (has) oversight of what's going on between the United States government and our Tribal nations… (Federal authorities) also provide funding to the Department of Interior to be filtered down to Tribal nations under what they call Public Law 93 638 contracting. So, per se, the government says they have public safety oversight on our Tribal nations.

"That's why we're where we're at now, today, to say they provide the funding, we execute the contract as per agreed, however, they gave us the funding - but we're going to need more funding for more policy, procedure, training opportunities. Because the people are in dire need here, as well as any other Indian Nation throughout America.

"We have the same issues, but different nations and each is unique. Now we have missing murdered indigenous women. We have missing murdered indigenous relatives. We have domestic violence, family violence, we have cops that are shooting and cops that are killing. And they all revolve around back to training, training, training. It's not enough… we have to teach our culture to change."

Ms Chapin said it is both a public responsibility as well as an individual responsibility to teach the community's children to "be right and to be productive members of society".

"And, also to teach them cultural-specific ideals, ideology, historical information, so we can move forward."

She noted the social, health and economic damage alcohol and other drugs have done to Tribal nations.

"Too often, you know, the drugs and alcohol have infiltrated our reservation from the beginning of time as a trading source. And now it's still continuing to trading source because the economic development, we still have poor economics in Indian reservations," she said.

"Even now, today's inflation affects what we have received on reservations. Some reservations don't even have a store. You know, in order for us to even go to somewhere with the food chain like McDonald's, or to Walmart, is more than 100 miles away from most reservations. And it's the same with health care. Health care is challenging as well."

Ms Chapin said isolation and inadequate services put lives at risk during times of crisis, both natural and man-made.

"You know sometimes people die in this treacherous weather. We don't handle law enforcement, so with many crimes, especially violent crimes… it can take days to get that response. And some people die during while waiting for that response," she said.

"And it has happened quite a bit, you know, and we had an array of snow storms this past winter, where it was very life threatening, you know, six to eight feet of snow, and law enforcement or emergency services not able to respond. Those are the kinds of challenges that we have.

"When I was talking formally about the PIO 93 638 contracting, that included roads, we have dangerous road conditions in our areas, sometimes there's not even roads to follow. And there's not enough funding for the roads or the maintenance of the roads to bypass and Alaska tribes, they do boat, air, walk, they have to do other methods and ways to get help are what they need."

Ms Chapin said collaboration was the key to driving progress.

"Tribal governments and the (US) government have to meet in the middle somewhere. It was the United States government that created these Indian reservations for our Tribal nations to be housed on. So, we put pinpoint back to the trust responsibility of the United States government, to ensure they help us in what we need to ensure safety of our people on our reservations," she said.

"There's a lot of Treaty rights that were set aside by the United States government. And even though we receive health care, it's a poor health care system, still, we don't receive enough. We receive the basic need, there is no priority care.

"And for us saying you need dental work, and the dental work is more than just extracting a tooth, maybe that individual needs a filling or a root canal, there is still additional needs of the individual. All these things tie in to the welfare and harmonious peace of an individual… what they need to have basic health care.

"It's important, because there's so many disparities that we're dealing with at this time. They used to issue us rations. And my grandmother said, those weren't natural preservatives - we had commercial, these kinds of preservative foods. And that led to many of those tribal members to have diabetes.

"We're trying to teach our children to go back to the natural way of eating that is healthier for them, you know… because our bodies are still adapting, they're creating these new, what I call a physical psychosis."

Ms Chapin said there was still a great deal of work to be done to address the challenges and injustices faced by Tribal nations.

"There's so many things that have happened between the Tribal government and the United States government. And there's a lot of trust responsibility, but the government must always sit down with the Tribe and do their best in trying to create policies, training - the things that we need in Indian country to be productive and provide economic development in our communities," she said.

"Because they gave us land pieces that sometimes have nothing. Some Tribal nations have no water and there's still no water, they go to town to fill buckets for water, or canisters for water, just for basic need. Most of us don't even still have basic need today and it's 2023. So, yes, they need to have meaningful consultations with Tribal nations."