Wednesday, September 17, 2025
10am AK/11am PT/12pm MT/1pm CT/2pm ET
Victim Advocacy Webinar for Legal Assistance for Victims (LAV), Expanding Legal Services Initiative (ELSI) Grantees and Other Legal Services Located on or Near Tribal Communities
Presenter will share importance of better interagency coordination and collaboration and effective collaboration that respects tribal sovereignty. Presenter will share the benefits of various teams such as Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART’s) and how services providers from all jurisdictions can come to the table for the purpose of sharing resources, information to better serve victim/survivors. Through such collaboration all parties, responders, services providers and communities can gain greater appreciation for culturally appropriate services particularly as it relates to legal assistance service delivery to advance victim safety and offender. A brief overview of special Tribal criminal jurisdiction and the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization of 2022 will also be discussed.
Learning Objectives
- Participants will understand how collaboration among responders, services providers and communities can provide culturally appropriate services particularly as it relates to legal assistance service delivery to advance victim safety and offender accountability
- Participants will understand the importance of interagency coordination and collaboration and effective collaboration that respects tribal sovereignty.
- Presenter will share the benefits of various teams such as Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART’s) and how services providers from all jurisdictions can come to the table for the purpose of sharing resources, information to better serve victim/survivors.
Presenters:
Bonnie Clairmont
Victim Advocacy Specialist
Tribal Law and Policy Institute
Bonnie Clairmont (Ho-Chunk) serves from TLPI’s Minnesota office as the Victim Advocacy Specialist. Prior to her employment with TLPI, she was the Outreach/Client Services Coordinator for Sexual Offense Services of Ramsey County, a rape crisis center. While employed there, Bonnie provided leadership in the development of Sexual Assault Response Teams and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs and offered guidance with multidisciplinary sexual assault protocol development. She has worked more than twenty-five years advocating for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. She has dedicated much of her work to providing and improving services for victim/survivors of sexual assault, battering, and child sexual abuse, particularly those from American Indian communities. For four years she coordinated the Strengthening the Circle of Trust Conference, a conference focusing on sexual assault and exploitation perpetrated by American Indian spiritual leaders/medicine men. Bonnie co-edited a recently published book “Sharing Our Stories of Survival” an anthology of writing by Native Women who’ve experienced violence. Bonnie provided technical assistance to research conducted by Amnesty International USA that led to the report, “Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect Indigenous Women from sexual violence in the USA.” She and her late partner Jim Clairmont have two children and five grandchildren.
Recording and Training Materials from webinar #1 (Recorded on July 17, 2025):
Recording and Training Materials from webinar #2 (Recorded August 20, 2025):
•Walking in the Shoes of Victims from Tribal Communities: Needs of Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence and Stalking (YouTube Link)
Upcoming Legal Advocacy Webinar Series:
Webinar 4
Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Title: Tribal Sovereignty and Tribal Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction
Description: In this webinar, participants will receive information on the history and importance of Inherent Tribal Sovereignty and why that premise is so important to Tribes. The webinar will then delve into Tribal civil and criminal jurisdiction in Indian country that is of paramount importance when providing legal assistance to Tribal clients in Indian country.
Webinar 5
Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Tite: Protection Orders, Full Faith and Credit
Description: In this webinar, participants will receive information on drafting enforceable protection orders. The discussion will include the elements necessary to invoke the Full Faith and Credit mandate of 18 U.S.C. 1966. The webinar will delve into drafting remedies tailored to meet the needs of the applicant for the protection order. The webinar concludes with a refresher of Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) 2022 covered crime of violation of a protection order committed by non-Indians in Indian country.
Webinar 6
Date: Wednesday December 17, 2025
Title: Attorneys and Advocates working together: Privacy, Confidentiality and Privilege
Description: Presenter will share importance of attorneys and advocates working collaboratively for victims of domestic violence and sexual violence to promote victim safety and a holistic approach to service providing. The webinar will explore the concepts of privacy, confidentiality and legal privilege. The webinar concludes with a discussion of the challenges presented and potential solutions to those challenges promoting privacy, confidentiality and privilege, featuring co-presentation by consultant Shelley Miller from the Native American Alliance Against Violence (NAAV) based in Oklahoma to discuss the experiences of the NAAV’s CIRCLE Project with these topics.
This project was supported by Grant No. 15JOVW-24-GK-03002-MUMU awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice.