ST. PAUL — Minnesota’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives office has a new leader.

Guadalupe Lopez, who is a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, took over the office in July. The MMIR office was established in 2021 and seeks to address the disproportionate number of Indigenous people who go missing or are murdered.

Lopez said the role is a “natural fit” because of her extensive background in work on gender-based violence and she has a deep personal connection to the issue.

“I personally had people lose their life to violence, and I have blood relatives that are on some of those posters that we share,” she said. “So, that is why I do this, is to be the voice where we need to make change and to do so in collaboration with our tribal leaders, our legislators and our community l

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