GREAT FALLS, Mont.-In Great Falls, Montana, the public school administrators have set up 12 teepees to represent the 12 tribes of Montana. The structures will remain in place, overlooking the city, thoughout the month of November. During different weeks, the tepees will be lit in different colored lights-multicolored, representing diversity; red lights to recognize the missing and murdered indigenous people crisis; and orange lights, representing Every Child Matters.
Most of the Montana Native Americans are members of twelve tribal nations: Assiniboine, Blackfeet, Chippewa, Cree, Crow, Gros Ventre, Kootenai, Little Shell Chippewa, Northern Cheyenne, Pend d'Oreille, Salish and Sioux.