Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative

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The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative was created in June 2021 by Deb Haaland, the United States Secretary of the Interior, to investigate defunct residential boarding schools established under the Civilization Fund Act and that housed Native American children. [1] [2] It is an effort to document known schools and burial grounds, including those with unmarked graves. There will be an attempt to identify and repatriate children's remains to their families or nations.

Contents

Creation

Haaland announced the creation of the initiative at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) 2021 Mid Year Conference. She initiated this in response to an announcement in May 2021 of the discovery of 215 unidentified remains found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, which had a large program of boarding schools similar to those in the United States for assimilation of native children. [3] [4]

The initiative will involve an investigation of boarding schools in the United States and former territories in an effort to document all known schools, assess their effects, and identify missing children. Haaland said that teams would find and review records, and speak with members of local tribes and survivors. Effects of the schools are to be documented, in addition to recording accounts of missing children. [5] Plans are underway to have investigations of unmarked graves at some of the larger schools.

Initially projected for release in April 2022, the first report was released May 11, 2022. In addition to documenting hundreds of schools and their programs, it includes next steps in the federal initiative, including a search for children's remains. [6] [7]

It is estimated that there were over 350 American Indian boarding schools in operation across the United States at one time. There are still Native American boarding schools in operation through the Department of the Interior, [8] [9] but these schools are now under day-to-day management by the Bureau of Indian Education. [10]

The investigation includes a series of Road to Healing events to bring together survivors and their stories. [11]

Reception

This initiative was applauded by Native tribes and organizations, including the National Congress of American Indians, the National Indian Child Welfare Association, Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, and National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. [12] [13] [14] [15] National Congress of American Indians President, Fawn Sharp, of the Quinault Indian Nation [16] released the following statement on the initiative:

"“The National Congress of American Indians commends the Department of Interior for taking the essential first step of providing an official account of the atrocities that Native children experienced during the boarding school era. By documenting who, what, when and where these egregious abuses occurred, Native families may not be able to fully heal, but they may be able to begin to reconcile with the past. Many mothers, fathers, siblings, and children of boarding school victims and survivors have walked on without ever knowing the full extent of what happened to their loved ones. But knowledge is power. By learning the truth, we can finally begin reconciling the past and healing for the future.”." [17]

Collaboration

Upon hearing of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, Canadian Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett offered records to the United States, if needed, that had been collected by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation since 2016. [18] Numerous tribes and First Nations have territories that span the historic border between Canada and the US, and their children may have been in schools on either side.

Findings of the Report

On May 11, 2022, Volume 1 of the report was released. In addition to summarizing the investigation, it identified further steps that would need to be taken. A second volume is anticipated. As information for Volume 1 was being collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, many federal offices were closed, which hindered investigation efforts. [19]

Volume 1, officially named the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report [20] identifies 408 boarding schools and at least 53 burial sites that operated across the mainland United States, Alaska, and Hawaii over a 150-year period. The 106-page report explains the laws and policies that aided in creation of the schools, the role of religious organizations in running the schools, and some of the adverse practices and conditions that prevailed in treatment of native children to force assimilation. [21] [22]

Volume 2, officially named the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report Vol. II, discovered that sixty-five federal boarding schools contained gravesites for Native American children, and found that "at least" 973 children died in the federal school system. [23] [24]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Secretary of the Interior</span> Head of the United States Department of the Interior

The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natural resources, leading such agencies as the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Geological Survey, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Park Service. The secretary also serves on and appoints the private citizens on the National Park Foundation Board. The secretary is a member of the United States Cabinet and reports to the president of the United States. The function of the U.S. Department of the Interior is different from that of the interior minister designated in many other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Department of the Interior</span> Department of the US federal government

The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, territorial affairs, and insular areas of the United States, as well as programs related to historic preservation. About 75% of federal public land is managed by the department, with most of the remainder managed by the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. The department was created on March 3, 1849. It is headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bureau of Indian Affairs</span> US government agency

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to Native Americans and Alaska Natives, and administering and managing over 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km2) of reservations held in trust by the U.S. federal government for indigenous tribes. It renders services to roughly 2 million indigenous Americans across 574 federally recognized tribes. The BIA is governed by a director and overseen by the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, who answers to the Secretary of the Interior.

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The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by various Christian churches. The school system was created to isolate Indigenous children from the influence of their own culture and religion in order to assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. Over the course of the system's more than hundred-year existence, around 150,000 children were placed in residential schools nationally. By the 1930s, about 30 percent of Indigenous children were attending residential schools. The number of school-related deaths remains unknown due to incomplete records. Estimates range from 3,200 to over 30,000, mostly from disease.

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Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) is a tribal boarding secondary school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).

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The Kamloops Indian Residential School was part of the Canadian Indian residential school system. Located in Kamloops, British Columbia, it was once the largest residential school in Canada, with its enrolment peaking at 500 in the 1950s. The school was established in 1890 and operated until 1969, when it was taken over from the Catholic Church by the federal government to be used as a day school residence. It closed in 1978. The school building still stands today, and is located on the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation.

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The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist U.S. federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilation of their people. These were in contradiction of their treaty rights and status as sovereign entities. The organization continues to be an association of federally recognized and state-recognized Indian tribes.

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American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid-17th to the early 20th centuries with a primary objective of "civilizing" or assimilating Native American children and youth into Anglo-American culture. In the process, these schools denigrated Native American culture and made children give up their languages and religion. At the same time the schools provided a basic Western education. These boarding schools were first established by Christian missionaries of various denominations. The missionaries were often approved by the federal government to start both missions and schools on reservations, especially in the lightly populated areas of the West. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries especially, the government paid Church denominations to provide basic education to Native American children on reservations, and later established its own schools on reservations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) also founded additional off-reservation boarding schools. Similarly to schools that taught speakers of immigrant languages, the curriculum was rooted in linguistic imperialism, the English only movement, and forced assimilation enforced by corporal punishment. These sometimes drew children from a variety of tribes. In addition, religious orders established off-reservation schools.

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References

  1. ↑ "Secretary Haaland Announces Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative". doi.gov. U.S. Department of the Interior. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  2. ↑ Hauser,Grullón Paz, Christine,Isabella (23 June 2021). "U.S. to Search Former Native American Schools for Children's Remains". nytimes.com. The New York Times.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ Rickert, Levi (22 June 2021). "Indian Country Applauds Interior Sec. Haaland's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative". nativenewsonline.net. Native News Online.
  4. ↑ McCarten, James (27 June 2021). "'A reckoning': Canada residential school developments prompt policy changes in U.S." globalnews.ca. Global News.
  5. ↑ Ascott, Emma (25 June 2021). "Enduring trauma: Indigenous boarding schools will be investigated, Interior Secretary Haaland announces". cronkitenews.azpbs.org. Cronkite News.
  6. ↑ Hauser,Grullón Paz, Christine,Isabella (23 June 2021). "U.S. to Search Former Native American Schools for Children's Remains". nytimes.com. The New York Times.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ "Department of the Interior Releases Investigative Report, Outlines Next Steps in Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative". doi.gov/. U.S. Department of the Interior. 11 May 2022.
  8. ↑ Brooks, Brad (22 June 2021). "Native Americans decry unmarked graves, untold history of boarding schools". reuters.com. Reuters.
  9. ↑ "US INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL HISTORY". boardingschoolhealing.org. Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  10. ↑ "Secretary Haaland Announces Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative". doi.gov. U.S. Department of the Interior. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  11. ↑ Heller, Karen (July 17, 2023). "Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's charged mission of healing". Washington Post.
  12. ↑ Rickert, Levi (22 June 2021). "Indian Country Applauds Interior Sec. Haaland's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative". nativenewsonline.net. Native News Online.
  13. ↑ "ISecretary of Interior Deb Haaland announces a comprehensive review of the federal Indian boarding school policies and their troubled legacy". nativenewsonline.net/. Native News Online. 22 June 2021.
  14. ↑ "NABS Supports Federal Indian Boarding School Investigation and Calls For A Congressional Truth Commission". www.indianz.com. Indianz. 25 June 2021.
  15. ↑ "Examination of boarding schools is overdue". santafenewmexican.com. The New Mexican. 26 June 2021.
  16. ↑ "President Fawn Sharp". www.ncai.org. National Congress of American Indians. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  17. ↑ Rickert, Levi (22 June 2021). "Indian Country Applauds Interior Sec. Haaland's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative". nativenewsonline.net. Native News Online.
  18. ↑ "Canada to provide residential school records to U.S. if needed: minister". kamloopsthisweek.com. Kamloops This Week. 23 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  19. ↑ "Department of the Interior Releases Investigative Report, Outlines Next Steps in Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative". doi.gov. U.S. Department of the Interior. 11 May 2022.
  20. ↑ Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report (PDF) (Report). U.S. Department of the Interior. May 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  21. ↑ Kunza, Jenna (11 May 2022). "Interior Department Releases Indian Boarding School Report". Native News Online. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  22. ↑ Chavez, Nicole (11 May 2022). "Interior Department says Native American children were forced into assimilation at 408 federal boarding schools". CNN. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  23. ↑ Press, Associated (2024-07-30). "At least 973 Native American children died in government boarding schools, inquiry finds". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-07-30.
  24. ↑ "Secretary Haaland Announces Major Milestones for Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative | U.S. Department of the Interior". DOI. 2024-07-30. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
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