[Senate Report 118-187]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 432
118th Congress} { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 118-187
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TRUTH AND HEALING COMMISSION ON INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL POLICIES ACT
OF 2023
_______
July 8, 2024.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Schatz, from the Committee on Indian Affairs,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1723]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the
bill (S. 1723) to establish the Truth and Healing Commission on
Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States, and for
other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably
thereon, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, and
recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
PURPOSE
To establish a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian
Boarding School Policies (Commission) in the United States, and
other advisory committees and subcommittees; formally
investigate, document, and report on the histories of Indian
Boarding Schools and their systematic and long-term effects on
Native American peoples; develop recommendations for federal
action based on the findings of the Commission; and promote
healing for survivors, descendants, and communities affected by
Indian Boarding Schools.
BACKGROUND
Before European contact, Native peoples maintained unique
educational systems rooted in community and designed to meet
the needs of their environments and cultures.\1\ The arrival of
Europeans to North America and the Pacific Islands ushered in
an era of attempted assimilation of Native peoples into
European-American ways of life.\2\ Systemic attempts to
eliminate Native languages, religions, and cultures, and end
resistance to colonization, began as early as the 17th and 18th
centuries, with the founding of some of the country's oldest
educational institutions.34
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\1\K. Tsianina Lomawaima & Teresa McCarty, To Remain an Indian:
Lessons in Democracy from a Century of Native American Education
(2006).
\2\See generally Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law,
22.03[1][a] (2012 ed. & 2019 Supp.).
\3\Indian Education: A National Tragedy, A National Challenge, S.
Comm. on Labor and Public Welfare, Special Subcomm. on Indian Educ., S.
Rep. No. 91-501 (1969) (highlighting examples such as King James IV of
Scotland (James I of England) calling for Anglican clergy to fund the
education of the ``children of these Barbarians in Virginia'' in 1617).
See also Harvard University Charter of 1650 (1650), https://
guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=880222&p=6323072 (``[for purposes
of, among other things] the education of the English and Indian youths
of this country, in knowledge and godliness''); Royal Charter
establishing the College of William & Mary in Virginia (1693), https://
scrc-kb.libraries.wm.edu/royal-
charter#Transcription+of+the+Royal+Charter (establishing the college so
that, among other things, ``the Christian faith may be propagated
amongst the Western Indians'').
\4\Dartmouth College Charter (1769), https://www.dartmouth.edu/
library/rauner/dartmouth/dartmouth-college-charter.html (establishing
the ``design of spreading Christin knowledge among the saves of [the]
American Wilderness'' by means of ``education and instruction of youth
of the Indian tribes . . . which shall appear necessary and expedient
for civilizing and christianizing children of pagans''); see Colin
Calloway, The Indian History of an American Institution: Native
Americans at Dartmouth (2010); see also Stephen W. Haycox, Alaska: An
American Colony 146 (2002).
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Assimilationist practices and policies through compelled
education were not limited to formal institutions. For example,
in the 1780s, Russian fur trading companies in Alaska took
Native boys hostage, sent them to training schools, and forced
them into servitude as navigators, interpreters, and seamen.\5\
In other cases, training schools were founded by religious
institutions and later funded by the federal government. In
1878, Presbyterian missionaries established a day school in
Sitka, Alaska, at a former military barracks. The Sheldon
Jackson School, so called after its founder, sought to ``house
and educate . . . `with the intent to encourage Native
Americans to adopt Euro-American culture.'''\6\ Jackson was
named the General Agent of Education in Alaska in 1885, and in
this position, created ``contract schools'' in which the
federal government contracted with religious missionary
associations to establish schools in remote villages across
Alaska.\7\ Whether carried out in formal educational settings
or in day, industrial, training, contract, or other schools,
the forced ``education'' of Native children has a long history
in the United States that implicates a number of institutions,
including the federal government, all with the same mission:
``kill the Indian in him, and save the man.''\8\
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\5\Svetlana G. Fedorova, The Russian Population in Alaska and
California Late 18th Century--1867 242-243 (Richard A. Pierce et al.,
ed. & trans., 1973). Following admission to statehood, some former
Russian schools in Alaska continued to operate through church parishes.
Id. at 266.
\6\Nat'l Park Serv. National Historic Landmark Nomination, Sheldon
Jackson School (2001) at 5.
\7\Stephen W. Haycox, Sheldon Jackson in Historical Perspective:
Alaska Native Schools and Mission Contracts, 1885-1894, 28 The Pac.
Hist. 1, 18-28 (1984).
\8\See Captain R.H. Pratt, The Advantages of Mingling Indians with
Whites, in Americanizing the American Indians: Writings by the
``Friends of the Indian,'' 1880-1900 (Francis Paul Prucha ed., 1973).
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Federal Support for Forced Assimilation Through Education of Native
Children
By the early 1800s, the United States began a campaign of
forced assimilation under the guise of educating Native youth,
formalizing the practice after the War of 1812. In 1819,
Congress passed the Indian Civilization Fund Act to provide for
federal oversight of the education of Native peoples and to
establish an annual ``civilization fund'' of $10,000 per year
for the purposes of converting them to European ways of living,
speaking, and acting.\9\ Most of these funds were provided to
churches and their mission schools;\10\ in Hawai`i,
missionaries from the United States established day schools and
boarding schools primarily aimed at ``civilizing'' and
converting Native Hawaiians to Christianity.\11\ Over time, the
federal government centralized administration of Indian
educational efforts under the Commission of Indian Affairs
within the Department of the Interior (DOI), the successor in
jurisdiction to the Department of War.\12\ By 1838, the federal
government operated 16 manual training schools with
approximately 800 Native students, and 87 boarding schools with
approximately 2,900 Native students.\13\ The policies of these
schools were rooted in a belief that Native peoples were
``barbarous and heathen . . . [and] `wedded to savage habits,
customs, and prejudices''' which could be ``cured'' through
manual training and labor.\14\
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\9\Act of March 3, 1819, ch. 85, 3 Stat. 516 (codified at 25 U.S.C.
Sec. 271). Annual appropriations to fund Indian education continued
under the Indian Civilization Fund Act until repealed in 1873 by the
Act of Feb. 14, 1873, Ch. 138, 17 Stat. 437, 461. See generally Cohen's
Handbook of Federal Indian Law, 22.03[1][a] at 1329-30 & n.6.
\10\See S. Rep. No. 91-501 at 11, 143 (1969).
\11\See U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report (2022) (``In 1836 . . . missionaries
formed the Hilo Boarding School . . . [t]he Charter of the Hilo
Boarding School . . . required schooling of Native Hawaiian male
children in . . . Christian living . . . coupled with manual labor to
promote good citizenship training.'').
\12\See Letter from John C. Calhoun, U.S. Sec'y of War, to Thomas
L. McKenney (Mar. 11, 1824), in H.R. Doc. No. 19-146, at 6 (1826); 25
U.S.C. Sec. 1; Act of July 9, 1832, Ch. 174, 4 Stat. 564.
\13\S. Rep. No. 91-501, at 11 (1969).
\14\Id. at 8.
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Accordingly, in 1879, the federal government opened one of
the first off-reservation boarding schools, the Carlisle Indian
Industrial School, in an abandoned U.S. Army barracks in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania.\15\ Richard Henry Pratt, an Army
officer and founder of the School, established a ``rapid
coercive assimilation'' approach that became the model for the
federal Indian boarding school system, and required ``severe
[military] discipline . . . to separate a child from his
reservation and family, strip him of tribal lore and mores,
force the complete abandonment of his native language, and
prepare him in such a way that he would never return to his
people.''\16\ General Pratt's approach at Carlisle was rooted
in his experience with American Indians held as prisoners of
war at the Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School,\17\
which is regarded as the nation's first residential experiment
in educating American Indians as a means of preparing them for
citizenship.\18\ Hampton's founder, General Samuel C.
Armstrong, was influenced by his parents and other missionaries
in Hawai`i who were involved in the education of Native
Hawaiian children. Believing that ``the Polynesian, like the
Negro, suffered from a `deficiency of character,'''\19\ General
Armstrong modeled Hampton after the Hilo Boys' Boarding School
in Hawai`i, a missionary-run boarding school established to
primarily convert Native Hawaiians to Christianity and,
ultimately, ``civilize'' them through manual labor and
training.\20\ Hampton continued as a boarding school for
American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians until
1923.\21\
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\15\Id. at 147.
\16\Id. at 148.
\17\Jon L. Brudvig, ``Make Haste Slowly:'' The Experiences of
American Indian Women at Hampton Institute, 1878-1923 1 (2005), https:/
/www.se.edu/native-american/wp-content/uploads/sites/49/2019/09/
Proceedings-2005-Brudvig.pdf (``Hampton . . . was established in 1868
to serve the . . . needs of recently emancipated slaves . . . American
Indian students [formerly prisoners of war] came to Hampton . . . [and]
their presence . . . spawned the development of off-reservation
boarding schools'').
\18\Id.
\19\Ralph Canevali, Hilo Boarding School: Hawai`i's Experiment in
Vocational Education 92 (1977), https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/
5014889.pdf.
\20\C. Kalani Beyer, The Connection of Samuel Chapman Armstrong as
Both Borrower and Architect of Education in Hawai`i (2007), https://
www.cambridge.org/core/journals/history-of-
education-quarterly/article/abs/connection-of-samuel-chapman-armstrong-
as-both-borrower-and-
architect-of-education-in-hawaii/15E99DC33C913D9485CE7773D158C046.
\21\See generally Ralph Canevali, Hilo Boarding School: Hawai`i's
Experiment in Vocational Education (1977), https://core.ac.uk/download/
pdf/5014889.pdf.
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As mission-run boarding schools expanded their reach
throughout the country and to the Hawai`i territory, Congress
authorized the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to promulgate
regulations ``to secure the attendance'' of Indian children at
such schools in 1891.\22\ These regulations applied to all
Indian children between the ages of five and eighteen (whether
living on or off-reservation), permitted the use of law
enforcement to compel attendance,\23\ and authorized the
withholding of clothes, rations, and other annuities from non-
compliant parents or guardians.\24\ The overarching federal
goal of compelled schooling was to reduce the cost of fighting
with Indian Tribes and, ultimately, dispossess them of their
homelands through the complete elimination of their languages,
cultures, and social bonds.\25\
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\22\Act of March 3, 1891, ch. 543, 26 Stat. 989, 1014.
\23\U.S. Cong. Serial Set, Vol. 2934, at 158-159 (1891).
\24\Act of March 3, 1891, Ch. 543, 26 Stat. 989, 1035. See S. Rep.
No. 91-501 at 151 (1969).
\25\Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5444, Truth and Healing Commission
on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act Before the Subcomm. on
Indigenous Peoples of the H. Comm. on Nat. Res., 117th Cong. (2022)
(statement of Deborah Parker, Nat'l Native Boarding School Healing
Coalition).
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Once at the schools, Native children were subject to
systematic violence, including corporal and psychological
punishment such as shaving heads to remove traditional
hairstyles; confinement; flogging and whipping for speaking a
Native language or engaging in other prohibited conduct;
handcuffing; having older children punish younger ones; sexual
abuse; neglect; and malnourishment.\26\ In some cases, children
would be ``lent'' to nearby communities or adjacent states to
work as servants and farm laborers, in what were commonly known
as ``outing programs.''\27\ Placement at these schools led to
disease, death, and the fraying of Native languages, cultural
practices, and social life;\28\ the physical and psychological
effects of these experiences created lasting intergenerational
trauma for survivors and their families.\29\
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\26\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report 7-8 (2022).
\27\See, e.g., Kevin Whalen, Beyond School Walls: Race, Labor, and
Indian Education in Southern California, 1902-1940 (2014) (Ph.D.
dissertation, University of California Riverside); Kevin Whalen, Native
Students at Work: American Indian Labor and Sherman Institute's Outing
Program, 1900-1945 (University of Washington Press 2018).
\28\See supra notes 7 & 25; see also, Juliet Larking-Gilmore,
Homesick: Disease and Distance in American Indian Boarding Schools,
Remedia (Nov. 18, 2016), https://remedianetwork.wordpress.com/2016/11/
18/homesick-disease-and-distance-in-american-indian-boarding-schools/;
Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5444, Truth and Healing Commission on
Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act Before the Subcomm. on Indigenous
Peoples of the H. Comm. on Nat. Res., 117th Cong. (2022) (statement of
James LaBelle Sr., National Native Boarding School Healing Coalition);
Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5444, Truth and Healing Commission on
Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act Before the Subcomm. on Indigenous
Peoples of the H. Comm. on Nat. Res., 117th Cong. (2022) (statement of
Matthew War Bonnet, boarding school survivor).
\29\See e.g., Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5444, Truth and Healing
Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act Before the Subcomm.
on Indigenous Peoples of the H. Comm. on Nat. Res., 117th Cong. (2022)
(statement of James LaBelle Sr., National Native Boarding School
Healing Coalition); Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5444, Truth and Healing
Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act Before the Subcomm.
on Indigenous Peoples of the H. Comm. on Nat. Res., 117th Cong. (2022)
(statement of Matthew War Bonnet, boarding school survivor); Amy Bombay
et al., The Intergenerational Effects of Indian Residential Schools:
Implications for the Concept of Historical Trauma, 51 Transcultural
Psychiatry 3 (2014); Hope MacDonald Lonetree, Healing from the Trauma
of Federal Residential Indian Boarding Schools, Administration for
Children and Families (Nov. 24, 2021), https://www.acf.hhs.gov/blog/
2021/11/healing-
trauma-federal-residential-indian-boarding-schools.
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Compounding such cruelty, official school policies (or in
some cases, simple geography) kept children and their parents
and families apart. In an 1886 report to the Secretary of the
Interior, Indian School Superintendent John B. Riley wrote,
``[i]f it be admitted that education affords the true solution
to the Indian problem, then it must be admitted that the
boarding school is the very key to the situation.''\30\ Riley
went on to say, ``[o]nly by complete isolation of the Indian
child from his savage antecedents can he be satisfactorily
educated . . . .''\31\ Such techniques were also used by
mission-run schools. For example, in 1887, an Alaska Native
mother sought a writ of habeas corpus to free her child from a
government-funded Presbyterian Boarding School in Sitka,
Alaska. While the judge allowed limited visitation, he required
the child to stay at the school, writing, ``It is the
experience of those who have been engaged in these Indian
schools that, to make them effectual as disseminators of
civilization, Indian children should, at a tender and
impressionable age, be entirely withdrawn from the camp, and
placed under the control of these schools. [Allowing parents to
take their children home] would render all efforts of both the
government and missions to civilize them abortive.''\32\
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\30\Annual Report of the Indian School Superintendent to the
Secretary of the Interior 137 (1886).
\31\Id.
\32\In re Can-ah-couqua, 29 F. 687, 690 (D. Alaska 1887).
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According to DOI's Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report, as of May 2022, the federal
government supported or operated at least 408\33\ Indian
boarding schools between 1819 and 1969, across 37 states or
territories.\34\ The total number of Native children who
attended these schools is unknown, but many did not survive and
their remains never returned home.
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\33\The National Native American Boarding School Coalition, Indian
Boarding Schools in the United States (2023), https://
boardingschoolhealing.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/National-
Native-American-Boarding-School-Healing-Coalition_List-of-Indian-
boarding-schools-in-US_August-2023.pdf (identifying a total of 523
Indian Boarding Schools operating between 1801 and the present).
\34\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report 83 (2022) (reporting 21 schools in
Alaska, 7 in Hawai`i, 12 in Kansas, 21 in Minnesota, 16 in Montana, 3
in Nevada, 43 in New Mexico, 12 in North Dakota, 76 in Oklahoma, 30 in
South Dakota, and 15 in Washington).
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FEDERAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO INDIAN EDUCATION\35\
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\35\See Indian Education: A National Tragedy, A National Challenge,
S. Comm. on Labor and Public Welfare, Special Subcomm. on Indian Educ.,
S. Rep. No. 91-501 (1969). Although not explicitly focused on Indian
Boarding Schools, in 1928 and again in 1969, DOI and the United States
Senate, respectively, conducted investigations into the state of Indian
education in the United States.
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The Problem of Indian Administration (Meriam Report)--1928
On June 12, 1926, Secretary of the Interior Huber Work
commissioned the Institute for Government Research, later
renamed the Brookings Institute, to conduct a comprehensive
survey of Indian affairs in the United States.\36\ The survey,
named the ``Meriam Report'' after its author, focused on a
number of areas, including industrial, social, and medical
activities, property rights, economic conditions, and education
of Indian peoples. The Report compared these activities as
carried out within the DOI's Office of Indian Services to
similar programs implemented by other federal agencies.
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\36\Lewis Meriam, Institute for Government Research, The Problem of
Indian Administration (1928) [hereinafter Meriam Report].
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Generally, the Report laid bare Interior's ineffective and
inadequate oversight of Indian affairs, finding that ``an
overwhelming majority of the Indians are poor, even extremely
poor . . .'' and suffer from a ``vicious circle of poverty . .
. . .''\37\ On Indian education, and boarding schools
specifically, the Report concluded that ``the provisions for
the care of the Indian children in boarding schools are grossly
inadequate,'' and that ``even at the best schools these sources
do not fully meet the requirements for the health and
development of the children. At the worst schools, the
situation is serious in the extreme.''\38\ It specified four
general deficiencies in Indian education at the time:
inappropriate pedagogy;\39\ lack of funds;\40\ lack of
personnel;\41\ and lack of qualified personnel.\42\ These
findings provided a foundation for the passage of the Johnson
O'Malley Act\43\ and the Indian Self Determination and
Education Assistance Act.\44\
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\37\Id. at 11.
\38\Meriam Report at 12.
\39\Id. at 346.
\40\Id. at 347.
\41\Id.
\42\Id.
\43\25 U.S.C. Sec. 5342 et seq. (1934).
\44\25 U.S.C. Sec. 5301 et seq. (1975).
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Indian Education: A National Tragedy--A National Challenge (Kennedy
Report)--1969
In 1967, the United States Senate established the Special
Subcommittee on Indian Education within the Committee on Labor
and Public Welfare, and specifically authorized it to examine,
investigate, and make a complete study of all matters
pertaining to the education of Indian children and related
issues.\45\ For over two years, the Subcommittee held hearings,
conducted document-based research, and traveled throughout
Indian country. Its final report, known as the Kennedy Report,
contained 60 recommendations and concluded that Indian
education was a failure and a ``national tragedy.'' The Kennedy
Report led to enactment of the Indian Education Act of 1972,
landmark legislation that established the U.S. Department of
Education's Office of Indian Education and the National
Advisory Council on Indian Education.\46\
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\45\S. Res. 165, 90th Cong. (1967).
\46\Indian Education: A National Tragedy, A National Challenge, S.
Comm. on Labor and Public Welfare, Special Subcomm. on Indian Educ., S.
Rep. No. 91-510, at 105-136 (1969).
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FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS
Department of the Interior Boarding School Initiative
On June 22, 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland
directed DOI, under the supervision of the Assistant
Secretary--Indian Affairs, to investigate and prepare a report
detailing the impacts of the federal Indian boarding school
program that operated between 1819 and 1969.\47\ The first
volume of the report, released on May 11, 2022, documents and
affirms that the United States targeted American Indian, Alaska
Native, and Native Hawaiian children as part of its
assimilation and territorial dispossession efforts,\48\ and
presents evidence that the Federal Indian boarding school
system engaged in systematic, militarized, and identity-
altering practices\49\ to culturally assimilate American
Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children as a ``cost
saving'' method to decrease the likelihood of war with Native
nations and ultimately dispossess them of their lands.\50\ In
light of such evidence, the Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs
recommended inter alia that the DOI ``renounce forced
assimilation of Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, and the
Native Hawaiian Community as a legitimate policy objective,''
as well as produce a second report, with additional
investigation that includes a full accounting of federal
support for the federal Indian boarding school system.\51\
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\47\Memorandum from the Sec'y of the Interior to Assistant Sec'ys,
Principal Deputy Assistant Sec'ys, Heads of Bureaus, and Offices (Jun.
22, 2021) (on file with the U.S. Dep't of the Interior), https://
doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/secint-memo-esb46-01914-federal-indian-
boarding-school-truth-initiative-2021-06-22-final508-1.pdf.
\48\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report 5 (2022).
\49\Id. at 7 (Such practices included renaming children in English,
cutting their hair, discouraging or preventing the use of Native
languages and religious and cultural practices, organizing children
into units to perform military-style drills, and employing various
forms of corporal and psychological punishment).
\50\Id. at 37, 38.
\51\Id. at 95, 97.
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TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION ACTIVITIES IN NORTH AMERICA
National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
The National Native American Boarding School Healing
Coalition (NABS) was formed in 2011 to develop a national
strategy to raise public awareness of federal Indian Boarding
School policies and support healing for survivors, their
families, and communities.\52\ Comprised of over 1,200 Native
and non-Native members and organizations, NABS conducts
historic and contemporary research and engages in public
education and advocacy.
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\52\See The National Native American Boarding School Healing
Coalition, https://boardingschoolhealing.org/ (last visited June 20,
2024).
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Notably, NABS maintains a first of its kind ``National
Indian Boarding School Digital Archive'' of digitized records
and collections documenting information related to Indian
boarding schools, as well as an interactive map showing the
locations of each of the 523 Indian boarding schools identified
to date.\53\ NABS also collaborates with organizations,
including Canada's National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
and the National Indian Education Association, to develop
culturally-based curriculum for educators, and works with the
American Indian College Fund to provide scholarships to
descendants of former Indian boarding school students. And,
through a grant from the DOI, NABS is building a record of
survivor testimony through an oral history project to document
the experiences of boarding school survivors and promote
healing.\54\
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\53\Interactive Digital Map of Indian Boarding Schools, The
National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, https://
boardingschoolhealing.org/digitalmap/ (last visited June 20, 2024).
\54\Press Release, U.S. Department of the Interior, Interior
Department Launches Effort to Preserve Federal Indian Boarding School
Oral History (Sept. 6, 2023) https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/
interior-department-launches-effort-preserve-federal-indian-boarding-
school-oral.
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As the leading advocacy organization dedicated to
understanding and addressing the legacy of federal Indian
Boarding School policies,\55\ NABS has provided extensive
testimony and subject matter expertise to Congress about the
need for legislation to create a federal commission to fully
investigate, document, and acknowledge these policies, and
promote healing for survivors.\56\
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\55\See, The National Native American Boarding School Healing
Coalition, 2023 Annual Report 5 (2023), https://
boardingschoolhealing.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Annual-Report-
NABS-2023_V2.pdf.
\56\See, e.g., Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5444, Truth and Healing
Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act Before the Subcomm.
on Indigenous Peoples of the H. Comm. on Nat. Res., 117th Cong. (2022);
Oversight Hearing on ``Volume 1 of the Department of the Interior's
Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report'' and
Legislative Hearing on S. 2907 Before the S. Comm. on Indian Affs.,
117th Cong. (2022).
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Maine-Wabanaki Truth and Reconciliation Commission
In 2012, the Wabanaki Confederacy\57\ and Maine Governor
Paul LePage signed a mandate establishing the first Tribal-
State Truth and Reconciliation Commission: the Maine-Wabanaki
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (MWTRC).\58\ The MWTRC's
purpose was to address the high rates at which Indian children
were being removed from Indian homes and placed in foster care
following enactment of the Indian Child Welfare Act of
1978.\59\ Between February 2013 and June 2015, the MWTRC
engaged in a truth-seeking process by interviewing over 150
people and traveling to numerous villages and communities to
receive testimony. In June 2015, the MWTRC published its final
report, which included sixteen findings and fourteen
recommendations for future action.\60\
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\57\Four Directions, https://fourdirectionsmaine.org/about-four-
directions/wabanaki-tribes/ (last visited Mar. 8, 2024) (the Wabanaki
Confederacy is a confederation of Eastern Algonquin Nations and
includes the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, the Houlton Band of Maliseet
Indians, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkmikuk (Indian Township), the
Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik (Pleasant Point), and the Penobscot
Indian Nation).
\58\Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation
Commission Mandate (June 29, 2012) (on file with the Senate Committee
on Indian Affairs) [hereinafter Maine TRC].
\59\Id. Because of the terms of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement
Act (P.L. 96-420), the application of the Indian Child Welfare Act to
Tribes in Maine varies among the Maine Tribes. See Remote Legislative
Hearing, House Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of
the United States, 117th Cong. (2022).
\60\Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, Report, Beyond The Mandate: Continuing The Conversation
(2015), https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/mainewabanakireach/pages/
17/attachments/original/1468974047/TRC-Report-
Expanded_July2015.pdf?1468974047.
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Alaska Native Heritage Center: Lach'qu Sukdu Research Program
In 2021, the Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) created
an Indigenous-led research program, Lach'qu Sukdu (``True
Story'' in the Dena'ina language), to investigate Federal
Indian boarding school system, among other goals. Such research
includes identifying the scope of the system, location of
schools and burial sites, and identification of children who
were part of the system. To date, Lach'qu Sukdu has identified
over 100 sites of former Indian boarding schools or
institutions in Alaska.
ANHC's Lach'qu Sukdu provides a place for Alaska Native
people to share information concerning assimilative boarding
schools in Alaska, increases access to information and
education, supports Alaska Native culture and heritage, and
promotes healing through the recognition of the history and
impacts of assimilative boarding schools. Lach'qu Sukdu is
partnering with ecclesial institutions, providing access to
Alaska Native community members, and leveraging research and
curatorial staff to catalogue primary source material, conduct
interviews, and map school locations. Through these inputs and
activities, Lach'qu Sukdu will promote accurate representations
of the Alaska Native experience of Federal Indian boarding
schools, create new models to facilitate healing from
historical trauma, and over the long-term improve linguistic
and cultural revitalization and promote reconciliation between
Alaska Native communities and assimilative institutions.\61\
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\61\Alaska Native Heritage Center, Cultural Programming, https://
www.alaskanative.net/cultural-programming/ (last visited Mar. 8, 2024)
(on file with on file with the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs).
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First Alaskans Institute--Alaska Truth, Racial Healing and
Transformation Movement
Starting in 2017, the First Alaskans Institute, in
partnership with Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation:
Alaska, developed a relational platform for transformation,
including a network of accountability partners to support
efforts related to Indigenous language education,
transformation of public education, and the advancement of
policies that center Alaska Native stewardship and protect
Alaska Native ways of being.\62\
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\62\W.K Kellogg Foundation, Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation,
https://healourcommunities.org/ (last visited Mar. 8, 2024).
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The Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation: Alaska
movement incorporates the knowledge and vision of Alaska Native
healers to foster healing and connectedness for thriving
communities.\63\ In connection with this movement, the First
Alaskans Institute trained media outlets on racial equity,
invited them to be accountability partners, and developed a
``How We Heal Toolkit'' to guide healing and reconciliation
processes.\64\ The toolkit is based on advice from traditional
healers about how to prepare for truth telling gatherings,
including preparation of the gathering place, resources, and
participants; how to support participants as they go through
the truth telling process; and how to incorporate ancestral
wisdom, cultures, and traditions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\63\First Alaskans Institute, How We Heal Toolkit: Communities and
Collective (2019), https://firstalaskans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/
01/How-We-Heal-Toolkit-final-1-22-19.pdf.
\64\Id.
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California Truth & Healing Council
In 2019, the State of California established the California
Truth & Healing Council to witness, record, and examine
existing documentation of, and receive California Native
American narratives on, the historical relationship between
California Native Americans and the State, and to clarify the
historical record of that relationship in the spirit of truth
and healing.\65\ The Council is led and convened by the
Governor's Tribal Affairs Secretary--a position currently held
by an enrolled member of a California Tribe\66\--and is
governed by a Council of Tribal leaders representing Central,
Eastern, Northern, and Southern California.\67\
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\65\Cal. Exec. Order No. N-15-19 (June 18, 2019), https://
www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/6.18.19-Executive-Order.pdf.
\66\See Governor's Office of Tribal Affairs, Tribal Affairs
Secretary, https://tribalaffairs.ca.gov/tribal-affairs-secretary/ (last
visited Mar. 8, 2024).
\67\California Truth & Healing Council, Charter of the California
Truth & Healing Council (2020), Ch. II, Art. 3, https://
cthcupdates.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/cthc-charter_final.pdf.
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By 2025, the Council will submit a final written report of
findings that will reflect a holistic understanding of the
historical relationship between California Native Americans and
the State, may include recommendations aimed at reparation and
restoration, and may consider how to prevent similar
depredations and policies in the future.\68\
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\68\Governor's Office Of Tribal Affairs, About the California Truth
& Healing Council, https://tribalaffairs.ca.gov/cthc/about/ (last
visited Mar. 8, 2024).
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Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission of
Canada
Like the United States, Canada has a centuries-long history
of boarding or ``residential'' schools that were established as
part of a larger policy of termination and assimilation of
Native peoples.6970 Between at least the
1830s and the late 1990s, Canadian residential schools directly
affected approximately 150,000 children.
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\69\Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Honouring the
Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, (2015), https://
irsi.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/inline-files/
Executive_Summary_English_Web.pdf [hereinafter TRC Canada Summary].
\70\TRC Canada Summary at 54 (speaking to Canada's overarching
policy towards First Nations in 1920, Deputy Minister of Indian Affairs
Duncan Campbell stated, ``our object is to continue until there is not
a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body
politic'').
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Following a series of class action lawsuits filed by
residential school survivors against the Canadian federal
government, the Canadian federal government agreed to negotiate
a settlement.\71\ Indian Residential Schools Settlement
Agreement included a mandate the Canadian Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which had several goals.\72\
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\71\TRC Canada Summary at 129-134.
\72\Acknowledge residential school experiences, impacts, and
consequences; provide a holistic, culturally appropriate, and safe
setting for survivors and their families to provide testimony to the
TRC; witness, support, and promote national and community-level
reconciliation events; promote public awareness and education about
residential schools and their impacts; create as complete a historical
record as possible; submit a final report describing the history,
purpose, operation, effect, and consequences of residential schools;
and support commemoration of former residential school students and
their families. Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement,
Schedule N, at 1-2 (2006).
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Between 2008 to 2015, the TRC received testimony from more
than 6,500 witnesses, including many survivors of residential
schools, hosted seven large national events to engage the
Canadian public in a process of education, conducted 238 days
of local hearings in 77 communities, and produced a six-volume
report providing a historical overview of Canadian residential
schools and their legacy, as well as a path to reconciliation
with 94 action items.\73\
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\73\National Center for Truth and Reconciliation, Reports, https://
nctr.ca/records/reports/ (last visited Mar. 8, 2024).
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Federal Reconciliation Efforts With the Native Hawaiian Community
In 1993, on the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the
Kingdom of Hawai`i, United States formally apologized and
committed to a process of reconciliation with Native Hawaiians
by acknowledging its actions to usurp their sovereignty over
land and natural resources and their right to self-
determination through the overthrow and eventual annexation by
the United States.\74\ A Joint Resolution of Congress\75\
recognized that the overthrow resulted in the suppression of
Native Hawaiians' ``inherent sovereignty'' and deprived them of
their ``rights to self-determination'' and that ``long-range
economic and social changes in Hawai`i over the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries have been devastating to the
population and to the health and well-being of the Hawaiian
people.''\76\ It further recognized that ``the Native Hawaiian
people are determined to preserve, develop, and transmit to
future generations their ancestral territory and their cultural
identity in accordance with their own spiritual and traditional
beliefs, customs, practices, language, and social
institutions.''\77\ In light of these findings, Congress
``express[ed] its commitment to acknowledge the ramifications
of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai`i, in order to provide
a proper foundation for reconciliation between the United
States and the Native Hawaiian people.''\78\
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\74\See generally Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law,
4.07[4][a]-[c] (2012 ed. & 2023 Supp.) (providing overview and
historical background of Kingdom of Hawai`i and federal relationship
with Native Hawaiians as a result of the overthrow).
\75\The Apology Resolution of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-150, 107 Stat.
1510 (1993).
\76\Id. at 1512-13.
\77\Id.
\78\Id.
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Accordingly, following a series of hearings and meetings
with the Native Hawaiian community in 1999, the DOI and
Department of Justice issued ``From Mauka to Makai: The River
of Justice Must Flow Freely,'' a report on the reconciliation
process between the Federal Government and Native Hawaiians.
The report concluded that ``the past history of the United
States-Native Hawaiian relations reveals many instances in
which the United States actions were less than honorable.
Native Hawaiians continue to suffer the effects of these
actions, for which our Nation continues to have moral
responsibility,'' and recommended that, ``[f]or justice to be
served, past wrongs suffered by the Native Hawaiian people
should be addressed . . . through . . . efforts to promote the
welfare of the Native Hawaiian people, respect their rights,
and address the wrongs that their community has suffered . . .
to ensure true reconciliation.''\79\ And in 2016, the DOI
issued regulations to create a pathway for reestablishing a
formal government-to-government relationship with the Native
Hawaiian community to more effectively implement the special
political and trust relationship that Congress established
between the community and the United States. The rule sets out
an administrative procedure and criteria that the U.S.
Secretary of the Interior would use if the Native Hawaiian
community forms a unified government that determines to seek a
formal government-to-government relationship with the United
States.\80\
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\79\U.S. Dep't of the Interior & Dep't of Justice, From Mauka to
Makai: The River of Justice Must Flow Freely 4 (2000), https://
www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/mauka-to-makai-report-2.pdf.
\80\43 C.F.R. part 50 (2016).
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NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Indian Boarding schools and institutions used systematic
and often violent methods--including physical, psychological,
and sexual abuse--to assimilate Native children as young as
three years old, and to eradicate Native languages, cultures,
and lifeways for federal gain, including reduction of the cost
of war and acquisition of Native land.\81\
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\81\Oversight Hearing on ``Volume 1 of the Department of the
Interior's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative
Report'' and Legislative Hearing on S. 2907 Before the S. Comm. on
Indian Affs., 117th Cong. (2022); Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5444,
Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act
Before the Subcomm. on Indigenous Peoples of the H. Comm. on Nat. Res.,
117th Cong. (2022) (statement of Deborah Parker, Nat'l Native Boarding
School Healing Coalition). See also, Rebecca Nagle, The U.S. has Spent
More Money Erasing Native Languages than Saving Them, High Country News
(Nov. 15, 2019), https://www.hcn.org/issues/51-21-22/indigenous-
affairs-the-u-s-has-spent-more-money-erasing-native-languages-than-
saving-them/.
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The traumatic effects of Indian Boarding School policies
and practices on Native communities had far-reaching effects
that are still felt by survivors, their descendants, and their
communities to the present day.\82\ While the Native American
Languages Act of 1991 found that the United States initiated
``acts of suppression and extermination of Native American
languages and cultures,''\83\ Congress has not fully
acknowledged past policies that sought to assimilate Native
peoples of the United States or established a Native-led
process for Native communities to examine and heal from such
policies.
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\82\Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5444, Truth and Healing Commission
on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act Before the Subcomm. on
Indigenous Peoples of the H. Comm. on Nat. Res., 117th Cong. (2022).
\83\Native American Languages Act, Pub. L. No. 101-477, Sec. 102,
101 Stat. 1153, 1154 (1990).
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Further, while some non-profit organizations,\84\ religious
institutions,\85\ and the DOI have conducted investigations
into the impacts of Indian Boarding School policies, and other
religious institutions are beginning to acknowledge their role
in carrying out these policies and offering actions they can
take to address those harms,\86\ the federal government has yet
to take comprehensive, concerted action commensurate with the
harms inflicted by its own policies. Current public and private
efforts to address this issue cannot, by themselves, fully
address the history or consequences of federal Indian Boarding
School policies without Congressional acknowledgment and
support.\87\ S. 1723 provides the thorough, nationwide process
warranted by the breadth and severity of the federal Indian
Boarding School legacy.
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\84\See e.g. The National Native American Boarding School Healing
Coalition, at https://boardingschoolhealing.org/ (last visited Mar. 8,
2024).
\85\The Episcopal Church, A127--Resolution for Telling the Truth
about the Episcopal Church's History with Indigenous Boarding Schools
(2022), https://www.episcopalarchives.org/sites/default/files/gc--
resolutions/2022-A127.pdf.
\86\See e.g. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Keeping
Christ's Sacred Promise: A Pastoral Framework for Indigenous Ministry
(2024), www.usccb.org/resources/Indigenous%20Pastoral%20Framework%20-
June%202024-Final%20Text.pdf.
\87\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report 6 (2022) (noting the limitation of the
scope of its investigation).
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SUMMARY OF THE BILL AS ORDERED REPORTED
S. 1723 builds on an extensive Congressional record and
robust bipartisan work that started in the 116th Congress.\88\
Over 100 written comments for the record were submitted by
Indian Tribes, Native communities, organizations and
individuals, the DOI, and religious organizations after the
Committee conducted oversight by examining Volume One of the
DOI's Federal Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report
and held a legislative hearing on S. 2907 in June 2022.\89\
This input and Committee work resulted in the development of
the amendment in the nature of a substitute adopted to S.1723
and several additional amendments offered and adopted at the
Committee's business meeting held on June 7, 2023.
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\88\Truth and Healing Commission on Boarding School Policy Act, S.
4752, 116th Cong. (2020); Truth and Healing Commission on Boarding
School Policies Act, S. 2907, 117th Cong. (2022).
\89\Oversight Hearing on ``Volume 1 of the Department of the
Interior's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative
Report'' and Legislative Hearing on S. 2907 Before the S. Comm. on
Indian Affs., 117th Cong. (2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The legislation reflects extensive bipartisan review,
analysis, and debate of comments in three key areas related to
the Commission and its advisory bodies: (1) structure, (2)
establishment, and (3) operation.
Structure
S. 1723 establishes a five-member Truth and Healing
Commission, a 19-member Native American Truth and Healing
Advisory Committee, a 17-member Federal Truth and Healing
Advisory Committee, and a 15-member Native American Survivors
Truth and Healing Subcommittee, with certain members of the
Commission and Survivors Subcommittee cross-appointed to
leadership positions on the different advisory bodies (Figure
1).
Figure 1. Organizational Chart of the Commission and its
advisory bodies, indicating assignments and cross-
appointments
This structure was created in response to testimony from
Tribal leaders regarding their experiences working with
existing Tribal advisory committees, as well as advocates and
federal agencies regarding the range of offices, entities, and
individuals that would be necessary for the Commission to
efficiently and successfully exercise its duties and
responsibilities.\90\
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\90\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report 14-15 (2022) (emphasizing that the
Indian boarding school system was complex and its records expansive).
DOI reported finding almost 40,000 boxes and almost 100,000 sheets of
paper in the American Indian Records Repository (AIRR) related to
federal Indian boarding schools.
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Establishment
S. 1723 requires candidates for all positions on the
Commission, the Native American Advisory Committee, and the
Survivors Subcommittee to be nominated by Native entities and
peoples, and establishes a bipartisan and bicameral
Congressional process for appointing Commissioners based on
five enumerated categories of expertise: (1) research; (2)
Tribal courts, restorative justice, and federal agencies; (3)
trauma informed care; (4) Indigenous human rights; and (5)
cultural knowledge. The bill also establishes deadlines for
nominations and appointments, as well as publication of an
interim and final report to include related agency responses
(Figure 2).
Figure 2. Timeline of key milestones for establishment and
operation of the Commission and its advisory
bodies.
Operation
S. 1723 addresses the operation of the Commission and its
advisory bodies in four key areas--coordination, costs,
investigation, and healing.
Coordination
The Commission must coordinate with and consider the needs
of various stakeholders, including boarding school survivors
and descendants, Native communities, relevant organizations,
and federal agencies. The legislation facilitates such
coordination through the appointment of non-voting designees
from the Advisory Committees and Subcommittee to the
Commission, and cross-appointment of certain Commissioners and
members of the Survivors Subcommittee to leadership positions
in various advisory committees. See Figure 1.
In addition, the Commission may coordinate with federal
entities by requesting detailees, contracting with public
agencies, utilizing the Government Services Administration,
exercising Buy Indian Act authority, and engaging with various
federal archiving and curatorial facilities. It may also
utilize resources provided by Native communities, individuals,
churches, and other private organizations; and it may accept
voluntary services from a range of sources, including
universities and law schools.
Funding Authorization
S. 1723 authorizes appropriations of $15,000,000 per fiscal
year, to remain available until expended, for the Commission to
carry out its work for six years, and it permits the Commission
to supplement its funding through fundraising and donations
from the private sector. The Committee developed this funding
framework through careful consideration of the costs associated
with past and contemporary examples of similar commissions, for
example, the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the
DOI's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, and the
current truth and healing initiative in California, among
others. The Committee also considered the broad scope of the
Commission's anticipated duties, including public and private
meetings with potentially tens of thousands of individuals from
all 50 states,\91\ directing research activities involving over
one hundred million pages of documents,\92\ providing trauma
informed care to participants, and ensuring survivor
participation through financial support for travel. To balance
these anticipated costs, the Committee reduced the amount of
compensation for members of the Commission and its advisory
bodies, and limited compensation to 14 days per month and
reimbursement to travel related expenses.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\91\Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5444, Truth and Healing Commission
on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act Before the Subcomm. on
Indigenous Peoples of the H. Comm. on Nat. Res., supra note 25. The
Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission received over 1,000 hours
of testimony from over 6,000 individuals to address 139 boarding
schools. Given the 521 known boarding schools in the United States, the
Commission is expected to receive approximately four times the amount
of testimony.
\92\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report (2022). DOI's report cites a total of
98.4 million pages at the American Indian Records Repository alone, not
accounting for the additional eight million pages believed to be within
the current and former boarding schools' possession, custody, or
control.
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Investigation and Information Access
Obtaining information is core to the Commission's
investigatory function and its duty to deliver written findings
and recommendations to Congress. The Committee learned through
extensive feedback from Tribal stakeholders and religious
organizations that for the Commission to accomplish the
purposes of this Act and make accurate recommendations, it must
have a full suite of information gathering tools, including the
authority to issue subpoenas.\93\
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\93\For example, delayed information resulted in the Canadian Truth
and Reconciliation Commission's final report inaccurately citing a
total of 6,000 child deaths at Canadian Residential Schools, when,
almost 10 years later, and because of untimely obtained information,
the number is better understood to be between 10,000 and 25,000.
Additionally, the discovery of 215 children buried in a mass grave in
Kamloops, Canada was made after the conclusion of the Canadian
Commission's work. See e.g., Oversight Hearing on ``Volume 1 of the
Department of the Interior's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative
Investigative Report'' and Legislative Hearing on S. 2907 Before the S.
Comm. on Indian Affs., 117th Cong. (2022) (statement of Sandra White
Hawk, Nat'l Native Boarding School Healing Coalition).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congress has recognized the need for subpoena authority to
assist other Congressional Advisory Commissions with
information access.\94\ S. 1723 reflects thorough consideration
and debate by both the House of Representatives\95\ and the
Senate\96\ on the nature and extent of the Commission's
subpoena authority in order to ensure that the Commission uses
this authority responsibly, appropriately, and in a nonpartisan
manner. Accordingly, the Commission's authority to issue a
subpoena is limited by the following requirements: (1) all five
commissioners must vote in favor to issue a subpoena (unanimous
vote);\97\ (2) a subpoena may only issue to compel written or
recorded evidence, not to compel oral testimony from
individuals; and (3) the Commission must give a 10-day
confidential notice of its intent to issue a subpoena to the
Attorney General of the United States, who, upon a showing of
procedural or substantive defect, may prohibit issuance of the
subpoena. If the Attorney General prohibits the Commission from
issuing the subpoena, the Attorney General must submit a report
to Congress outlining its reasons. Additionally, S. 1723
includes an enforcement requirement that the Commission seek a
court order directing compliance, and applies the Federal Rules
of Civil Procedure to the subpoena process. These provisions,
approved unanimously by the Committee, provide important
safeguards to protect constitutional due process.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\94\Since the 101st Congress, 12 congressional advisory commissions
have been identified as having subpoena authority. See U.S.
Congressional Research Service, Information Access for Congressional
Advisory Commissions, R47173 (July 7, 2022) by Jacob R. Straus,
Congressional Research Digital Collection, Accessed June 19, 2024).
\95\Legislative Hearing on H.R. 5444, Truth and Healing Commission
on Indian Boarding Schools Policies Act Before the Subcomm. on
Indigenous Peoples of the H. Comm. on Nat. Res., 117th Cong. (2022)
(statement of Deborah Parker, Nat'l Native Boarding School Healing
Coalition).
\96\Business Meeting to Consider S. 1723 Before the S. Comm. on
Indian Affs., 118th Cong. (2023).
\97\The Commission's membership is jointly appointed by the
majority and minority leadership in the Congress, in consultation with
the leadership of the relevant committees of jurisdiction in the House
of Representatives and Senate. Each commissioner must meet certain
criteria outlined in the S. 1723 and must be nominated to serve. These
requirements for membership should also prevent misuse of the limited
subpoena authority extended to the Commission.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Healing
The Commission fulfills its responsibility to promote
healing in four primary ways. First, the five-member Commission
will include at least one Commissioner with experience in
coordinating and providing trauma-informed care, one
Commissioner recognized as a traditional cultural leader, and
one Commissioner with restorative justice and other relevant
experience. These three Commissioners will work closely with
the Survivors Subcommittee to ensure that the Commission meets
its duties with respect to healing and trauma-informed care.
Second, the Commission will collaborate with the Survivors
Subcommittee to establish culturally appropriate protocols for
receiving testimony. Third, the Commission may use its
contracting authority to provide adequate trauma-informed care
options to all those involved in its work. Finally, the
Commission will approach research about--and possible
repatriation of--students' human remains with diligence and
care, documenting, preserving, and appropriately sharing
information regarding the discovery of burials with affected
parties in accordance with the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act and its applicable uniform
repatriation processes.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
On May 18, 2023, Senator Warren (D-MA) along with Senators
Schatz (D-HI), Murkowski (R-AK) and 24 other original
cosponsors, introduced S. 1723, the Truth and Healing
Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act of 2023. The
bill was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. To date,
S. 1723 has 32 cosponsors.
On June 7, 2023, the Committee met at a duly convened
Business Meeting to consider S. 1723. Senators Schatz (D-HI)
and Murkowski (R-AK) timely filed an amendment in the nature of
a substitute that was treated as base text for amendment
purposes. Fourteen amendments were filed; six were adopted en
bloc by voice vote.\98\ The Committee ordered S. 1723, as
amended, reported favorably by voice vote.
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\98\Senator Daines (R-MT) timely filed eight amendments and
untimely filed one amendment, Senator Mullin (R-OK) timely filed four
amendments, and Senator Rounds (R-SD) untimely filed one amendment,
which was not offered. With the concurrence of the Vice Chairman, the
Chairman allowed for consideration of all timely and untimely filed
amendments offered by sponsors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On February 5, 2024, Representatives Davids (D-KS) and Cole
(R-OK) introduced H.R. 7227, the Truth and Healing Commission
on Indian Boarding School Policies Act of 2024. To date, H.R.
7227 has 61 additional cosponsors. The bill was referred to the
Committees on Education and Workforce, Natural Resources, and
Energy and Commerce. At a markup meeting held on June 13, 2024,
the Committee on Education and Workforce considered H.R. 7227.
Representative Kiley (R-CA) offered an amendment in the nature
of a substitute. No other amendments were offered. The
Committee ordered H.R. 7227 reported, as amended, by a vote of
34-4. To date, the House has taken no further action on H.R.
7227.
117th Congress. On September 30, 2021, Senator Warren (D-
MA), along with Senator Schatz (D-HI) and 12 other original
cosponsors, introduced S. 2907, the Truth and Healing
Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act. The bill was
referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. Senator Murkowski
(R-AK) and 12 other Senators later joined as cosponsors. On
June 22, 2022, the Committee held a Legislative Hearing on S.
2907 and an Oversight Hearing on ``Volume 1 of the Department
of the Interior's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative
Investigative Report.''\99\ The Committee took no further
action on the bill prior to the conclusion of the 117th
Congress.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\99\Oversight Hearing on ``Volume 1 of the Department of the
Interior's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative
Report'' and Legislative Hearing on S. 2907 Before the S. Comm. on
Indian Affs., 117th Cong. (2022), https://www.congress.gov/117/chrg/
CHRG-117shrg50193/CHRG-117shrg50193.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On September 30, 2021, Representatives Davids (D-KS) and
Cole (R-OK), introduced H.R. 5444, the Truth and Healing
Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act, an identical
companion bill to S. 2907. Representatives Davids (D-KS) and
Cole (R-OK) were joined by 86 cosponsors. H.R. 5444 was
referred to the Committees on Education and Labor and Natural
Resources.
On October 3, 2021, the Committee on Natural Resources
referred H.R. 5444 to the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples
of the United States. On May 12, 2022, the Subcommittee held a
hearing on the bill. On June 15, 2022, the Committee considered
H.R. 5444 at a markup meeting. Representative Grijalva (D-AZ)
offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute, which was
treated as the base text for amendment purposes.\100\ The
Committee on Natural Resources ordered H.R. 5444, as amended,
reported favorably by voice vote.\101\ The House of
Representatives took no further action on the legislation prior
to the conclusion of the 117th Congress.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\100\Representative Westerman (R-AR) offered two amendments,
Representatives Obernolte (R-CA) and Boebert (R-CO) each offered an
amendment. One of Representative Westerman's (R-AR) amendments was
agreed to by unanimous consent. Representatives Obernolte (R-CA) and
Boebert's (R-CO) amendments were not agreed to by roll call votes.
\101\U.S. House of Representatives, Committee Repository, Markup of
H.R. 263, H.R. 5444, H.R. 6063, H.R. 6181, H.R. 6337, H.R. 6427, H.R.
6707, H.R. 6734, H.R. 7002, H.R. 7025, H.R. 7075, and S. 789, https://
docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=114898.
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116th Congress. On September 29, 2020, Senators Warren (D-
MA), Merkley (D-OR), and Smith (D-MN) introduced S. 4752, the
Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy
Act. The bill was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
The Senate took no further action on the legislation prior to
the conclusion of the 116th Congress.
On September 29, 2020, Representative Haaland (D-NM),
introduced H.R. 8420, the Truth and Healing Commission on
Indian Boarding School Policy Act, an identical companion bill
to S. 4752. Representative Haaland (D-NM) was joined by 17 co-
sponsors. H.R. 8420 was referred to the Committees on Education
and Labor and Natural Resources. The House of Representatives
took no further action on the legislation prior to the
conclusion of the 116th Congress.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS OF S. 1723 AS ORDERED REPORTED
Section 1--Short title; Table of Contents
This section sets forth the short title as the ``Truth and
Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act of
2023'' and provides a table of contents for the bill.
Section 2--Findings
This section contains Congress' findings and establishes
the need for this legislation.
Section 3--Purposes
This section establishes four purposes of the bill:
To establish a Truth and Healing Commission
and other necessary advisory committees and
subcommittees;
To formally investigate, document, and
report on the histories of Indian Boarding School
Polices and their systematic and long-term impacts on
Native American peoples;
To develop recommendations for federal
action based on the findings of the Commission; and
To promote healing for survivors of Indian
Boarding Schools, their descendants, and their
communities.
Section 4--Definitions
This Section provides definitions for various terms used
throughout the bill.
Title I--Commission and Subcommittees
Subtitle A--Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School
Policies in the United States
Section 101(a) establishes a commission to be known as the
``Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School
Polices in the United States.''
Section 101(b) sets forth criteria for the 5 members of the
Commission and requirements for nominations, appointments,
vacancies, removals, termination, and limitations of these
members.
Section 101(c) establishes procedures for the first
business meeting of the Commission and a basic framework for
subsequent business meetings, including format, rules, quorum,
and inclusion of Advisory Committee and Subcommittee designees.
Section 101(d) that a simple majority of Commission members
constitutes a quorum for a business meeting.
Section 101(e) authorizes the Commission to establish
additional rules for Commission business.
Section 101(f) establishes the rates for Commissioner
compensation and travel expenses, and authorizes federal
employees to be detailed to the Commission upon request.
Section 101(g) establishes the powers of the Commission
including:
Holding hearings and receiving testimony and
evidence;
Conducting independent research and securing
relevant information;
Subject to certain limitations, issuing
subpoenas to compel the production of evidence
necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Act;
Overseeing, directing, and collaborating
with Advisory Committees and Subcommittees;
Coordinating with federal and non-federal
agencies to carry out preservation and archival
activities;
Securing additional personnel and services
through contracting, volunteers, and the General
Services Administration;
Using the U.S. Postal Service;
Accepting gifts, engaging in fundraising,
disbursing funds, issuing tax-deductions for gifts; and
Coordinating with the Library of Congress
and the National Museum of the American Indian to
archive and preserve relevant gifts and donations.
Section 101(h) sets forth the framework for the Commission
to create rules and protocols for public convenings,
establishes deadlines for announcing convenings, sets the
minimum number of convenings, and clarifies that testimony
shall be permitted at the convenings subject to the discretion
of the Commission's Chairperson.
Section 101(i) authorizes the Commission to issue subpoenas
within the United States for written or recorded evidence
pursuant to a unanimous vote of the Commission and with prior
notice to the Attorney General; upon showing procedural or
substantive defect, the Attorney General may prohibit the
issuance of a subpoena and must supply Congress a report
detailing reasons for such prohibition; and establishes
processes for service and enforcement in accordance with the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Section 101(j) clarifies that the Privacy Act of 1974, the
Freedom of Information Act, and the Federal Advisory Committee
Act shall not apply to the Commission.
Section 101(k) directs the Committee to consult or engage,
as appropriate, with relevant individuals, Tribes, and Native
organizations.
Section 101(l) authorizes appropriations of $15,000,000, to
remain available until expended, for each fiscal year of the
Commission.
Subtitle B--Duties of the Commission
Section 111(a) establishes the investigatory duties of the
Commission, including:
Conducting a comprehensive interdisciplinary
investigation into Indian Boarding School Policies and
their effects on the social, cultural, economic,
emotional, and physical health of Native communities,
Indian Tribes, survivors of Indian Boarding Schools,
and families and descendants of survivors;
Conducting a comprehensive review of
historical and archival materials;
Collaborating with the Federal Truth and
Healing Advisory Committee to obtain relevant
information from federal agencies and other relevant
institutions, as well as relevant information from
Native entities and institutions;
Conducting a comprehensive review of the
impacts of Indian Boarding School Policies on American
Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian cultures,
traditions, and languages; and
Authorizing the Commission to enter into a
contract or agreement to acquire, hold, curate, or
maintain objects, artifacts, or other property from
private individuals and entities, provided that federal
funds are not used to purchase such items.
Section 111(b) establishes Commission duties regarding
meetings and convenings, including:
Holding safe, trauma-informed, and
culturally appropriate public or private meetings or
convenings to receive testimony; and
Providing access to adequate trauma-informed
care services during and following such meetings and
convenings.
Section 111(c) establishes Commission duties regarding
recommendations to Congress, including:
Considering and evaluating, in light of
Tribal, Native Hawaiian, and Tribal customary law, how
the federal government can meaningfully acknowledge the
federal government's role in supporting Indian Boarding
School Policies;
Determining how modification of existing
laws, procedures, regulations, policies, budgets, and
practices will address the findings of the Commission
and the ongoing effects of Indian Boarding School
Policies; and
Considering how the federal government can
promote public awareness and education of Indian
Boarding School Polices and their impacts.
Section 111(d) establishes Commission duties regarding
burial sites, including:
Coordinating, as appropriate, with relevant
parties to locate and identify, in a culturally
appropriate manner, marked and unmarked burials;
Locating, documenting, analyzing, and
coordinating the preservation or continued preservation
of records and information relating to the interment of
students; and
Sharing with relevant parties, to the extent
practicable, the burial locations and identities of
children who attended Indian Boarding Schools.
Section 111(e) establishes Commission duties regarding
reporting, including:
Delivering annual progress reports to
Congress;
Publishing the initial report of the
Commission's findings 4 years after appointment of a
majority of the Commissioners;
Publishing the final report of the
Commission's findings 6 years after appointment of a
majority of the Commissioners;
Providing the final report to the listed
recipients and making the report publicly available on
the Commission's website, along with the Departments of
the Interior, Education, Defense, and Health and Human
Services, which are also required to make the report
available on their websites;
Conducting public education and outreach
regarding the initial and final reports; and
Monitoring responses from the Secretaries of
the Interior, Education, Defense, Health and Human
Services, who are required to publish a written
response to the final report within 120 days after
receipt, and to transmit their response to the
President, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the
House Committee on Natural Resources, and the
Comptroller General of the United States.
Subtitle C--Survivors Truth and Healing Subcommittee
Section 121(a) establishes a subcommittee to be known as
the ``Survivors Truth and Healing Subcommittee.''
Section 121(b) sets forth criteria for the 15 members of
the Subcommittee and requirements for nominations,
appointments, vacancies, removals, termination, and
limitations.
Section 121(c) establishes procedures for the first meeting
of the Subcommittee and a basic framework for subsequent
meetings, including format and quorum.
Section 121(d) states that a simple majority of
Subcommittee members constitutes a quorum for a business
meeting.
Section 121(e) authorizes the Subcommittee to establish
additional rules for the conduct of its business.
Section 121(f) establishes the duties of the Subcommittee,
including: providing advice to the Commission on criteria and
protocols for convenings, providing advice and evaluating
Committee recommendations relating to commemoration and public
education, and providing such other advice as may be required
by the Commission.
Section 121(g) directs the Subcommittee to consult or
engage, as appropriate, with relevant individuals, Tribes, and
Native organizations.
Section 121(h) clarifies that the Privacy Act of 1974, the
Freedom of Information Act, and the Federal Advisory Committee
Act shall not apply to the Subcommittee.
Section 121(i) establishes the compensation and travel
expense rates for Subcommittee members.
Title II--Advisory Committees
Subtitle A--Native American Truth and Healing Advisory Committee
Section 201(a) establishes an advisory committee to be
known as the ``Native American Truth and Healing Advisory
Committee'' (Native Advisory Committee).
Section 201(b) sets forth criteria for the 19 members of
the Native Advisory Committee and requirements for nominations,
appointments, term lengths, vacancies, termination, and
limitations.
Section 201(c) states that a simple majority of Native
Advisory Committee members constitutes a quorum.
Section 201(d) permits a quorum of the Native Advisory
Committee to remove a member for neglect of duty or
malfeasance.
Section 201(e) establishes procedures for the first
business meeting of the Native Advisory Committee and a basic
framework for subsequent meetings, including format and quorum.
Section 201(f) authorizes the Native Advisory Committee to
establish additional rules for the conduct of its business.
Section 201(g) establishes the duties of the Native
Advisory Committee, including:
Serving as an advisory body to the
Commission;
Assisting the Commission in organizing and
carrying out culturally appropriate convenings;
Assisting the Commission in determining what
documentation from Federal and religious organizations
and institutions may be necessary;
Assisting the Commission in the production
of the initial and final report;
Coordinating with the Federal Truth and
Healing Advisory Committee and the Survivors
Subcommittee; and
Providing such other advice or services as
the Commission may require.
Section 201(h) directs the Native Advisory Committee to
consult or engage, as appropriate, with relevant individuals,
Tribes, and Native organizations.
Section 201(i) clarifies that the Privacy Act of 1974, the
Freedom of Information Act, and the Federal Advisory Committee
Act shall not apply to the Advisory Committee.
Section 201(j) establishes the compensation and travel
expense rates for members of the Advisory Committee.
Subtitle B--Federal Truth and Healing Advisory Committee
Section 211(a) establishes an advisory committee within the
Department of the Interior to be known as the ``Federal Truth
and Healing Advisory Committee'' (Federal Advisory Committee).
Section 211(b) sets forth criteria for the 17 members of
the Federal Advisory Committee and requirements for
appointments, term lengths, vacancies, removals, and
termination.
Section 211(c) establishes procedures for the first
business meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee, and a basic
framework for subsequent meetings, including format and quorum.
Section 201(d) states that a simple majority of Federal
Advisory Committee members constitutes a quorum.
Section 201(e) authorizes the Federal Advisory Committee to
establish additional rules for the conduct of its business.
Section 211(f) establishes the duties of the Federal
Advisory Committee, including:
Ensuring effective and timely coordination
between Federal agencies;
Assisting the Commission and the Native
American Truth and Healing Advisory Committee in
coordinating meetings and convenings, and the
collection, organization, and preservation of
information; and
Ensuring the timely submission to the
Commission of relevant evidence.
Section 211(g) directs the Federal Advisory Committee to
consult or engage, as appropriate, with relevant individuals,
Tribes, and Native organizations.
Section 211(h) clarifies that the Privacy Act of 1974, the
Freedom of Information Act, and the Federal Advisory Committee
Act shall not apply to the Advisory Committee.
Title III--General Provisions
Section 301 clarifies that the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) applies to human
remains and funerary objects relating to an Indian Boarding
School that are located on federal lands, located on lands
managed by a federal agency, or curated by a federal agency.
Section 302 authorizes federal agencies to rebury remains
pursuant to NAGPRA on other federal lands, consistent with
Tribal practices and subject to the agreement of the relevant
parties.
Section 303 authorizes federal agencies to enter into co-
stewardship agreements for the management of a cemetery or
Indian Boarding School.
Section 304 clarifies that nothing in the Act creates a
private right of action to seek administrative or judicial
relief.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
S. 1723 would establish a commission and advisory
committees to document and remedy the effects of the federal
Indian boarding school policies, under which the government
forcibly removed children from their families and placed them
in federally run boarding schools. Nonfederal employees would
be compensated and reimbursed for travel expenses.
Specifically, the bill would:
Establish the Truth and Healing Commission
on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United
States, consisting of five members and lasting up to
six years. The commission would work to locate,
analyze, preserve records, and identify unmarked graves
related to Indian boarding schools; hold public
hearings; and report on its findings.
Create a federal advisory committee, a
Native American advisory committee, and a survivors
subcommittee.
Apply the Native American Graves Protection
and Repatriation Act to human remains and funerary
objects located on federal land or land managed or
curated by a federal agency.
The estimated budgetary effects of S. 1723 are shown in
Table 1. The costs of the legislation fall within budget
function 500 (education, training, employment, and social
services).
TABLE 1.--ESTIMATED BUDGETARY EFFECTS OF S. 1723
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By fiscal year, millions of dollars--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2024-2029
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Authorization.......................... 15 15 15 15 15 15 90
Estimated Outlays...................... 7 15 15 15 15 15 82
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CBO estimates that enacting S. 1723 also would have insignificant effects on direct spending and revenues.
S. 1723 would authorize the appropriation of $15 million
annually for the commission. Based on spending patterns for
similar activities and assuming appropriation of the specified
amounts from 2024 through 2029, CBO estimates that implementing
the bill would cost $82 million over the 2024-2029 period and
$8 million after 2029.
S. 1723 would authorize the commission to issue subpoenas
to obtain documents, pending review by the Attorney General.
The commission may apply to a district court requesting an
order to comply with a subpoena. Failure to comply with a
district court order may result in penalties; such penalties
are recorded as revenues. CBO estimates that any additional
revenues collected would total less than $500,000 over the
2024-2034 period because the number of violations would
probably be small.
The bill also would authorize the commission to solicit
donations and other funds from the private sector, which could
be spent without further appropriation; such receipts are
recorded as reductions in direct spending. Because donations
would probably be spent soon after their receipt, CBO estimates
that the net effect on direct spending over the 2024-2034
period would be negligible.
On February 22, 2024, CBO transmitted a revised version of
this estimate, which was originally transmitted on February 20,
2024. The revised estimate clarifies that any penalties would
be assessed by district courts rather than by the commission.
The estimated budgetary effects of the legislation are
unchanged.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Garrett
Quenneville. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel,
Director, Congressional Budget Office.
REGULATORY AND PAPERWORK IMPACT STATEMENT
Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the
Senate requires each report accompanying a bill to evaluate the
regulatory and paperwork impact that would be incurred in
carrying out the bill. The Committee believes that S. 1723, as
reported, will have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork
requirements.
EXECUTIVE TESTIMONY
The Department of the Interior provided testimony to the
Committee at a hearing on S. 2907, similar legislation that was
introduced during the 117th Congress, on June 22, 2022. That
testimony is below.
Statement of Deb Haaland, Secretary of the United States Department of
the Interior--June 22, 2022
Hello and good afternoon, Chairman Schatz, Vice Chairman
Murkowski, and members of the Committee. My name is Deb
Haaland, and I serve as the Secretary of the Interior. It is an
honor and privilege for me to be here with you today to
represent the Department of the Interior (Department) and our
tens of thousands of dedicated professionals. It is deeply
meaningful for me to speak to you from the ancestral homelands
of the Anacostan and Piscataway people. Thank you for the
opportunity to present the Department's testimony at this
important oversight hearing on the Federal Indian Boarding
School Initiative and S. 2907, a bill to establish the Truth
and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in
the United States.
The Biden-Harris administration is determined to make a
lasting positive difference in response to the trauma that
these policies have caused, not just in the past but for
current generations. I would also like to thank Senator Warren
and the Co-chairs of the Congressional Native American Caucus,
Representatives Sharice Davids and Tom Cole, for prioritizing
legislation to address the federal Indian boarding school
policies for the first time in United States history and find
solutions to further shed light on its ongoing impacts on
Native American and Native Hawaiian people.
Starting in 1819, and lasting for over a century and a
half, the federal government, including the Department of the
Interior, forcibly removed and assimilated tens of thousands of
American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children
from tribal communities across the United States. Many children
who entered the boarding schools were involuntarily removed
from their communities and never returned home. This
intentional targeting and removal of American Indian, Alaska
Native, and Native Hawaiian children to achieve the goal of
forced assimilation of Native people was both traumatic and
violent.
The consequences of federal Indian boarding school
policies--including the intergenerational trauma caused by
forced family separation and cultural eradication--were
inflicted on generations of children as young as 4 years old
and are heartbreaking and undeniable. As the head of the
Department of the Interior and as the first Native American
cabinet secretary, I am in a unique position to address the
lasting impacts of these policies. I now have direct oversight
over the very Department that operated and oversaw the
implementation of the federal Indian boarding school system.
Like all Native people, I am a product of these horrific
assimilation era policies, as my grandparents were removed from
their families to federal Indian boarding schools when they
were only 8 years old and forced to live away from their
parents, culture, and Pueblos until they were 13 years old. My
family's story is similar to many Indigenous families' stories
in this country, which is why, on June 22, 2021, I announced
the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, a comprehensive
effort to address the troubled legacy of federal Indian
boarding school policies. On that same date, through a
memorandum, I directed the Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs
to lead the first-ever departmental investigation into the
federal Indian boarding school system.
I am incredibly proud of the work that Assistant Secretary
Newland and his entire team did on the first volume of this
report. I particularly want to acknowledge the staff at the
Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, which is managing the
document collection, review, and records management of this
Initiative. The vast majority of the work being released today
was done by Indigenous staff in this department who worked
through their own trauma and pain.
The Department released Volume 1 of the investigative
report on May 11, 2022. This report lays the groundwork for the
continued efforts of the Department to address the
intergenerational trauma created by historical federal policy.
It marks the first time in over two hundred years, since the
Indian boarding school policies were implemented, that the
United States has formally reviewed or acknowledged the
extensive scope and breadth of these policies. The Department
welcomes Congress' and this Committee's engagement in this
important and continuing effort.
The Department's investigation focuses on the historical
Indian boarding school system, which was implemented to further
cultural assimilation and removal policies. The Department
fully recognizes that unlike the federal Indian boarding school
system we are investigating, contemporary Native residential
schools are vital to advancing modern, culturally sensitive
education.
Some key highlights of Volume 1 of the Department's
investigation of our federal records include evidence that the
United States targeted American Indian, Alaska Native, and
Native Hawaiian children through forced removal to Indian
boarding schools in furtherance of territorial dispossession of
Indigenous lands in the United States. The initial
investigation shows that, between 1819 and 1969, the federal
Indian boarding school system consisted of 408 federal Indian
boarding schools across 37 states or then-territories,
including 21 schools in Alaska and 7 schools in Hawai`i.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Some individual federal Indian boarding schools accounted for
multiple sites. The 408 federal Indian boarding schools includes 431
separate sites.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additionally, the Department's initial investigation
results show that approximately 50 percent of federal Indian
boarding schools may have received support or involvement from
a religious institution or organization, including funding,\2\
infrastructure, and personnel. Further, the federal government
at times paid religious institutions and organizations for
Native children to enter federal Indian boarding schools that
these institutions and organizations operated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ As the U.S. Senate has recognized, funds from the 1819
Civilization Fund ``were apportioned among those societies and
individuals--usually missionary organizations--that had been prominent
in the effort to `civilize' the Indians.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another important finding published in Volume 1 identifies
approximately 53 different schools that contain marked or
unmarked burial sites. While this report lays the groundwork
for the efforts of the Department to address the full scope of
the federal Indian boarding school policies and the
intergenerational trauma endured by Indigenous peoples in this
country, the Department is moving forward to develop Volume 2
to further expand on these preliminary report findings. As the
investigation continues, we expect the number of identified
burial sites to increase, along with the potential expansion or
more definite numbers of identified Indian boarding school
sites, children, and operating dates of facilities.
As we add to the list of burial sites, the Department,
working with relevant sister federal agencies, will expand our
collaborative work, including increasing Tribal communities'
access to mental health resources. These healing actions will
help strengthen Native communities in a manner that I hope will
be pursuant to each of the various traditional and religious
protocols and beliefs. This effort may include disinterment,
repatriation, documentation, and memorial efforts, where
appropriate, in consultation with Indian Tribes, Alaska Native
Villages, and the Native Hawaiian Community.
The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative constitutes
the first time the federal government has reviewed the scope of
these policies. This is an important step for intergenerational
healing from the ongoing effects these policies caused, and we
will take an all-of-government approach. I believe that our
obligations to Native communities mean that federal policies
should fully support and revitalize Native health care,
education, Native languages, and cultural practices that prior
federal Indian policies, like those supporting Indian boarding
schools, sought to destroy. We can heal from the harm and
violence caused by Indian assimilation by effecting government-
wide policies of revitalization for the Indigenous people of
our country.
I recently announced that we will embark on the ``Road to
Healing,'' a tour throughout the nation to hear directly from
survivors of federal Indian boarding schools and their
descendants about their experiences. A necessary part of this
journey will be to connect survivors and their families with
mental health support, and to create a permanent collection of
oral histories. We know this won't be easy, but it is a history
that we must learn from if we are to heal from this tragic era
in our country.
As part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, I
look forward to continuing our work alongside sister federal
agencies that administer the sites of former Indian boarding
schools or possess or control records pertaining to the federal
Indian boarding school system and those that currently provide
medical and mental health services for Native communities. I am
confident that, together, we can support the individuals and
communities that have been shaped by detrimental federal Indian
boarding school policies.
I am proud of the work the Department is accomplishing to
confront its role in these assimilation policies through
education and am deeply grateful to Congress for its support as
well. In particular, the Department appreciates the $7 million
in funding provided for this work in Fiscal Year 2022, and we
look forward to working with Congress on our Fiscal Year 2023
request of an additional $7 million. These funds are crucial in
order for this work to be thorough and effective, in particular
the labor-intensive work of gathering and examining records and
identifying and characterizing various sites.
This funding will enable the Department to help expand
existing school profiles following Volume 1 of the report,
including detailing the number of children that attended
federal Indian boarding schools; identifying marked and
unmarked burial sites; identifying interred children, where
possible; and detailing the amount of federal support for the
system including support to non-federal entities.
s. 2907--a bill to establish the truth and healing commission on indian
boarding school policies in the united states
I am grateful for the Committee's leadership in also
considering S. 2907 as part of this hearing. This legislation,
which I led with my colleagues when I served in the U.S. House
of Representatives, would establish a Truth and Healing
Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United
States. The Commission would be required to investigate the
impacts and ongoing effects of the Indian Boarding School
Policies where Native children were forcibly removed from their
homes. The Commission would be directed to develop
recommendations on: (1) how to protect unmarked graves and
accompanying land protections; (2) support repatriation and
identify the Tribal Nations from which children were taken; and
(3) to prevent the continued removal of American Indian, Alaska
Native, and Native Hawaiian children from their families and
Native communities under modern-day assimilation practices
carried out by State social service departments, foster care
agencies, and adoption services.
The Administration strongly supports this legislation,
especially the development of national survivor resources to
address intergenerational trauma, and the inclusion of the
Commission's formal investigation and documentation practices.
In addition to our support, we would welcome an opportunity to
work with the Committee, especially on access to records
pertaining to the federal Indian boarding school system under
the control of non-federal entities as set forth in the
legislation to supplement the Department's Initiative.
conclusion
Some of the most influential decisions by the Department on
the lives of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native
Hawaiian children involve those related to federal Indian
boarding schools. That is part of America's story that we must
tell. While we cannot change that history, I believe that our
nation will benefit from a full understanding of the truth of
what took place and a focus on healing the wounds of the past.
I am grateful for your work to help address the atrocities
that Indian boarding school survivors and families have endured
for decades.
Thank you again for your focus on the Federal Indian
Boarding School Initiative and consideration of S. 2907. I am
confident that, together, we can start to help Tribal
communities to heal and strengthen Indian Country and the
Native Hawaiian Community now and for future generations.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
The Committee has received no communications from the
Executive Branch regarding S. 1723, or its reported version.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
On February 9, 2023, the Committee unanimously approved a
motion to waive subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing
Rules of the Senate. In the opinion of the Committee, it is
necessary to dispense with subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate to expedite the business of the
Senate.
[all]