[Senate Report 119-54]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 139
119th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 119-54
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TRUTH AND HEALING COMMISSION ON INDIAN
BOARDING SCHOOL POLICIES ACT OF 2025
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July 31, 2025.--Ordered to be printed
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Ms. Murkowski, from the Committee on Indian Affairs,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 761]
The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the
bill (S. 761) 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 without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE
To establish a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian
Boarding School Policies (Commission) in the United States
within the legislative branch to formally investigate,
document, and report on the impacts and ongoing effects of
Indian Boarding Schools Policies on Native peoples; to develop
recommendations for federal action based on the findings of the
Commission; and to promote healing for the 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, beliefs, 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.\3\\4\
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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 youth
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.library.dartmouth.edu/digital/digital-
collections/dartmouth-college-charter/read (establishing the ``design
of spreading Christian knowledge among the savages of our 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
later named as the Department of the Interior's first 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 Indian boarding schools, the Carlisle
Indian Industrial School (Carlisle School), in an abandoned
U.S. Army barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.\15\ General
Richard Henry Pratt, an Army officer and founder of the
Carlisle 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 the Carlisle School was rooted in his experience
with American Indians held as prisoners of war at the Hampton
Normal and Agricultural Institute (Hampton 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\ The Hampton School'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\
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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
[Indian] 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.
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General Armstrong modeled the Hampton School 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\ The Hampton School continued as a
boarding school for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and
Native Hawaiians until 1923.\21\
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\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, in 1891
Congress authorized the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to
promulgate regulations ``to secure the attendance'' of Indian
children at such schools.\22\ These regulations applied to all
Indian children between the ages of eight and eighteen (whether
living on or off-reservation), permitted the use of law
enforcement to compel attendance, and authorized the
withholding of clothes, rations, and other annuities from non-
compliant parents or guardians.\23\ Some Indians, such as the
Hopis in Arizona, opposed the forced education of their
children to the point that they were labeled ``hostiles,''
arrested, and jailed at Alcatraz Island in California for
nearly a year.\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, religions,
and social bonds.\25\
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\22\Act of March 3, 1891, ch. 543, 26 Stat. 989, 1014.
\23\Act of March 3, 1891, Ch. 543, 26 Stat. 989, 1035. See S. Rep.
No. 91-501 at 151 (1969): U.S. Cong. Serial Set, Vol. 2934, at 158-159
(1891); 25 U.S.C. Sec. 283.
\24\National Park Service, Hopi Prisoners on the Rock, https://
www.nps.gov/articles/hopi-prisoners-on-the-rock.htm (last visited Mar.
31, 2025); National Park Service, The Army and American Indian
Prisoners, https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-army-and-american-indian-
prisoners.htm (last visited Mar. 31, 2025).
\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
and religious 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 VOL. I, 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 & 26; 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 Report Volume II, as of July 2024, the federal
government supported or operated at least 417\33\ Indian
boarding schools between 1819 and 1969, across 37 states or
then-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. The Department of the
Interior concluded that, based on available records, 973 Indian
child deaths were documented across the federal Indian boarding
school system between 1819-1969, but acknowledged that that
number is much greater due to incomplete information.\35\
Recent reports estimate that more than 3100 Native students
died while attending an Indian boarding school between 1828 and
1970.\36\
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\33\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report VOL. II (2024).
\34\Id., 92 (reporting 22 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).
\35\Id., 15-16.
\36\Dana Hedgpeth et al., More Than 3,100 Students Died at Schools
Built to Crush Native American Cultures, Wash. Post (Dec. 22, 2024),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2024/native-
american-deaths-burial-sites-boarding-schools/.
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FEDERAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO INDIAN EDUCATION\37\
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\37\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 U.S. 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.\38\ 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 Meriam 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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\38\Lewis Meriam, Institute for Government Research, The Problem of
Indian Administration (1928) [hereinafter Meriam Report].
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Generally, the Meriam Report exposed 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. . .
.''\39\ On Indian education, and boarding schools specifically,
the Meriam 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.''\40\ It specified four
general deficiencies in Indian education at the time:
inappropriate pedagogy;\41\ lack of funds;\42\ lack of
personnel;\43\ and lack of qualified personnel.\44\ These
findings provided a foundation for the passage of the Johnson
O'Malley Act\45\ and the Indian Self Determination and
Education Assistance Act of 1975, which expressed Congressional
intent to return Tribal control of, and expand self-
determination in, the education of Native children with federal
funds.\46\
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\39\Id. at 11.
\40\Meriam Report at 12.
\41\Id. at 346.
\42\Id. at 347.
\43\Id.
\44\Id.
\45\25 U.S.C. Sec. 5342 et seq. (1934).
\46\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.\47\ 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.\48\
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\47\S. Res. 165, 90th Cong. (1967).
\48\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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EXECUTIVE ACTIONS REGARDING INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS
Department of the Interior Federal Indian 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
Policies that operated between 1819 and 1969.\49\ The first
volume of the investigative 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.\50\ It
presents evidence that the Federal Indian Boarding School
system engaged in systematic, militarized, and identity-
altering practices\51\ 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.\52\ 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.\53\ In
2023, Secretary Haaland and Assistant Secretary Newland
conducted a 12-stop ``Road to Healing'' listening tour in ten
states to acknowledge and address the historical trauma caused
by federal Indian Boarding Schools. Throughout the tour,
survivors and descendants shared personal accounts and
testimonies of abuse, neglect and cultural suppression. The
U.S. Department of the Interior released the second and final
volume of its Federal Indian Boarding School Investigative
Report on July 17, 2024. This final report updated the number
of federal Indian Boarding Schools to 417 institutions across
37 states or then-territories; documented at least 973 Native
children died while attending federally operated or supported
Indian boarding schools; confirmed the existence of at least 74
marked and unmarked burial sites at 65 different school
locations, and found the U.S. government appropriated over
$23.3 billion (in 2023 inflation-adjusted dollars) between 1871
and 1969 for the operation of federal Indian Boarding School
system and related federal assimilation policies.\54\ The final
report also provided recommendations to the federal government,
which included calling for an official apology.\55\ On October
25, 2024, President Biden issued a formal apology for the U.S.
government's role in operating Indian boarding schools,
acknowledging the profound harm inflicted on Native communities
over a 150-year period that stripped Native children of their
languages and cultures.\56\
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\49\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.
\50\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report, VOL. I 5 (2022).
\51\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).
\52\Id. at 37, 38.
\53\Id. at 95, 97.
\54\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report Vol. II (2024).
\55\Id. at 22.
\56\Dana Hedgpeth, Sara Horwitz and Toluse Olorunnipa, `I formally
apologize': Biden condemns U.S. Indian Boarding Schools, Wash Post
(October 25, 2024), https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/
10/25/biden-apology-indian-boarding-schools/?utm_source=chatgpt.com.
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TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION ACTIVITIES IN NORTH AMERICA
UNITED STATES
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.\57\ 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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\57\See The National Native American Boarding School Healing
Coalition, https://boardingschoolhealing.org/ (last visited Mar. 31,
2025).
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Notably, NABS maintains a first of its kind ``National
Indian Boarding School Digital Archive'' platform 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 526 Indian Boarding Schools
identified to date.\58\ 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.\59\
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\58\Interactive Digital Map of Indian Boarding Schools, The
National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, https://
boardingschoolhealing.org/digitalmap/ (last visited Mar. 31, 2025).
\59\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,\60\ 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 to
promote healing for survivors, families, and communities that
were affected.\61\
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\60\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.
\61\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\62\ 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).\63\ 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.\64\ 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.\65\
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\62\Four Directions, https://fourdirectionsmaine.org/about-four-
directions/wabanaki-tribes/ (last visited Mar. 31, 2025) (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).
\63\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].
\64\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).
\65\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 the Alaska's
Indian boarding schools and institutions, among other goals.
Such research includes identifying the scope of the system,
location of schools and children buried on these 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.\66\
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\66\Alaska Native Heritage Center, Cultural Programming, https://
www.alaskanative.net/learn/cultural-programming/ (last visited Mar. 31.
2025) (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.\67\
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\67\W.K Kellogg Foundation, Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation,
https://healourcommunities.org/ (last visited Apr. 1, 2025).
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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.\68\ 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.\69\ 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.
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\68\First Alaskans Institute, How We Heal Toolkit: Communities and
Collective (2019), https://boardingschoolhealing.org/wp-content/
uploads/2019/05/First-Alaskans-THRT-Toolkit.pdf.
\69\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.\70\ 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\71\--and is
governed by a Council of Tribal leaders representing Central,
Eastern, Northern, and Southern California.\72\
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\70\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.
\71\See Governor's Office of Tribal Affairs, Tribal Affairs
Secretary, https://tribalaffairs.ca.gov/tribal-affairs-secretary/ (last
visited Mar. 8, 2024).
\72\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.\73\
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\73\Governor's Office of Tribal Affairs, About the California Truth
& Healing Council, https://tribalaffairs.ca.gov/cthc/about/ (last
visited May 29, 2025). (As of May 29, 2025, no final report has been
submitted).
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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, the 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\
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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.
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CANADA
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 or First Nations peoples.\80\\81\ Between at least the
1830s and the late 1990s, Canadian residential schools directly
affected approximately 150,000 children.
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\80\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].
\81\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.\82\ The Indian Residential Schools Settlement
Agreement included a mandate to create the Canadian Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which had several goals to
advance reconciliation through community education, hearings,
and policy actions.\83\
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\82\TRC Canada Summary at 129-134.
\83\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 recommending a path to
reconciliation with 94 action items.\84\
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\84\National Center for Truth and Reconciliation, Reports, https://
nctr.ca/records/reports/ (last visited Mar. 31, 2025).
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NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Indian Boarding Schools were part of a federally-sanctioned
policy of forced assimilation, focused on erasing Native
cultures, religions, languages and identities in the United
States. The traumatic effects of Indian Boarding School
policies and practices on Native communities are still felt by
survivors, their descendants, and their communities to the
present day.\85\ 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,''\86\ Congress has not fully acknowledged the U.S.
government's role and responsibility for these past policies or
formally established a structured Native-led process for Native
and non-Native communities to examine and heal from such
policies.\87\
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\85\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).
\86\Native American Languages Act, Pub. L. No. 101-477, Sec. 102,
101 Stat. 1153, 1154 (1990).
\87\See Apology to Native Peoples of the United States, H.R. 3326,
111th Cong. Sec. 8113 (2009).
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Further, while some non-profit organizations,\88\ religious
institutions,\89\ and the DOI have conducted investigations
into the impacts of Indian Boarding School policies, and some
religious institutions are beginning to acknowledge their role
in carrying out these policies and offering actions they can
take to address those harms,\90\ 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.\91\ S. 761 provides for a thorough, nationwide process
warranted by the breadth and severity of the federal Indian
Boarding School legacy.
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\88\See e.g. The National Native American Boarding School Healing
Coalition, at https://boardingschoolhealing.org/ (last visited Apr. 1,
2025).
\89\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.
\90\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.
\91\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
S. 761 reflects extensive bipartisan review, analysis, and
debate in three key areas related to the Commission and its
advisory bodies: (1) structure, (2) establishment, and (3)
operation.
Structure and Timeline
S. 761 establishes a five-member Truth and Healing
Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United
States, a 19-member Native American Truth and Healing Advisory
Committee, a 20-member Federal and Religious Truth and Healing
Advisory Committee, and a 15-member Survivors Truth and Healing
Subcommittee, with certain members of the Commission and
Survivors Subcommittee cross-appointed to leadership positions
on the different advisory bodies (See Figure 1).
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
S. 761 limits the Commission's investigation authority to
six (6) years and requires it to complete and publish a Final
Report before the end of that period. The bill also establishes
a timeline for key milestones for the work of the Commission
and its various advisory bodies. (See Figure 2).
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
This structure and timeline of key milestones was created
in response to testimony from Tribal leaders regarding their
experiences working with existing Tribal advisory committees,
as well as advocates, religious institutions, 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.\92\
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\92\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report VOL. 1 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. 761 requires candidates for all positions on the
Commission, the Survivors Truth and Healing Subcommittee, and
the Native American Truth and Healing Advisory Committee, to be
nominated by Native entities and peoples, and establishes a
bipartisan and bicameral Congressional process for appointing
Commissioners. Nominees to serve on the Commission shall
represent significant expertise in: (1) research; (2)
Indigenous human rights; (3) Tribal courts, restorative
justice, and federal agencies; (4); trauma informed care; or
(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.
Membership and appointment to the Federal and Religious Truth
and Healing Advisory Committee shall be made pursuant to
section 211(b) of S. 761.
Operation
S. 761 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.
Costs
S. 761 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 permits the Commission to
supplement its funding through fundraising and donations from
the private and charitable sectors. The Committee developed
this funding framework through careful consideration of the
costs associated with past and contemporary examples of similar
commissions, such as the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, the DOI's Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative, and the California Truth & Healing Council 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,\93\ directing research
activities involving over one hundred million pages of
documents,\94\ and providing trauma-informed care to
participants at convening.
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\93\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 26. 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 526 known boarding schools in the United States, the
Commission is expected to receive approximately four times the amount
of testimony.s
\94\U.S. Dep't of the Interior, Federal Indian Boarding School
Initiative Investigative Report, VOL. I (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
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 tools and qualified staff to properly collect, organize,
and preserve information and items obtained from witnesses,
federal agencies, religious institutions, or through other
means while following federal law and regulations.\95\ To that
end, the Commission is authorized to carry out domestic and
international archival research and may enter into contracts or
agreements with public agencies, private organizations, or
individuals as well as accept voluntary services from a range
of sources, including universities and law schools to locate,
review, and analyze information related to Indian Boarding
School policies. Although S. 761 does not provide the
Commission with subpoena authority, it will have the assistance
of the Federal and Religious Truth and Healing Advisory
Committee to help it obtain ``all relevant information'' to the
investigation the Commission is charged with conducting.
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\95\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).
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Healing
The Commission fulfills its responsibility to promote
healing in three primary ways. First, the commission, itself,
is a formal acknowledgement of the widespread and long-term
harm caused by federal Indian Boarding School policies which is
a foundational step in healing for survivors, their descendants
and Native communities. Second, the Commission provides a
national forum with processes for survivors and their
descendants to share their experiences, receive validation, and
access trauma-informed care. Third, the Commission will bring
transparency and truth to the investigation and 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
S. 761 was introduced by Senators Murkowski and Warren
along with Senator Schatz and 12 other original cosponsors on
February 26, 2025. To date, there are 23 cosponsors to S. 761.
In the 118th Congress, a similar bill, S. 1723 was
introduced by Senators Warren and Murkowski along with Senator
Schatz and 24 other original cosponsors, on May 18, 2023. The
Committee held a business meeting to consider S. 1723 on June
7, 2023, and ordered the bill to be reported with an amendment
in the nature of a substitute favorably.\96\ On December 20,
2024, the Committee withdrew its substitute to S. 1723 and by
unanimous consent the full Senate adopted S. Amdt. 3351 to S.
1723, an amendment in the nature of a substitute proposed by
Senator Schatz. S. Amdt. 3351 struck the Commission's subpoena
authority, renamed the Federal Truth and Healing Advisory
Committee to be the Federal and Religious Truth and Healing
Advisory Committee, struck the Native American preference for
nominee's to serve as a Commissioner, added three
representatives to the renamed Federal and Religious Truth and
Healing Advisory Committee that are employed by or acting as
representatives of religious institutions appointed by the
White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
(renamed White House Office of Faith in 2025), and authorized
appropriation of $90,000,000 to fund the Commission over its
six-year term. S. 1723 passed the Senate as amended by voice
vote on December 20, 2024.\97\
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\96\S. Rept. No. 118-187 (2024).
\97\Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools
Policies Act; Congressional Record Vol. 170, No. 190 (Daily Ed Dec. 20.
2024) Pages S7254-S7267.
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A companion bill, H.R. 7227, was introduced by
Representatives Davids (D-KS) and Cole (R-OK) in the House of
Representatives on February 5, 2024. At the end of the 118th
Congress, H.R. 7227 had 80 cosponsors. The bill was referred to
the Committees on Education and Workforce, Natural Resources,
and Energy and Commerce. At a business 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.\98\ On November 22, 2024, the Committees on Natural
Resources and Energy and Commerce discharged the bill and H.R.
7227 was placed on the Union Calendar.
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\98\H. Rept. No. 118-760 (2024).
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In the 117th Congress, Senator Warren, along with Senator
Schatz and 12 other original co-sponsors, introduced S. 2907,
similar legislation on September 30, 2021. Senator Murkowski
and 12 other senators later joined as cosponsors. On June 22,
2022, the Committee held a Legislative Hearing on S. 2907.\99\
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\99\S. Hrg. 117-534: 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.
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On September 30, 2021, Representatives Davids (D-KS) and
Cole (R-OK), introduced H.R. 5444, companion legislation 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\\102\
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\100\Representative Bruce Westerman (R-AR) offered two amendments,
Representatives Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Lauren 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.
\102\H. Rept. No. 117-595 Part I (2022).
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In the 116th Congress, Senators Warren (D-MA), Merkley (D-
OR), and Smith (D-MN) introduced similar legislation, S. 4752,
on September 29, 2020. The Senate took no action on the
legislation in the 116th Congress.
On September 29, 2020, Representative Haaland (D-NM),
introduced companion legislation, H.R. 8420, an identical 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 action on the legislation in the 116th Congress.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, in open business
meeting on March 5, 2025, by a majority voice vote of a quorum
present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 761.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF S. 761
Section 1--Short title; Table of Contents
This section sets forth the short title of the bill as the
``Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School
Policies Act of 2025'' and provides a table of contents.
Section 2--Purposes
This section establishes four purposes of the bill:
To establish a Truth and Healing Commission
on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United
States, including necessary advisory committees and
subcommittees;
To formally investigate, document, and
report on the histories of Indian Boarding School
Policies 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 3--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
Policies in the United States.''
Section 101(b) sets forth criteria and process for the five
members of the Commission and requirements for nominations,
appointments, vacancies, removals, termination, and limitations
of these members.
Section 101(c) establishes procedures for the initial
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) establishes that a simple majority of
Commission members constitutes a quorum for a business meeting.
Section 101(e) authorizes the Commission to establish rules
for conducting 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 convenings and receiving testimony
and evidence;
Conducting or requesting research and
securing relevant information to meet the purposes of
the bill;
Overseeing, directing, and collaborating
with the Advisory Committees and Subcommittee;
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 in the same
manner as federal agencies;
Accepting gifts, engaging in fundraising,
disbursing funds, issuing tax-deductions for gifts; and
Coordinating with the Library of Congress
and the Smithsonian Institution 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) clarifies that the Federal Advisory
Committee Act shall not apply to the Commission.
Section 101(j) applies the Congressional Accountability Act
of 1995 to any Commissioner or individual who is an employee of
the Commission.
Section 101(k) directs the Committee to meaningfully
consult or engage, as appropriate, with relevant individuals,
Tribes, and Native organizations.
Section 101(l) authorizes appropriations of $90 million
from section 105 of the Indian Land Consolidation Act
Amendments of 2000 and section 403 of the Indian Financing Act
of 1974, to carry out the bill.
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 and Religious
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 Native
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;
Considering how the federal government can
promote public awareness and education of Indian
Boarding School Policies and their impacts and;
Views of religious institutions.
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 burial sites of
students who attended an Indian Boarding School;
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 four (4) years after appointment
of a majority of the Commissioners;
Publishing the final report of the
Commission's findings before Commission termination
with approval by majority of the Commission and 3/5 of
the Native American Truth and Healing Advisory
Committee and Survivors Truth and Healing Subcommittee;
Providing the final report to the listed
recipients and making the report publicly available
within 180 days of submission on the Commission's
website, along with the Departments of the Interior,
Education, Justice, 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 initial
meeting of the Subcommittee and a basic framework for
subsequent meetings, including format and quorum requirements.
Section 121(d) establishes that a simple majority of
Subcommittee members constitutes a quorum for a business
meeting.
Section 121(e) authorizes the Subcommittee to establish, by
majority vote, 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 meaningfully
consult or engage, as appropriate, with relevant individuals,
Tribes, and Native organizations.
Section 121(h) clarifies that the Federal Advisory
Committee Act shall not apply to the Subcommittee.
Section 121(i) applies the Congressional Accountability Act
of 1995 to any member of the Subcommittee.
Section 121(j) 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) establishes 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 initial
business meeting of the Native Advisory Committee and a basic
framework for subsequent meetings, including format and quorum
requirements.
Section 201(f) authorizes the Native Advisory Committee to
establish, by majority vote, 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 and Religious
Truth and Healing Advisory Committee and the Survivors
Subcommittee; and
Providing advice or services as the
Commission may require.
Section 201(h) directs the Native Advisory Committee to
meaningfully consult or engage, as appropriate, with relevant
individuals, Tribes, and Native organizations.
Section 201(i) clarifies that the Federal Advisory
Committee Act shall not apply to the Advisory Committee.
Section 201(j) applies the Congressional Accountability Act
of 1995 to any member of the Native Advisory Committee.
Section 201(k) establishes the compensation and travel
expense rates for members of the Native Advisory Committee.
Subtitle B--Federal and Religious Truth and Healing Advisory Committee
Section 211(a) establishes an advisory committee within the
Department of the Interior to be known as the ``Federal and
Religious Truth and Healing Advisory Committee'' (Federal and
Religious Advisory Committee).
Section 211(b) sets forth criteria for the 20 members of
the Federal and Religious Advisory Committee and requirements
for appointments, term lengths, vacancies, removals, and
termination.
Section 211(c) establishes procedures for the initial
business meeting of the Federal and Religious Advisory
Committee, and a basic framework for subsequent meetings,
including format and quorum requirements.
Section 201(d) establishes that a simple majority of
Federal and Religious Advisory Committee members constitutes a
quorum.
Section 201(e) authorizes the Federal and Religious
Advisory Committee to establish, by majority vote, rules for
the conduct of its business.
Section 211(f) establishes the duties of the Federal and
Religious Advisory Committee, including:
Ensuring effective and timely coordination
between Federal agencies and religious institutions;
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 from witnesses, federal agencies, and
religious institutions;
Ensuring the timely submission of relevant
evidence to the Commission and;
Coordinate with the Commission to carry out
the purposes of the Act.
Section 211(g) directs the Federal and Religious Advisory
Committee to meaningfully 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 Federal and Religious Advisory
Committee.
TITLE III--GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 301 clarifies that the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) applies to cultural
items, 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
and other cultural items relating to Indian Boarding Schools
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
The Committee has requested, but has not yet received, the
Congressional Budget Office's estimate of the cost of S. 761 as
ordered reported. When the Congressional Budget Office
completes its cost estimate, it will be posted on the Internet
at www.cbo.gov, and printed in the Congressional Record.
EXECUTIVE TESTIMONY AND COMMUNICATIONS
Testimony provided by the Department of the Interior at the
June 22, 2022, hearing on S. 2907, similar legislation
introduced in the 117th Congress follows:
statement of deb haaland
secretary of the united states department of the interior before the
senate committee on indian affairs
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.\103\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\103\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,\104\ 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\104\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.
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. 761, as
reported, will have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork
requirements.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
In the opinion of the Committee, it is necessary to
dispense with the requirements of subsection 12 of rule XXVI of
the Standing Rules of the Senate to expedite the business of
the Senate.
[all]