Deb Haaland Secretary at U.S. Department of Interior | Official website
The Department of the Interior announced significant advancements in the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, launched in June 2021 by Secretary Deb Haaland. This initiative represents the federal government's first comprehensive effort to acknowledge and address the legacy of past federal Indian boarding school policies and their intergenerational impact on Indigenous communities.
The Department released the second and final volume of its investigative report, led by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland. This volume expands on details from the initial report published in May 2022, including attendee deaths, burial sites, participation of religious institutions, and federal funding used to operate these schools. It also offers policy recommendations for Congress and the Executive Branch aimed at promoting healing and redress for Indigenous communities.
Secretary Haaland stated, “The federal government – facilitated by the Department I lead – took deliberate and strategic actions through federal Indian boarding school policies to isolate children from their families, deny them their identities, and steal from them the languages, cultures and connections that are foundational to Native people. These policies caused enduring trauma for Indigenous communities that the Biden-Harris administration is working tirelessly to repair.” She added that this investigation marks just the beginning of a path to healing.
Assistant Secretary Newland remarked, “For the first time in the history of the United States, the federal government is accounting for its role in operating historical Indian boarding schools that forcibly confined and attempted to assimilate Indigenous children. This report further proves what Indigenous peoples across the country have known for generations – that federal policies were set out to break us, obtain our territories, and destroy our cultures and our lifeways.”
Volume 2 updates include an official list of 417 federal Indian boarding schools across 37 states or then-territories. It confirms at least 973 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children died while attending these schools. The report identifies at least 74 marked and unmarked burial sites at 65 different school locations. It estimates over $23.3 billion was appropriated between 1871 and 1969 for these schools.
During this investigation, approximately 103 million pages of federal records were reviewed. Secretary Haaland and Assistant Secretary Newland also consulted with officials from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand regarding similar assimilation policies.
The report presents eight recommendations from Assistant Secretary Newland aimed at supporting national healing:
- Issuing a formal acknowledgment and apology from the U.S. government.
- Investing in remedies for present-day impacts.
- Establishing a national memorial.
- Identifying and repatriating remains of children.
- Returning former school sites to Tribes.
- Educating about these schools' history.
- Further research into health and economic impacts.
- Advancing international relationships regarding similar histories.
Investing in Native language restoration has been a priority under the Biden-Harris administration. An interagency initiative was launched in 2021 focusing on preserving Native languages.
"The Road to Healing," a historic tour completed by Secretary Haaland and Assistant Secretary Newland in late 2023 provided survivors with opportunities to share their experiences with federal officials. These reflections are included in Volume 2.
An oral history project has been initiated to document experiences of those who attended these schools. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition is conducting interviews funded by grants from various organizations.
Some historical boarding schools continue operations without assimilationist practices today, including those run by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) which focuses on holistic education for Native learners.
Both volumes of this report are available on the Bureau of Indian Affairs website.
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