The Department has scheduled formal consultations with Tribal Nations on all matters relating to the Initiative that will begin in mid-November. Secretary Haaland acknowledged the importance of this phase of the initiative. “As we move forward, working with Tribal Nations is critical to addressing this legacy with transparency and accountability. Tribal consultations are at the core of this long and painful process to address the inter-generational trauma of Indian boarding schools and to shed light on the truth in a way that honors those we have lost and those that continue to suffer trauma.” To facilitate discussion during the consultations, participants are requested to address the following topics: ● Appropriate protocols on handling sensitive information in existing records; ● Ways to address cultural concerns and handling of information generated from existing records or from potential sitework activities; ● Potential repatriation of human remains, including cultural concerns and compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act; ● Future policy and procedure implementation to protect burial sites, locations, confidential information, and culturally sensitive information; ● Management of sites of former boarding schools; ● Privacy issues or cultural concerns to be identified as part of the Initiative; and ● Other issues the Department should address in its review. A final written report on the investigation will be submitted to the Secretary by April 1, 2022. The atrocities of government boarding schools for Native children were highlighted with the recent discovery of unmarked graves of indigenous children in Canada. In an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Secretary Haaland detailed the “United States’ history of taking Native children from their families in an effort to eradicate our culture and erase us as a people. It is a history that we must learn from if our country is to heal from this tragic era.” She added, “I am a product of these horrific assimilation policies. My maternal grandparents were stolen from their families when they were only 8 years old and were forced to live away from their parents, culture and communities until they were 13. Many children like them never made it back home.” Secretary Haaland acknowledged that the lasting and profound impacts of the federal government’s boarding school system have never been appropriately addressed. “I know that this process will be long and difficult. I know that this process will be painful. It won’t undo the heartbreak and loss we feel. But only by acknowledging the past can we work toward a future that we’re all proud to embrace the historic term of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is an opportunity to put this past to rest, educate the American public, and help Native communities heal, while setting new precedent and opening a new era for Indian tribes to work in true partnership with the United States to improve the lives of reservation residents.
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