Even the threat of a federal government shutdown at the end of FY2023 is causing the U.S. Department of the Interior to make precautionary postponements of previously planned events. On Friday afternoon, the Interior Department postponement of "The Road to Healing" listenins session scheduled for Sunday, October 1, 2023 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The U.S. Department of the Interior's Indian Affairs made the announcement on late Friday afternoon in a press release.
"Due to uncertainty in the congressional schedule, the previously advised event below has been postponed. We will advise when we are able to reschedule" reads the press release.
Last year, Secretary Haaland launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to shed light on the troubled history of Federal Indian boarding school policies and their legacy for Indigenous Peoples. In May 2022, the Department released Volume 1 of an investigative report as part of the Initiative, which calls for connecting communities with trauma-informed support and facilitating the collection of a permanent oral history.
The Interior Department also postponed a trip Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) and Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning planned in California to highlight President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and efforts to make Western communities more resilient to drought and wildfire in the wake of the climate crisis. They had planned to meet with local, state, Tribal and federal leaders, and other stakeholders.
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