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- By Jenna Kunze
A new federal report recommends that the U.S. government strengthen ties with countries that share similar histories of Indigenous child removal as a key step in healing from two centuries of destructive Indian boarding school policies.
Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released its second and final report in its three-year investigation into the “traumatic and violent” legacy of Indian Boarding Schools that the U.S. government operated throughout the 1800s and 1900s. The report suggests that international cooperation with countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — nations that also engaged in similar efforts — could help the U.S. develop effective strategies for healing and redress.
From 1819 until 1969, the United States forcibly assimilated Native youth by systematically removing them from their homes and sending them to one of at least 417 documented boarding schools across the country. The investigation found that at least 18,624 students entered these schools, where they experienced “rampant physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; disease; malnourishment; overcrowding; and lack of health care.”
At least 973 students died and were buried in marked and unmarked graves at the schools — far from their families and Native communities.
The DOI investigation found at least 74 school burial sites and expects that the number of students, student deaths, burial sites, and funds spent on the schools are “far greater."
The U.S. history of child removal and assimilation set a precedent for Indigenous child removal that was then “replicated” by other former British Empire nations, including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community), who led the investigation and authored the report, highlighted the need for the U.S. to exchange best practices for healing and redress with those countries.
Although the United States pioneered the policies that led to Indigenous child removal policies, it has been the last to reckon with its history compared to its counterparts. In 2021, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative with the goals of identifying boarding school locations, burial sites, and the names and tribal affiliations of children interred at each location.
“Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States (CANZUS states) derive from the British Empire and maintain English common law systems,” the BIA’s recent report notes. “The four countries are distinct because they have political and legal relationships with Indigenous Peoples based on founding national documents, centuries-old judicial decisions, and legislative and executive actions and instruments—unlike other countries that base official interactions with Indigenous Peoples on human rights, or non-binding principles.”
Volume 2 of the U.S. report examined the official actions taken by each of the other three countries with First Nations, Inuits, Métis, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and Māori Tribes for potential recommendations for the United States government. The report writes that the goal is “to exchange best practices for healing and redress” between federal and Indigenous governments.
To achieve that goal, Newland recommended the U.S.create an ambassador position at the Bureau of Indian Affairs “to strengthen the U.S. Government’s expertise on Indigenous issues globally and connections with other countries.”
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have been exploring redress with the Indigenous Peoples Thisof their countries for decades: In 2006, Canada enacted the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement of $2 billion to formally address the Indian residential school legacy, including $100 million secured from Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican, and United Church of Canada religious institutions and organizations.
Beginning in 1995, Australia established the National Inquiry to receive testimony and report on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child removal practices and reparation options. In 2018, Australia separately delivered the National Redress Scheme to provide sexual abuse survivors with counseling and “redress payments” up to $150,000, according to the report.
In 1975, the Crown controlling New Zealand’s commonwealth established The Waitangi Tribunal to assess claims of the Crown breaching the Treaty of Waitangi. As of 2024, the Crown has signed 100 settled deeds amounting to the equivalent of $1.6 billion dollars. Most settlements included an official apology, financial award, territory return, water rights, fishery rights, mineral rights return, and restoration efforts of the Māori language, the Interior Department found.
In the last two years, Secretary Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary Newland visited Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to meet with officials to learn about historical Indigenous child boarding schools in these countries and subsequent redress, according to the report.
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