Native Boarding Schools

This past spring, I led a group of young Alaskans to Washington, D.C. We traveled across the continent to attend a youth conference organized by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a nonpartisan Quaker advocacy organization. We joined hundreds of young people from across the nation and lobbied Congress to pass a bill that would create a Truth and Healing Commission on the Indian Boarding School Era. Months after returning from Washington, I once again urge the Alaskan Congressional delegation to work together and ensure passage of the bill this Congress session.

Space on the calendar – as well as an election – may be standing in the way of long overdue progress and justice for millions of Native Americans who continue to suffer the consequences of past abuses in boarding schools.

In a bipartisan vote on June 13, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (H.R. 7227) passed the House Education and Workforce Committee 34 to 4. This is a major win for Native American communities, survivors, and their descendants, who were terrorized by these policies for decades. The bill now needs to be approved by two other committees for a floor vote.

While Congress continues to consider federal legislation for Truth and Healing from the trauma of Indian boarding schools, the Department of the Interior, led by Secretary Deb Haaland, has continued its own investigation.

In a bipartisan vote on June 13, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (H.R. 7227) passed the House Education and Workforce Committee 34 to 4. This is a major win for Native American communities, survivors, and their descendants, who were terrorized by these policies for decades. The bill now needs to be approved by two other committees for a floor vote.

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In a bipartisan vote on June 13, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (H.R. 7227) passed the House Education and Workforce Committee 34 to 4. This is a major win for Native American communities, survivors, and their descendants, who were terrorized by these policies for decades. The bill now needs to be approved by two other committees for a floor vote.

FCNL hailed the recent bipartisan vote in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to pass the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act.

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