NEW YORK – As both chambers of Congress consider legislation to establish a federal commission to help address Native American boarding school-era trauma, the U.S. bishops have requested an amendment be made to the current proposals to give them a seat at the table.

If passed, the “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act” would create a five member commission, a 15 member subcommittee, and separate 19 member and 17 member advisory committees to investigate, document and acknowledge past injustices that took place at the federal government’s Indian boarding schools.

As presently constructed, the legislation reserves spots for various Indigenous associations and members of federal departments, which the U.S. bishops don’t dispute are important. However, because many of these schools were run by Catholic and Protestant entities, the U.S. bishops argue the legislation should create spots for members of religious communities, as well.

“It seems like an omission if the government, which was the genesis of the boarding schools, has a ‘seat at the table,’ but religious communities do not,” U.S. Bishops’ Conference chairmen wrote in a recent letter to Congress. “Healing and reconciliation are only possible if all parties are involved. A listening process presupposes that different partners are engaged in the dialogue.”

One version of the letter was sent to Republican House Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma and Democrat Representative Sharice Davids of Kansas, who sponsored the House version of the legislation. Another version of the letter, albeit a nearly identical one, was sent to Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who sponsored the Senate version of the legislation.

The letters are signed by Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, chair of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Bishop Chad Zielinski of New Ulm, chair of the USCCB Subcommittee on Native American Affairs, and Auxiliary Bishop Arturo Cepeda of Detroit, chair of the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity.

The letter also argues that present-day religious communities should be involved because they can help facilitate requests for records or dialogue with current leaders of those communities, and they could also serve as an important liaison for voluntary cooperation with the efforts of the Commission when needed.

The letter was sent to the Congressional leaders on July 25. Five days later, on July 30, Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland published the second and final volume of the investigative report called for as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. The report details the number of Indian boarding schools, and the deaths that took place at them, the number of burial sites, participation of religious institutions and organizations, and the federal dollars spent to operate each location.

The second volume expands on the first. It updates the official list of federal Indian boarding schools and maps to include 417 institutions across 37 states or then-territories. Each institution is profiled, and the second volume confirms that at least 973 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children died while attending the boarding schools.

The second volume also identifies at least 74 marked and unmarked burial sites at 65 different school sites, and estimates that the U.S. government made appropriations available of more than $23.3 billion in Fiscal Year 2023 inflation-adjusted dollars between 1871 and 1969 for the federal Indian boarding school system as well as other similar institutions and associated assimilation policies.

According to the second volume, 210 federal Indian boarding schools had a religious affiliation, of which 77 were Catholic, and 132 Protestant.

“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,” Haaland said in a statement on the second volume.

“I am immensely proud of the hundreds of Interior employees – many of them Indigenous – who gave of their time and themselves to ensure that this investigation was thoroughly completed to provide an accurate and honest picture,” Haaland continued. “The Road to Healing does not end with this report – it is just beginning.”

The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative was launched in 2021. The “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act” currently before Congress aims to build on the federal government’s ongoing efforts to address the wrongs that took place at the boarding schools. Warren argues it will help the federal government fully investigate what took place.

“For over a century, the cruel Indian Boarding School policies ripped children from their homes, and forced them into schools where they faced abuse, neglect, trauma, and even death,” Warren said when the legislation was announced in June. “A Truth and Healing Commission will help us fully investigate the effects of these policies and propose ways to heal the harms caused.”

In their letter, the USCCB chairmen highlight one other problem they see with the legislation. They took issue with its broad subpoena powers, arguing that to their knowledge the Church has been cooperative with the investigation since it began, and not denied any records requests. They hold that voluntary cooperation should be sought before a subpoena.

“We believe strongly that the Commission can and should avoid an adversarial posture since we have expressed desire for transparency and cooperation in making this history more available to the public, and have thus far not been given an opportunity to cooperate voluntarily with government efforts to bring this history to light,” the USCCB chairmen said.

From there, the USCCB chairmen close their letter emphasizing their commitment to transparency.

“We are committed to transparency, to listening, and to humility in prayerfully walking together on this difficult path, and we stand ready to work with you on efforts to bring the truth forward towards that end of healing and reconciliation,” the letter states.

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