A similar situation emerged in the United States, after the bodies of 215 indigenous children were found in the garden of a Catholic Church school in Canada last year. Following Canada, the US Department of the Interior launched a similar investigation across the country.
Interior Minister Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a minister in the United States, said in a statement that they identified burial sites in 53 areas across the country where Native American boarding schools were located, some of which were marked and some of which had no markings.
Haaland, who could not control his tears at the press conference he held after the incident in Canada, stated that a comprehensive research would also be carried out in the USA. In his statement at that time, the minister said that they would launch an investigation into the inspections of domestic boarding schools in the USA.
Within the scope of the investigation, it was determined that 408 of the local boarding schools received support from government resources between 1819 and 1969, and 89 schools survived without any federal financial support. It was stated that at least half of the other schools in a similar situation provide education with the support of churches and charities. Non-governmental organizations and researchers point out that there is information about the abuse of countless children in these schools over the years. It is stated that these numbers are expressed in thousands.
According to the report prepared as a result of the investigation by the Ministry of Interior, sexual assault and emotional abuse against children took place in these schools. According to the research, more than 500 children lost their lives in these schools. For this reason, experts say that as the research gets deeper, it is possible to find more burial sites.
Interior Minister Haaland stated that as part of the investigation, he started to meet with people who lived in these schools and experienced the events, and that these efforts will continue for another year. The next objective of the investigation in question was to determine the total number of children who went to these schools, to find possible graves and burial sites, and to determine how much financial resources were transferred to these schools through the federal system or churches.
Secretary Haaland stated that the US Congress has allocated $ 7 million as part of the program for the continuation of the investigation and assistance to Native Americans.
Haaland presented a proposal to Congress in 2020 under the name of the Truth and Healing Commission. However, it is known that this offer is still pending.
Deborah Parker, head of the National Coalition for the Improvement of Native American Boarding Schools, which assisted the Department of the Interior’s investigation, said that the results of the investigation underlined how traumatizing there was.
Speaking at the press conference where the data regarding the report were announced, Parker said, “These children have a name, a family and their own language. “Before Native American boarding schools brutally took these children, they had their own clothes, language and religion.”
Many Native Americans were interviewed during the preparation of the report. It is stated that the records in the report date back to at least 1801. The year 1801 is known as the time when these schools were first opened and cultural exchanges were made through education.
Indigenous schools remained affiliated to the Ministry of War in the USA until 1849 and were considered as schools with military school status. It is known that at that time the police forced local families to send their children to these schools.
The United States is conducting research on Native American Boarding Schools for the first time since the incident in Canada last year. It is stated that these schools are schools where local children were separated from their families and forcibly sent for assimilation for about 150 years.