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Higgins urges Haaland to include Thomas Indian School in Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative

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Thu, Jan 20th 2022 08:15 pm

Attended by Seneca Nation students, the school operated on federal funding

Congressman Brian Higgins, on behalf of the Seneca Nation of Indians, is urging the U.S. Department of the Interior to include the former Thomas Indian School, located on the Cattaraugus Territory, in the department’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. The school was attended by hundreds of Seneca and other indigenous children, severely impacting native culture and language.

In a letter to the Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, Higgins writes, “The scope of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative is appropriately focused on documenting the Department’s responsibility for operating and overseeing Indian boarding schools across the United States – however, this effort will be seriously undermined and incomplete if it does not account for the substantial financial support the federal government, and more specifically the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, provided to the Thomas Indian School. Respectfully, the traumas suffered by the enrolled Seneca and other indigenous children at the Thomas Indian School deserve mention and are not extra-jurisdictional simply because school officials answered to the State of New York.”

Higgins’ team stated, “In June, Haaland issued a memo directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to prepared a detailed report including historical records relating to the federal Indian boarding school program in order. The report, due by April 1, will lead to future work to address the intergenerational impact of Indian boarding schools and shed light on the trauma that resulted from federal programs and policies.

“The Indian Civilization Act of 1819 enacted laws and policies that established and supported Indian boarding schools across the country. The schools forcefully assimilated indigenous children, which took them away from their families and suppressed their identities, languages and beliefs. The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative focuses on documenting the U.S. Department of the Interior’s role in operating and overseeing federal Indian boarding schools across the United States.

“While the Thomas Indian School was run by New York state, it received periodic federal funding to build the school and maintain its day-to-day operations. Records indicate that, once the federal government abandoned the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, the Thomas Indian School was the primary institution serving native populations in the eastern United States. Although the federal government did not oversee the school’s operations, the school relied on support from the federal government, and carried out many of the same functions as other schools in the Federal Indian Boarding School Program. Additionally, federal funding supported the school’s medical clinic and weekly dispensary services under an agreement between New York State Department of Social Welfare and the Federal Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Updates to grounds and dormitories were also made with federal funds. Parts of the former school site now operate as Seneca Nation offices.

In the letter, Higgins calls on Haaland and Newland to include the Thomas Indian School in the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative and its preliminary report, because of the financial support received to establish and maintain the school’s operations from the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Additionally, he said assimilationist policies carried out at the Thomas Indian School are consistent with those of federal Indian boarding schools, as well as those laid out by the Indian Civilization Act.

Higgins previously wrote to Haaland and Newland in October in response to the June memo regarding this request. This letter serves as a follow up to the assistant secretary’s response.

Higgins’ team said, “It remains critical that the U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes its role in facilitating policies at the Thomas Indian School, which directly impacted the Seneca Nation of Indians.”

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