Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has wrapped up the final stop on the Department’s “Road to Healing” tour. In June of 2021,
Haaland launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to shed light on the traumatic history of government-backed Native American boarding schools. Part of the initiative was to travel the U.S. documenting stories of survivors and descendants of these schools. Multiple and ongoing investigations have revealed a climate of abuse, forced assimilation and even death in federal boarding schools for Indigenous people.
Secretary Haaland, who is a member of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, visited Montana State University in Bozeman Sunday to wrap up the tour. Tribal members recalled being involuntarily enrolled in institutions where the use of their native language and customs would bring severe punishments.
Victims and survivors shared recollections during 11 previous stops along Haaland's tour, including in Arizona.