Los Angeles, California – A US government investigation has found at least 53 separate burial sites at federal Native American boarding schools, and officials expect to find more, according to a new report released Wednesday.
The initial findings of the investigation, which examined records under federal control, show that hundreds of children died in boarding school, but officials say the number is likely to climb into the thousands or tens of thousands as the investigation continues.
The 106-page report is the first volume of the continuing Federal Indian Boarding Schools Initiative, ordered by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in June 2021 after she heard the news that Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation had confirmed 215 children’s graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.
The United States intentionally forced Indigenous families to send their children to school as part of an assimilation system that reached every corner of the country, according to the report. It found the boarding school system was “expansive”, consisting of 408 “federal Indian boarding schools” across 37 states and territories, including 21 schools in Alaska and seven schools in Hawaii.
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Article URL : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/11/us-govt-at-least-53-burial-sites-at-indigenous-boarding-schools