Federal Boarding School Initiative: Road to Healing

Denita Holmes offered this testimony at the US Dept. of Interior hearing in Tulalip on April 23

Madam Secretary, Assistant Secretary, esteemed elders and Tribal leaders, and all those in attendance.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Denita Holmes. I am treasurer of the Suquamish Tribal Council. I speak to you today as a tribal leader, but also as a teacher and a mother of three.

Many of our elders’ stories about their experiences in boarding schools were lost or never told. However, we were fortunate to interview several elders that were forced to attend Tulalip and other boarding schools, and these interviews from the early 1980s

Your feedback on Communications

More than 160 tribal members took time during General Council to complete a survey that is now helping to shape and improve the tribe’s communications work.

As a thank you, four survey respondents chosen at random received a raffle gift.

Among the survey highlights:

Preferred sources - SUN Texts, the Weekly Update mailed every Friday, and the monthly Suquamish News were the ways most tribal members get their news on the Suquamish Tribe.

Content - 64 percent said they’re getting the right amount of information in a timely manner on tribal government, tribal culture, health & wellness, and upcoming events. But only 40 percent said they felt like they were getting enough of information on outside issues impacting the tribe, such as Indian Child Welfare.

“Our hands are up to everyone who took the time to complete our survey,” said Communications Manager Sarah van Gelder. “We read every comment, and are discussing ways to continue improving.” are stored in our museum. We know that many of our families suffer from the long-term consequences of the boarding school experience.

Focus Groups and Story Ideas – Many tribal members checked the box saying they are willing to further share thoughts and opinions. The Communications team will be reaching out to explore next steps. If you are interested in sharing your thoughts or would like to recommend a story idea, you can reach out to communications@suquamish.nsn.us.

We appreciate your leadership in recognizing and addressing these harms. As the report compiled by your department shows, this system sought to erase our culture, religion, and way of life, and was part of a broader effort to take our lands and resources.

I want to focus my comments on what can be done for the children today and for future generations. How can the federal government act to heal the harms of this era and to support the tribes’ continuing work to rebuild our communities and our cultures?

First, we support the establishment of a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools. We need to know how many children were forced to attend the schools, and the nature and scale of the abuse.

We need to know how many died or went missing, and as much as possible, where they are buried or what is known of their fate.

And we need a clear-eyed assessment of the long-term impacts on tribal children and their families and communities.

This information is critical for our understanding of what took place, and also is critical for the people of the United States to know what occurred.

Second, the U.S. government should act aggressively to support the recovery of Native American lands. As your report shows, the boarding school system was part of a broader goal of “territorial dispossession.”

For the Suquamish People, the taking of Old Man House village by the military in 1905 happened during the time our children were forced to attend boarding school.

Also during that time was the passage of 1906 Burke Act, which allowed forced sales of our reservation lands. That law followed other laws that led to the taking of our lands. As a result, we struggled to get by on a fraction of the land reserved for us under the Treaty of Point Elliott.

Today, our people lack housing – we have dozens of families on waiting lists. When housing becomes available, we see tribal members return- ing home to the reservation, and families finally able to live in safe and affordable homes.

The Suquamish Tribe will be pressing for investment in land restoration as part of the relief owed to our tribe for the suffering and long-term impacts of the Boarding School era.

Third, the U.S. government should support the work of tribes to restore our language and culture. We agree with your report’s call for investments in language preservation and revitalization to counter the impacts of assimilation efforts.

Also important is support for the broader effort to restore our culture and ways of life, and to restore our land base.

Finally, we urge the U.S. government to maintain the protections in the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) regardless of how the U.S. Supreme Court rules. ICWA has prevented the kinds of family separation and abuse that were rampant under the boarding school system. It is a law based on our sovereignty – our right to care for, raise, and protect our own children.

We need policies and laws that assure our children will remain protected under the care of our nations, where our social services and family ties can keep them safe.

Madame Secretary, as you know, reckoning with this traumatic legacy is difficult for our people. To turn this trauma into healing, there must be full disclosure and acknowledgment of what took place.

But we need more than that. We need to prevent another wave of family separations, as could happen if ICWA is overturned. And we need the federal government’s support of our work to restore our land, language, and culture.

Thank you for your leadership on this issue and for the opportunity to speak today. I am available to answer any questions you or your team may have. As we work together to address the legacy of Indian boarding schools, we can honor the memories of those who suffered and ensure that future generations of Native Americans can thrive and flourish. Thank you.

Denita Holmes Suquamish Tribal Council Treasurer