United States President Joe Biden is set to issue a formal apology for the government’s involvement in the forced removal of Indigenous children to boarding schools, where numerous instances of physical and sexual abuse occurred, leading to nearly 1,000 fatalities.
This address, scheduled for Friday, will be a historic moment as it marks the first occasion a sitting US president has publicly acknowledged the boarding school abuses and the compulsory separation of Indigenous children, actions that the United Nations has classified as genocide.
According to a White House statement, Biden emphasises the need to “fully acknowledge the harms of the past” to foster a new era in Federal-Tribal relations.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna nation in New Mexico, who made history as the first Native American to head the agency, initiated an investigation into the boarding school system shortly after taking office. She will accompany Biden during his inaugural diplomatic visit to a tribal nation, where he will deliver his speech at the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix.
Haaland commented, “I never imagined that this would happen.
“This is significant to me, and I believe it will resonate deeply with all of Indian Country.”
From 1869 to the 1960s, over 18,000 Indigenous children, some as young as four, were forcibly taken from their families and placed in boarding schools.
Often run by Christian denominations, these institutions were part of a broader policy of forced assimilation initiated by Congress in 1819, aimed at “civilising” Native Americans, Native Alaskans, and Native Hawaiians.
The children faced harsh treatment, including physical abuse and sexual exploitation, while being prohibited from speaking their native languages or engaging in cultural practices. Many were separated from their families for extended periods.
Canada shares a parallel history of oppressing Indigenous peoples, enforcing similar boarding school policies aimed at assimilation. In 2022, Pope Francis issued a groundbreaking apology for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s “catastrophic” residential school policy, recognising the devastating impact it had on cultures and families.
In the United States, President Bill Clinton apologised in 1993 to Native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy a century prior. Similarly, in 2008, then-Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologised to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for his government’s assimilation policies, which included the forced removal of children. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern followed suit with an apology in 2022.
Frances Ibiefo
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