MSU Hosting U.S. Secretary of Interior's "Road to Healing" - Sunday, November 5, 2023  - Office of the President

Published Oct. 26, 2023

Dear MSU Community,

I wish to share with you a great honor for our community: Montana State University has been selected as a host site for U.S. Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland's "Road to Healing," program. The "Road to Healing" program is part of Secretary Haaland's larger Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, which was launched in the spring of 2021 and is described as follows:

Between 1819 through the 1970s, the United States implemented policies establishing and supporting Indian boarding schools across the nation. The purpose of federal Indian boarding schools was to culturally assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children by forcibly removing them from their families, communities, languages, religions and cultural beliefs. While children attended federal boarding schools, many endured physical and emotional abuse and, in some cases, died.
In June 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, a comprehensive effort to recognize the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding school policies with the goal of addressing their intergenerational impact and to shed light on the traumas of the past.

The initiative directed the Department, under the leadership of Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, to prepare an investigative report detailing available historical records relating to federal Indian boarding schools and to develop the first official list of sites. This report lays the groundwork for the continued work of the Interior Department to address the intergenerational trauma created by historical federal Indian boarding school policies. It reflects an extensive and first-ever inventory of federally operated schools, including profiles and maps.

As part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative and in response to recommendations from the report, Secretary Haaland launched "The Road to Healing." This year-long commitment to travel across the country will allow American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian survivors of the federal Indian boarding school system the opportunity to share their stories, help connect communities with trauma-informed support, and facilitate collection of a permanent oral history.

On Sunday, November 5, hundreds of survivors and family members of the boarding school system from across the region will join Secretary Haaland on our campus to share their stories. Montana State University is the only university selected for this honor in the tour and is its last stop. The Secretary has sent invitations to tribal leaders across the region.

On behalf of all the students, faculty and staff of Montana State University, I wish to extend the warmest of welcome to all the participants who will join Secretary Haaland for this powerful and important meeting.