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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 17
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE - SECOND SESSION
BY REPRESENTATIVES MCCORMICK, Himschoot, Fields
Introduced: 1/18/24
Referred: House Special Committee on Tribal Affairs
A RESOLUTION
Urging the United States Congress to pass the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian 1
Boarding School Policies Act. 2
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 3
WHEREAS a 2022 report from the Department of the Interior investigating Indian 4
boarding schools found that the United States implemented policies establishing and 5
supporting Indian boarding schools across the nation from 1819 to 1969; and 6
WHEREAS there were over 100 Indian boarding schools in the state, which the 7
Department of the Interior has yet to identify because of a lack of accessibility to primary 8
source information; and 9
WHEREAS the purpose of federal Indian boarding schools was to culturally 10
assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children by forcibly 11
removing the children from their families and American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, 12
and Native Hawaiian communities; and 13
WHEREAS American Indian child removal coincided with American Indian 14
territorial dispossession; and 15
WHEREAS the conditions experienced by attendees included manual labor and 16 33-LS1019\U
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discouraging or preventing American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian languages, 1
religions, and cultural beliefs; and 2
WHEREAS many children who attended federal Indian boarding schools endured 3
physical and emotional abuse and, in some cases, died; and 4
WHEREAS the Department of the Interior has identified approximately 53 different 5
schools across the school system with marked or unmarked burial sites; and 6
WHEREAS the federal Indian boarding school policies of past eras focused on 7
assimilation and other harmful practices, and those policies caused harm for many; and 8
WHEREAS the Department of the Interior has laid the groundwork to address the 9
intergenerational trauma created by policies supporting the federal Indian boarding school 10
system and recognizes that the existence of these schools has implications reaching beyond 11
intergenerational trauma; and 12
WHEREAS the Alaska Federation of Natives passed Resolution 23-14, which 13
supports the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act; and 14
WHEREAS Resolution 23-14 also affirms the Alaska Native Heritage Center Lach'qu 15
Sukdu Research Program as the central entity in the state researching and distributing 16
information concerning Indian boarding schools in the state; and 17
WHEREAS the United States Congress reintroduced the Truth and Healing 18
Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act as S. 1723, which seeks healing for 19
stolen Native children and their communities; 20
BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature stands in full support of the 21
passage of S. 1723, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies 22
Act, by committee, the Senate, and the House of Representatives and of the signing of the Act 23
by the President of the United States. 24
COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President 25
of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and 26
President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the
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Interior; the Honorable Bryan Newland, United States Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, 28
U.S. Department of the Interior; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan 29
Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Mary Peltola, U.S. Representative, members of 30
the Alaska delegation in Congress. 31