US Probe Into Indian Boarding Schools Finds Data On 500 Children's Deaths - Report

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2022) The investigation into the activities of the Federal Indian Boarding School System in the United States found data about at least 500 children's deaths between 1819 and 1969, according to a report published by the US Department of the Interior on Wednesday.

"Based on the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative investigation's initial analysis, approximately 19 Federal Indian boarding schools accounted for over 500 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian child deaths. As the investigation continues, the Department expects the number of recorded deaths to increase," the report said.

The Federal Indian Boarding School System included 408 federal schools in 37 US states, including 21 schools in Alaska and seven schools in Hawaii, the report said.

The investigation found that children were often subjected to punishments, including solitary confinement, flogging, withholding of food, whipping, slapping and cuffing, and in some cases, older Indian children were forced to punish younger ones, the report said.

The Interior Department has identified marked and unmarked burial sites at 53 different schools across the Federal Indian boarding school system, the report also said.

"The consequences of Federal Indian boarding school policies, including the intergenerational trauma caused by forced family separation and cultural eradication, which were inflicted upon generations of children as young as four years old are heartbreaking and undeniable," Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in remarks on the report.

The probe also found that the Federal Indian boarding school policy was intentionally targeted at American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children to assimilate them and take their territories as a result of it, the report said.

The Indian boarding schools were established by the Indian Civilization Act of 1819 and existed through the 1960s to culturally assimilate Indigenous children by relocating them from their families and communities where their native identities, languages and beliefs were forcibly suppressed.

In late May, the remains of 215 children were found in the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the territory of a former boarding school, which operated in 1890-1969 under the control of the Catholic Church, later came under the control of the federal government and existed until 1978.