00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 17                                                                     
01 Urging the United States Congress to pass the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian                                    
02 Boarding School Policies Act.                                                                                           
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS a 2022 report from the Department of the Interior investigating Indian                                  
05 boarding schools found that the United States implemented policies establishing and                                     
06 supporting Indian boarding schools across the nation from 1819 to 1969; and                                             
07       WHEREAS there were over 100 Indian boarding schools in the state, which the                                     
08 Department of the Interior has yet to identify because of a lack of accessibility to primary                            
09 source information; and                                                                                                 
10 WHEREAS the purpose of federal Indian boarding schools was to culturally                                              
11 assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children by forcibly                                     
12 removing the children from their families and American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages,                           
13 and Native Hawaiian communities; and                                                                                    
14       WHEREAS American Indian child removal coincided with American Indian                                            
15 territorial dispossession; and                                                                                          
16       WHEREAS the conditions experienced by attendees included manual labor and                                       

01 discouraging or preventing American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian languages,                               
02 religions, and cultural beliefs; and                                                                                    
03       WHEREAS many children who attended federal Indian boarding schools endured                                      
04 physical and emotional abuse and, in some cases, died; and                                                              
05       WHEREAS the Department of the Interior has identified approximately 53 different                                
06 schools across the school system with marked or unmarked burial sites; and                                              
07       WHEREAS the federal Indian boarding school policies of past eras focused on                                     
08 assimilation and other harmful practices, and those policies caused harm for many; and                                  
09       WHEREAS the Department of the Interior has laid the groundwork to address the                                   
10 intergenerational trauma created by policies supporting the federal Indian boarding school                              
11 system and recognizes that the existence of these schools has implications reaching beyond                              
12 intergenerational trauma; and                                                                                           
13 WHEREAS the Alaska Federation of Natives passed Resolution 23-14, which                                               
14 supports the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act; and                                   
15 WHEREAS Resolution 23-14 also affirms the Alaska Native Heritage Center Lach'qu                                       
16 Sukdu Research Program as the central entity in the state researching and distributing                                  
17 information concerning Indian boarding schools in the state; and                                                        
18 WHEREAS the United States Congress reintroduced the Truth and Healing                                                 
19 Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act as S. 1723, which seeks healing for                                   
20 stolen Native children and their communities;                                                                           
21 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature stands in full support of the                                        
22 passage of S. 1723, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies                                 
23 Act, by committee, the Senate, and the House of Representatives and of the signing of the Act                           
24 by the President of the United States.                                                                                  
25 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President                                   
26 of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and                           
27 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the                                 
28 Interior; the Honorable Bryan Newland, United States Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs,                            
29 U.S. Department of the Interior; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan                                 
30 Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Mary Peltola, U.S. Representative, members of                                
31 the Alaska delegation in Congress.