Following Canada’s lead, U.S. awaits results of Indigenous boarding school probe

On the heels of a historic moment of healing for Indigenous Peoples in Canada, counterparts in the United States are anxiously anticipating a federal report on residential schools.

On the heels of a historic moment of healing for Indigenous Peoples in Canada, their counterparts in the United States are anxiously anticipating a federal report on residential schools – commissioned by one of their own – that’s fuelling hope for the start of a similar reckoning.

Deb Haaland ordered the Indian Boarding School Initiative last June, shortly after becoming the first Indigenous secretary of the interior in U.S. history, and just days after a B.C. First Nation announced the grim discovery of human remains at a former residential school.

The results of that probe, which is expected to detail the scope and depth of the program in the U.S., are due any day now. When it lands, striking words from Pope Francis – “I want to say to you with all my heart: I am very sorry” – will still be reverberating.

Indigenous leaders in Canada had long sought the pontiff’s personal apology as a gesture of reconciliation for the generations of harm done to children who were forced to attend schools run across the country by the Roman Catholic Church for more than a century.

After his meetings with Indigenous delegates at the Vatican earlier this month, Pope Francis also promised to follow up with a personal visit to Canada.

That cathartic moment and the imminent release of Haaland’s report have combined to put church leaders on notice in the U.S., where they are preparing for what they hope will be a period of reconciliation of their own.

“While the Holy Father was specifically addressing the history in Canada last week, the U.S. bishops are similarly committed to bringing real and honest dialogue on the boarding school period in the United States,” said Chieko Noguchi of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Noguchi said the conference has been encouraging dioceses and state Catholic conferences across the country to reach out to Indigenous communities to initiate conversations in anticipation of the report.