School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, stated the ethos of 
this policy to ‘‘kill the Indian in him, and save the 
man’’. Founded in 1879, the Carlisle Indian School 
set the precedent as the first government-funded off- 
reservation Indian boarding school in the United 
States where over 10,000 AI/AN children were en-
rolled from over 140 Tribes. 
(5) The Indian Boarding School policy was de-
signed to assimilate AI/AN children into White 
American culture by stripping them of their cultural 
identities, often through physical, sexual, psycho-
logical, and spiritual abuse and neglect. Many of the 
children who were taken to boarding schools never 
returned to their communities. At the Carlisle In-
dian School alone, approximately 180 AI/AN chil-
dren were buried. 
(6) While attending Indian boarding schools, 
AI/AN children suffered additional psychological 
abuses as they were sent to White-owned homes and 
businesses for involuntary and unpaid manual labor 
work during the summers. Many children ran away 
and remained missing, or died of illnesses due to 
harsh living conditions, abuse, and/or substandard 
health care provided by the schools. 
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(7) Many of the children were buried in un-
marked graves or off-campus cemeteries. Inaccurate, 
scattered, and missing school records make it nearly 
impossible for families to locate the final resting 
place of their loved ones, especially since only 38 
percent of the school’s records have been located 
from 142 of the known 367 boarding schools. 
(8) Parents of the children who were forcibly 
removed to the boarding schools were prohibited 
from visiting or engaging in correspondence with 
their children. Parental resistance to compliance 
with this harsh no-contact policy resulted in their in-
carceration or loss of access to basic provisions in-
cluding food rations, clothing, or both. 
(9) The 2018 Broken Promises Report pub-
lished by the United States Commission on Civil 
Rights reported that AI/AN communities continue to 
experience intergenerational trauma resulting from 
experiences in Indian Boarding Schools that divided 
cultural family structures, damaged indigenous iden-
tities, and inflicted chronic psychological ramifica-
tions on AI/AN children and families. 
(10) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Expe-
riences Study shows that adverse or traumatic child-
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hood experiences disrupts brain development leading 
to a higher likelihood of negative health outcomes as 
adults including, but not limited to, heart disease, 
obesity, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. AI/ANs 
suffer from disproportional rates of each of these 
diseases compared to the national average today. 
(11) The longstanding ramifications of the in-
humane treatment of AI/AN children and families at 
these boarding schools continues to impact Tribal 
communities through intergenerational trauma, cy-
cles of violence and abuse, disappearance, health dis-
parities, substance abuse, premature deaths, and ad-
ditional undocumented psychological trauma. 
(12) The continuing lasting implications of the 
Federal Indian Boarding School Policy and inhu-
mane treatment of AI/AN children and families in-
fluenced modern U.S. Department of the Interior’s 
Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-operated schools. 
These schools have often failed to meet the many 
needs of nearly 50,000 AI/AN students across 23 
States. 
(13) The replication of assimilation policies of 
the boarding school era also presented itself through 
other Federal programs like the Indian Adoption 
Project (1958 to 1967) that placed AI/AN children 
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in non-Indian households and institutions for foster 
care or adoption across 25 States. 
(14) The Association on American Indian Af-
fairs reported that the continuation of cultural geno-
cide and assimilation policies through Federal AI/ 
AN adoption and foster care programs between 
1941 to 1967 separated as many as one-third of Na-
tive American children from their families in Tribal 
communities, subsequently prompting the creation of 
the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to stop the re-
moval of children. 
(15) In some States, over 50 percent of foster 
care children in State adoption systems are Native 
American. The general lack of public awareness, in-
formation, and acknowledgment of the residual im-
pacts of the Indian Boarding School Policy and in-
tergenerational trauma remain, signaling the over-
due need for an investigative Federal committee to 
further document and expose the assimilation and 
cultural genocide implemented under this policy. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are as follows: 
(1) To establish a new Truth and Healing Com-
mission on Indian Boarding School Policy in the 
United States to formally investigate and document, 
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for the first time in history, cultural genocide, as-
similation practices, and human rights violations of 
Indian Boarding Schools in the United States, to 
study the impact and ongoing effects of historical 
and intergenerational trauma in Tribal communities, 
and to provide a forum for Indigenous victims and 
families to discuss the personal impacts of physical, 
psychological, and spiritual violence. 
(2) To further develop recommendations for the 
Federal Government to acknowledge and heal the 
historical and intergenerational trauma caused by 
the Federal Indian Boarding School Policy and 
other cultural genocide practices, including rec-
ommendations to stop the continued removal of AI/ 
AN children from their families and Tribal commu-
nities under modern-day assimilation practices car-
ried out by State social service departments, foster 
care agencies, and adoption services. 
SEC. 4. TRUTH AND HEALING COMMISSION ON INDIAN 
BOARDING SCHOOL POLICY IN THE UNITED 
STATES. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 
means the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian 
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Boarding School Policy in the United States estab-
lished by subsection (b)(1). 
(2) INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL POLICY.—The 
term ‘‘Indian Boarding School Policy’’ means the 
policy of the Federal Government under which more 
than 100,000 American Indian and Alaska Native 
children were forcibly removed from their family 
homes and placed in any of 460 Bureau of Indian 
Affairs-operated schools, including 367 Indian 
boarding schools, at which assimilation and ‘‘civiliza-
tion’’ practices were inflicted on those children as 
part of the assimilation efforts of the Federal Gov-
ernment, advancing eradication of indigenous peo-
ples’ cultures in the United States. 
(b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—There is established the 
Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding 
School Policy in the United States. 
(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Commission 
is to investigate the experience, impacts, and ongo-
ing effects of the Indian Boarding School Policy, in-
cluding the impacts and ongoing effects of the inter-
generational trauma inflicted on American Indian 
and Alaska Native families, including physical, psy-
chological, sexual, and spiritual violence inflicted on 
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Native American children as young as 5 years old 
for speaking indigenous languages or engaging in 
traditional practices. In addition to, obtaining accu-
rate records and oral accounts of the events that 
took place at the boarding schools. 
(3) MEMBERSHIP.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 
be composed of members appointed as follows: 
(i) Not fewer than 1 member ap-
pointed by the President. 
(ii) Not fewer than 1 member ap-
pointed by the President pro tempore of 
the Senate, on the recommendation of the 
majority leader of the Senate. 
(iii) Not fewer than 1 member ap-
pointed by the President pro tempore of 
the Senate, on the recommendation of the 
minority leader of the Senate. 
(iv) Not fewer than 2 members ap-
pointed by the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, of whom not fewer than 1 
shall be appointed on the recommendation 
of the minority leader of the House of 
Representatives. 
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(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP.— 
To the maximum extent practicable, the Presi-
dent and the Members of Congress shall ap-
point members of the Commission under sub-
paragraph (A) to represent diverse experiences 
and backgrounds so as to include Tribal rep-
resentatives and experts who will provide bal-
anced points of view with regard to the duties 
of the Commission, including Tribal representa-
tives and experts— 
(i) from diverse geographic areas; and 
(ii) who possess personal experience 
with, diverse policy experience with, or spe-
cific expertise in, Indian boarding school 
history or the Indian Boarding School Pol-
icy. 
(C) PRESIDENTIAL
APPOINTMENT.—The 
President shall make appointments to the Com-
mission under this paragraph in coordination 
with the Secretary of the Interior and the Di-
rector of the Bureau of Indian Education. 
(D) MEMBERS TO BE INCLUDED.—To the 
maximum extent practicable, the membership of 
the Commission shall include— 
(i) 1 representative from each of— 
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(I) the National Native American 
Boarding School Healing Coalition; 
(II) the National Indian Edu-
cation Association; 
(III) the American Indian Higher 
Education Consortium; and 
(IV) National Indian Child Wel-
fare Association; 
(ii) the Director or Administrator 
of— 
(I) the Bureau of Indian Edu-
cation; 
(II) the Office of Indian Edu-
cation of the Department of Edu-
cation; 
(III) the Administration for Na-
tive Americans of the Administration 
for Children and Families of the De-
partment of Health and Human Serv-
ices; and 
(IV) the National Museum of the 
American Indian of the Smithsonian 
Institution; 
(iii) not fewer than— 
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(I) 5 members of different Indian 
Tribes from diverse geographic areas, 
to be selected from among nomina-
tions submitted by Indian Tribes; 
(II) 2 health care or mental 
health practitioners, counselors, or 
providers with experience in working 
with former students of Indian board-
ing schools, to be selected from among 
nominations of Tribal chairs or elect-
ed Tribal leadership local to the re-
gion in which the practitioner, coun-
selor, or provider works; 
(III) 3 members of different na-
tional Indian organizations, regional 
Indian organizations, or urban Indian 
organizations that are focused on, or 
have relevant expertise with, the his-
tory and systemic trauma associated 
with the Indian Boarding School Pol-
icy; 
(IV) 4 former students or Indian 
survivors who attended Indian board-
ing schools; 
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(V) 2 family members of students 
who attended Indian boarding schools, 
to represent diverse regions of the 
United States; 
(VI) 2 students who currently at-
tend an Indian boarding school, in-
cluding not fewer than 1 student who 
currently attends the Chemawa Indian 
School (OR), Haskell Indian Nations 
University (KS), Mount Edgecumbe 
(AK), Santa Fe Indian School (NM), 
or Sherman Institute (CA); 
(VII) 2 students who currently 
attend 
a 
BIE-operated 
boarding 
school, tribally controlled boarding 
school, State public boarding school, 
private nonprofit boarding school for-
merly operated by the Federal Gov-
ernment, parochial boarding school, 
and BIE-operated college or univer-
sity; 
(VIII) 2 former teachers who 
taught at an Indian boarding school 
for not fewer than 5 years; and 
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(IX) 1 representative of the 
International Indian Treaty Council 
(IITC) or Association on American 
Indian Affairs (AAIA). 
(E) DATE.—The appointments of the 
members of the Commission shall be made not 
later than 120 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
(4) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES; RE-
MOVAL.— 
(A) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT.—A mem-
ber of the Commission shall be appointed for a 
term of 2 years. 
(B) VACANCIES.—A vacancy in the Com-
mission— 
(i) shall not affect the powers of the 
Commission; and 
(ii) shall be filled in the same manner 
as the original appointment. 
(C) REMOVAL.—The President or a Mem-
ber of Congress making an appointment under 
paragraph (3)(A) may remove a member ap-
pointed by that President or Member of Con-
gress, respectively, only for neglect of duty or 
malfeasance in office. 
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(5) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall meet at 
the call of the Chairperson. 
(6) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of 
the Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a 
lesser number of members may hold hearings. 
(7) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON.— 
The Commission shall select a Chairperson and Vice 
Chairperson from among the members of the Com-
mission. 
(c) DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall de-
velop recommendations on actions the Federal Gov-
ernment can take to adequately address the histor-
ical and intergenerational trauma inflicted by the In-
dian Boarding School Policy, including recommenda-
tions on ways to stop the continued removal of In-
dian children from their families and reservations 
under modern-day assimilation practices carried out 
by State social service departments, foster care 
agencies, and adoption agencies. 
(2) MATTERS STUDIED.—The matters studied 
by the Commission under paragraph (1) shall in-
clude— 
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(A) the implementation of the Indian 
Boarding School Policy at the 460 schools oper-
ated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs; 
(B) how the assimilation practices of the 
Federal Government advanced the cultural 
genocide of Native Americans; and 
(C) the impacts and ongoing effects of the 
Indian Boarding School Policy. 
(3) ADDITIONAL
DUTIES.—In carrying out 
paragraph (1), the Commission shall locate, docu-
ment, analyze, and preserve records from boarding 
schools described in paragraph (2)(A), including any 
records held at State and local levels. 
(4) TESTIMONY.—The Commission shall take 
testimony from survivors of boarding schools de-
scribed in paragraph (2)(A), identifying how the ex-
perience impacts the lives of the survivors, so that 
their stories will be remembered as part of the his-
tory of the United States. 
(5) REPORT.—Not later than 24 months after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis-
sion shall make publicly available and submit to the 
President, the White House Council on Native 
American Affairs, the Secretary of the Interior, the 
Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, the 
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Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 
Representatives, and the Members of Congress mak-
ing appointments under paragraph (3)(A), a report 
containing— 
(A) a detailed statement of the findings 
and conclusions of the Commission; 
(B) the recommendations of the Commis-
sion for such legislation and administrative ac-
tions as the Commission considers appropriate; 
(C) the recommendations of the Commis-
sion to increase Federal funding to adequately 
fund American Indian and Alaska Native pro-
grams for mental health, traditional healing 
programs, and mandatory inclusion of Native 
American history, including the history of the 
Indian Boarding School Policy, in required K– 
12 curriculum; and 
(D) other related recommendations of the 
Commission— 
(i) to address historical and intergen-
erational trauma inflicted on American In-
dian and Alaska Native communities by 
the Indian Boarding School Policy; and 
(ii) to discontinue the harmful prac-
tices and policies that continue in boarding 
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schools operated or funded by the Bureau 
of Indian Education or other educational 
facilities operated on Indian reservations. 
(d) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Commission may 
hold such hearings, sit and act at such times and places, 
take such testimony, and receive such evidence as the 
Commission considers advisable to carry out this section. 
Æ 
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