OPINION: Alaska lawmakers must push Congress for a truth and healing commission on boarding schools

This past spring, I led a group of young Alaskans to Washington, D.C. We traveled across the continent to attend a youth conference organized by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a nonpartisan Quaker advocacy organization. We joined hundreds of young people from across the nation and lobbied Congress to pass a bill that would create a Truth and Healing Commission on the Indian Boarding School Era. Months after returning from Washington, I once again urge the Alaskan Congressional delegation to work together and ensure passage of the bill this Congress session.

Between the early 1800s and 1960s, Christian churches collaborated with the federal government to run boarding schools for Indigenous children across the nation, including in Alaska. The purpose of this practice was not to educate but to strip children of their cultural identities.

Nearly a thousand confirmed deaths occurred at the schools, and many children were left with severe traumas due to human rights violations that the federal government never investigated. The Truth and Healing Commission will order the investigation and documentation of the treatment of Alaska Natives, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiians at institutions that presented themselves as schools but were, in reality, places of attempted cultural assimilation.

Truth-telling can pave the way to healing

There were 22 Indian boarding schools in Alaska. In total, the federal government attempted to “civilize” Indigenous children in more than 400 residential institutions. I spent months organizing the trip to Washington because it was simply the right thing to do. People of conscience can recognize the weight of horrific experiences that the boarding school era left. The period, marked by actions that caused intergenerational trauma, cannot be undone. However, revealing the truth about the horrific period can bring communities closer to healing.

The legislation we lobbied for is bipartisan and cosponsored by Alaska’s Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Mary Peltola. Lawmakers in Juneau also overwhelmingly voted in support of the federal legislation. In a time of sharp political division in Washington, D.C., and across the country, this legislation presents a bright opening for progress.

A step toward reconciliation

For faith groups like Quakers, this legislation will signify an important commitment to justice. Quakers in Alaska led two boarding schools: one in Kotzebue and one on Douglas Island. They also taught in day schools in Kake and several Arctic villages in the northwest. In 2022, Alaskan Quakers officially apologized for the residential schools they ran, and in 2024, they contributed more than $92,000 to support the development of a cultural healing center in southeast Alaska. The Native-led center will be used to help those struggling with addiction and alcohol.

Sept. 30 marks Orange Shirt Day, a holiday dedicated to honoring and remembering boarding school survivors and their descendants. As communities nationwide continue to grapple with the dark legacy of Indian boarding schools, Alaska’s lawmakers in Washington must lead the way and ensure the bill is passed this Congress session before it ends Jan. 3.

Jus Tavcar is a graduate student of Arctic and Northern Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

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