Community: Interior Secretary Haaland to visit Navajo Nation

Secretary Haaland to travel to Phoenix and Navajo Nation on “The Road to Healing” tour

WASHINGTON — On Jan. 20 and 22, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Indian Affairs Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland will travel to Phoenix, Arizona and the Navajo Nation for the next two stops on “The Road to Healing,” a year-long tour across the country to provide Native survivors of the federal Indian boarding school system and their descendants an opportunity to share their experiences.

Haaland launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to shed light on the troubled history of federal Indian boarding school policies and their legacy for Indigenous Peoples.

“In June 2021, I launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative at the U.S. Department of the Interior to highlight the troubled history of federal Indian boarding school policies and their legacy for Indigenous people,” Haaland said. “However, to address the intergenerational impact of federal Indian boarding schools and to promote spiritual and emotional healing in our communities, we must also acknowledge and shed light on the unspoken traumas of the past.”

In May 2022, the department released volume one of an investigative report as part of the initiative, which calls for connecting communities with trauma-informed support and facilitating the collection of a permanent oral history.

Trauma-informed support will be available on-site during the events, which will be memorialized as part of the effort to capture first-person stories.

Only the first hour of the events will be open to credentialed members of the media to allow space for the wishes of participants. A transcript will be available in the weeks following the visit.

On Jan. 20 the group will be meeting with survivors and descendants of the federal Indian boarding school system as part of “The Road to Healing” at 10 a.m. in Phoenix.

On Jan. 22, the group will be at Many Farms, Arizona to meet with more survivors and descendants of the federal Indian boarding school system.

“The opportunity to attend and participate in these events will help inform the Federal Government about subsequent work of the Initiative. It also provides a platform for stories to be heard,” Haaland said.

More information can be found by contacting Joaquin Gallegos at joaquin_gallegos@ios.doi.gov. Public feedback from federal Indian boarding school survivors or their families may be submitted to roadtohealing@ios.doi.gov.