May-June 2023 | Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton from Facebook, with permission

May 2, 2023

My friends, In June 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, a comprehensive effort to recognize the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding school policies with the goal of addressing their intergenerational impact and to shed light on the traumas of the past.

In October of that year, the diocesan convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia (Western Washington) passed a resolution to conduct research regarding the history of Indigenous Boarding schools within our diocese and state. A report of the research conducted was presented at our diocesan convention the following year. Historically, there were 15 federal Indigenous boarding schools in the state of Washington. Additional research is needed in order to get a clearer picture of the ways in which the Episcopal Church in our diocese may have contributed resources to the boarding schools within their local context.

The General Convention of the 80th Episcopal Church which gathered in Baltimore last July (2022) passed resolution A127, a

“Resolution for Telling the Truth about The Episcopal Church’s History with Indigenous Boarding Schools”. This resolution calls for the creation of a fact-finding commission to conduct research in the Archives of The Episcopal Church and its dioceses, the National Archives, and the Library of Congress, as well as any other repository of historical documents relevant to the role of the Episcopal Church in the Indigenous residential boarding schools of North America.

The full text of the resolution is provided below. I am deeply concerned that as of May 2023, the commissions, staffing and archival research set out by this resolution have not yet been formally appointed or initiated.

Last week Deb Haaland met with Indigenous boarding school survivors of the Tulalip (pronounced Tuh’-lay-lup) Tribes [ Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skykomish, and other allied bands signatory to the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott]. The Tulalip tribes cultural center where the meeting was held is only 19 miles from the church where I serve as Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church.

I have attached a link to this post of a portion of that meeting, and I encourage you to take a few moments to view the video.

I have and am willing to do whatever I am called to do by the leadership and General Convention of the Episcopal Church, but neither I nor the good people committed to this work can move forward without the partnership and appointments necessary to do it.

As Vice-President of the House of Deputies, I am additionally committed to supporting the important work of the Executive Committee, the Presiding Bishop, and the President of the House of Deputies.

So, perhaps you can imagine the very difficult position I find myself attempting to operate within. The role of VPHoD is not canonically involved in making appointments to commissions or committees. The role has no vote on Executive Council. All I have is my voice and passion for both my people (as an Indigenous person) and the church that I have been elected to serve and do so gladly and with great hope.

I needed to share this with you all today as I am currently attending our diocesan clergy retreat. I ask for your prayers, and I need you to know how very challenging and worrisome this situation is for me personally and and for all our Indigenous peoples both within the Episcopal Church and within the Indigenous communities of the Anglican Communion. What we hold in common is colonial history and the role of the Episcopal/Anglican Church in that history.

Resolution A127

Resolved, That we recognize the work of becoming Beloved Community as a long-term commitment directed toward dismantling racism, which is essential to our spiritual life, by acknowledging, engaging, and supporting the ongoing work of racial Healing, Justice, and Reconciliation as one Body of Christ. Thereby, we live into our Baptismal Covenant of “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will with God’s help,” and every Episcopalian strives toward the dismantling of white supremacy; and be it further

Resolved, That the 80th General Convention create a fact-finding commission to conduct research in the Archives of The Episcopal Church and its dioceses, the National Archives, and the Library of Congress, as well as any other repository of historical documents relevant to the role of the Episcopal Church in the Indigenous residential boarding schools of North America; and be it further

Resolved, That the 80th General Convention thanks the Executive Council for its commitment to work on “Native Boarding Schools and Advocacy, Resolution MW062 in VBinder), and urges it to work cooperatively with the conduct of a comprehensive and complete investigation of the church’s ownership and operation of Episcopal-run Indigenous boarding schools; and be it further

Resolved, That the Archives of The Episcopal Church be encouraged to hire one or more research fellows to work with dioceses where Episcopal-run boarding schools were located to find and share records from those schools; and be it further

Resolved, That the Archives be directed to share all relevant records with the Indigenous Ministries of The Episcopal Church and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition for inclusion in their growing resource database; and be it further

Resolved, That the Archives be directed to work with the Office of Indigenous Ministries to support the production of an educational video that can be used across the church to share the history of Indigenous boarding schools in the US and the history of The Episcopal Church-run boarding schools; and be it further

Resolved, That the dioceses of The Episcopal Church will be strongly encouraged to, before the 81st General Convention, begin an audit of the relationship, financial or otherwise, between the federal government, the diocese and/or its subsidiary entities, its churches, and any Episcopal or non-Episcopal missionary societies with respect to any Indigenous residential boarding school operated within the territorial jurisdiction of that diocese; and be it further

Resolved, That the dioceses of The Episcopal Church will be strongly encouraged to, before the 81st General Convention, begin to gather information from boarding school survivors and their descendants about the experiences of Indigenous children and families in Episcopal run and/or supported residential boarding schools within the territorial jurisdiction of that diocese; and be it further

Resolved, That the dioceses of The Episcopal Church will be strongly encouraged to, before the 81st General Convention, provide a public platform through which the stories of boarding school survivors of any Indigenous residential boarding schools within the territorial jurisdiction of that diocese and their descendants might be preserved and shared; and be it further

Resolved, That the 80th General Convention acknowledge the intergenerational trauma caused by the Doctrine of Discovery, colonialism, genocide, ethnocide through the operation of Indigenous boarding schools, and other systems of white supremacy that have oppressed Indigenous peoples; and be it further

Resolved, That the 80th General Convention direct Executive Council to follow the lead of Indigenous communities and invest in community-based spiritual healing centers that will work to address the effect of intergenerational trauma by providing mental health and substance abuse counseling, traditional forms of healing, family counseling, and other services and support desired by local communities; and be it further

Resolved, That The Episcopal Church will support federal legislation to create a truth and healing commission on Indian boarding school policy, consistent with the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative of the U.S. Department of the Interior and its efforts to “shed light on the traumas of the past;” and be it further

Resolved, That the 80th General Convention recognize, affirm, and support the ongoing work of Executive Council around these issues through the creation of the Executive Council Committee for Indigenous Boarding Schools and Advocacy, as well as the extraordinary efforts of the Presiding Officer’s Working Group on Truth-telling, Reckoning, and Healing; and be it further

Resolved, That the 80th General Convention appropriate $2,500,000 over the next biennium, or some other degree of funding commensurate with The Episcopal Church’s commitment to the work of truth-telling and reconciliation around its role in Indigenous residential boarding schools, to adequately fund the provisions of this resolution, specifically 1) to fund the creation and support of a fact-finding commission; 2) to fund the work of the Office of Indigenous Ministries to create an education resource regarding the church’s role in Indigenous residential boarding schools; 3) to fund a grant program to support the work of the dioceses of The Episcopal Church in both conducting their own research into the diocesan role in Indigenous residential boarding schools and preserving the stories of boarding school survivors and their families; and 4) to support the establishment of community-based spiritual healing centers in Indigenous communities across The Episcopal Church to address the intergenerational trauma rooted in the church’s role in Indigenous residential boarding schools.

---

Update from June 7, 2023

Back on May 2, 2023, I created a post sharing my concerns that groups had not yet been created to address the work of General Convention resolution A127 passed by the 80th Episcopal Church which gathered in Baltimore last July (2022). A127 is the

“Resolution for Telling the Truth about The Episcopal Church’s History with Indigenous Boarding Schools”.

Today I am grateful to share with you that two working groups have now been constituted: 1) The A127 Commission called for in the resolution and the 2) Executive Council Committee for Indigenous Boarding Schools and Advocacy.

The list of members on the A127 Commission can be found here.

The list of members on the Executive Council Committee for Indigenous Boarding Schools and Advocacy can be found here.

Both teams were appointed by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and President of the House of Deputies Julia Ayala Harris. I am grateful that the work can now move forward as these groups begin to convene.