The Department of the Interior, or DOI, is asking a federal judge to dismiss a proposed class action complaint brought forth by the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California over federal Indian boarding schools.
The Wichita and Affiliated Tribes filed the complaint last May against the Department of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education. It highlighted the "misuse" of money that was held in trust for tribal nations when they ceded their lands in forced treaties, and was used to assimilate Native youth.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, where the Carlisle Indian Industrial School operated and was where some Indigenous students walked on, including two Wichita students: Alfred Charko and Kate Ross.
The tribes requested an accounting of funds appropriated for the Federal Indian boarding school system, totaling about $23 billion in today's dollars, and how that money was allocated from the Native Nations' Trust accounts. They also sought to know how the financial amount collected from "Indian child labor, both for institution operations and through the Outing System to non-Indian Families."
However, Burgum's counsel said earlier this week the general trust responsibility the U.S. government has to tribal nations is not enough to require this accounting. They also argued the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Reports did not create legal obligations. They did, though, acknowledge the abuses that occurred at these schools.
"The only potentially viable statutory source of a historical accounting duty that Plaintiffs identify in the complaint is the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act, " the legal filing said. "But the 1994 Act did not address federal Indian boarding schools."
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes Vice President Tasha Mousseau said the federal government's response, or motion to dismiss, avoids answering this history of "tragedy" and "a national disgrace."
"Acknowledging the harm while denying accountability is not justice," Mousseau said. "...Through our counsel, we intend to vigorously oppose the motion and to litigate this case through trial to obtain the full accounting that our clients—and the entire class—clearly deserve."
Now, the court will need to decide if the lawsuit offers a legally valid claim.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
