Tribal members told state lawmakers Thursday that a recent report on abuses at Native American boarding schools in Michigan is “flawed."
The report found there is a history of physical and sexual abuse at the schools which native American children were compelled to attend, as recently as the 1980s.
Jo Ann Kauffman leads Kauffman and Associates, the firm hired to conduct interviews and assess what occurred at the schools.
She cited six specific findings in the 300-page report:
- There were more than 30 boarding schools and related institutional sites in Michigan.
- For many children, attendance was not voluntary, with families often coerced.
- Federal, state, and local governments, along with church organizations and local groups, sustained the system over time.
- Identity erasure was a common practice.
- There was pervasive physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
- Ongoing mental health and other issues remain.
The report was completed last year. But the state has only officially released a redacted summary.
State officials have said they are dissatisfied with the final product, and they were concerned the report's information-gathering process could have jeopardized participants' privacy.
Winnay Wemigwase, the tribal chair of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, spoke at the meeting and said she attended a Native American boarding school as a child.
Wemigwase described the report as inconsistent and salacious in parts.
“I feel it’s flawed because it’s incomplete,” said Wemigwase after the hearing, “It doesn’t give a good picture of the breadth and impact of the boarding school system in Michigan.”
Tribal leaders said Michigan needs to investigate more and invest more in helping Native Americans victimized by the boarding school system.
Kauffman blamed changes directed by the Michigan Attorney General’s office for issues with the investigation.
“(An) AG representative gave new directives,” Kauffman told the committee, “to significantly shift and narrow the scope of our study.”
A spokesperson for the Michigan attorney general's Office accused the Republican chair of the House General Government subcommittee, which held the Thursday hearing, of exploiting boarding school survivors in an attempt to smear the AG’s office.
“The Department’s only role in this report was that as legal counsel to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights," the spokesperson said.
"In addition to legal advice provided to MDCR, like many others, we also identified flagrant violations of privacy from the report’s authors. The Department has since launched its own comprehensive criminal investigation into what occurred at the Native American boarding schools and other institutions," said the attorney general's office spokesperson.
The Michigan attorney general’s office says tips can be left anonymously either at 517-897-7391 or AG-NBSInvestigation@michigan.gov
