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- By Neely Bardwell
Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland are going to be making their second stop on their ‘Road to Healing Tour’ in Pellston, Michigan on Saturday, August 13.
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa (LTBB), located in Harbor Springs, MI where the boarding school Holy Childhood was located, is hosting this event. All 35 Tribal Nations from Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa have been invited to participate in this listening session.
It is set to begin at 10am at Pellston Public Schools. Although it is open to the public, only boarding school survivors and their descendants will be able to provide testimony.
Like the session in Anadarko, Oklahoma, only the first hour of the event will be open to credentialed members of the media. This session of the tour is estimated to last approximately 6-7 hours.
Trauma-informed support will be available on-site during the event for anyone who may need it as recounts of experiences may be triggering to some.
This tour of healing was launched after the release of Volume 1 of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. These sessions are meant to provide Native survivors of the federal boarding school system and their descendants an opportunity to shed light on their experiences.
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