Executive Council Committee for Indigenous Boarding Schools and Advocacy

Mandate

Resolved that on lands that were tended by the Taíno peoples, taken from them and renamed San Juan,
Puerto Rico, the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, meeting on April 20-23, 2022, acknowledges and
mourns the devastation caused by Indigenous Boarding Schools during the 19th and 20th centuries and
commits to investigate and tell whatever is true about The Episcopal Church’s involvement with these
schools.
Previous silence on this topic does not condone the cultural and religious genocide that occurred at these
schools across the United States. To fully grapple with its history and any relationship it has to these
atrocities, The Episcopal Church must bring together its stories, experiences, records, and documents, to its
archives. The legacy of these schools must be acknowledged, understood, and learned from so that we can
come to a full understanding of The Episcopal Church’s involvement and the schools’ religious and cultural
impact. Even while the full story of the Indigenous Boarding Schools and their relationship to The Episcopal
Church is as yet not clearly known, Executive Council recognizes and deeply regrets the hurt carried
by Indigenous Episcopalians and grieves the ongoing legacies of these schools; and be it further
Resolved, that The Executive Council of The Episcopal Church grieves the unequal treatment Indigenous and
Native Peoples have received when they have suffered harms that deserve attention and redress, and
expresses its solidarity with the Indigenous and Native Peoples of the world and supports the rights of
Indigenous and Native Peoples to equal treatment; and be it further
Resolved that Executive Council create an Executive Council Committee for Indigenous Boarding Schools and
Advocacy as a Committee of Executive Council, charged with guiding and overseeing three initiatives: (1) the
gathering of historical information about Indigenous Boarding Schools that had any relationship to The
Episcopal Church, including information revealing the nature and extent of that relationship (the Gathering
Initiative), (2) the curation of the gathered information in a collection, housed in the Archives of The Episcopal
Church, that will tell the story of the Schools’ relationship to the Church and their impacts on Indigenous
Episcopalians, even until today (the Story Initiative), taking care to interweave the stories of Episcopal
Indigenous boarding schools with the ongoing Native oppression and white supremacy, and (3) the
development and implementation of a plan for gathering information and hearing stories about the varieties
of ways that Indigenous and Native peoples are subjected to unequal treatment by the federal government,
state governments, and other authorities, including information provided by the ongoing investigation by the
U.S. Department of the Interior, and, in conjunction, the development of proposals for advocacy and other
action responding to the issues identifi ed (the Advocacy Initiative). The Advocacy Initiative shall include in itsfocus, but not be limited to, information and stories about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls,and two-spirits whose deaths have not been investigated by authorities, as well as the lack of reporting andcollecting of statistics on missing and murdered Native and Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirits; and beit further
Resolved,
that in carrying out the Gathering Initiative and the Story Initiative, the Committee shall nominate tothe Executive Committee of Executive Council (ECEC) one or more independent historians and other expertsnot connected to The Episcopal Church who, with the consent of the ECEC, shall be engaged to gatherinformation, including by reviewing information contained in the Church’s Archives and those of otherEpiscopal and non-Episcopal institutions, as well as by directly collecting and preserving the oral histories ofIndigenous Episcopalian survivors and their families. In connection with any such nomination, the Committeeshall also propose the scope of the anticipated work of the person nominated, which also shall be subject tothe consent of the ECEC. Following engagement, the Committee shall make regular reports to the ExecutiveCouncil on the progress of the work of any particular expert. The ECEC shall have authority for oversight ofthe investigative work, including termination of any expert.
Scholarly independence of these investigators and experts is required to ensure the integrity of anyconclusions reached, no matter how diffi cult those may be for the Church. The Committee will work with theexpert(s) to develop questions to be considered in addition to those developed by the expert(s). Thequestions should include, at a minimum:
(a) How many Boarding Schools were there with ties to The Episcopal Church?
(b) How many students attended those Boarding Schools and how many may have been injured, were sick ordied at the Boarding Schools far from their homes?
(d) How were the Episcopal Indigenous Boarding Schools funded and founded and by which institutions andindividuals, including but not limited to diocesan leaders, clergy and lay leaders of The Episcopal Church, theBoard of Missions, the UTO, and/or the Women’s Auxiliary?
(h) Were missionaries assigned to schools, how many, and from which dioceses or institutions?
(i) Were there any inspections or reports concerning the schools?
(j) What is the current status of the schools?
(k) Did The Episcopal Church play any role in other denominations’ schools?; and be it further
Resolved,
that the Committee is encouraged to consult with other religious denominations to learn whatsimilar efforts they may be making and explore whether collaboration in the development of these historiesmay be benefi cial; and be it further
Resolved,
that in carrying out the Story Initiative, the Committee will work closely with the Offi ce ofIndigenous Ministries and the Archives of The Episcopal Church in their development of collections related toIndigenous Boarding Schools, including the creation of resource guides, research documents, andintentionally gathered records and holdings regarding Indigenous Boarding Schools with any relationship toThe Episcopal Church. This new Archives collection isintended to be the main repository for information aboutthese long-defunct schools, including materials such as school records, fundraising materials, and wider
church oversight records; and will be made available for online review and searching, as well as at theArchives building on the ancestral homelands of Jumanos, Tonkawa, Ndé Kónitsąąíí Gokíyaa (Lipan Apache), Coahuiltecan, Nʉmʉnʉʉ (Comanche) taken from them and renamed Austin, Texas; and be it further
Resolved,
that in carrying out the Advocacy Initiative, the Committee will work with the Offi ce of IndigenousMinistries and the Offi ce of Government Relations of The Episcopal Church in its development of proposals foradvocacy and other action responding to the issues identifi ed; and be it further
Resolved
, that the Executive Council intends that the work of the Committee will aid in developing a justice-making healing process for Indigenous communities and creating a legacy to pass on to the next generations;and be it further
Resolved
that the Committee will include a total of 15 members and have a majority membership ofIndigenous and Native Episcopalians. Membership shall include historians, storytellers, and trusted elders inthe Indigenous communitieswith a diversity of tribal affi liations honoring the diversity of IndigenousEpiscopalians. There will be at least one member who is also on the Native and Indigenous Ministries Councilof Advice; and the Missioner for Indigenous Ministries shall act as Staff liaison; and be it further
Resolved
that the Committee shall report its fi ndings regularly to the Executive Council Joint StandingCommittee on Mission Within and the wider Church, and per the Executive Council Bylaw VIII.2.d, it willcontinue until the end of the 82nd General Convention, unless extended by the Executive Council; and be itfurther
Resolved
, Executive Council urges dioceses to contribute their records to the Story Initiative, and to appointtheir own Indigenous and Native ministry advocates so that this important work can continue throughoutcommunities, counties, states, and commonwealths.