Indigenous Group Calls For Investigation Into Abuse At Residential Schools

Posted: November 2, 2021

BY NATE WEGEHAUPT AND WORT NEWS DEPARTMENT

Earlier this year, hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered at residential schools across Canada, containing almost 1000 indigenous children. Now, Wisconsin tribal leaders are asking  Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to investigate  abuse and deaths at Wisconsin’s residential schools. 

Residential schools were schools set up in the late 1800s by both the Canadian and U-S governments and the Christian church. The “schools” stripped indigenous children of their language and cultural identity.

Many former students  have alleged severe abuse by the clergy who ran these schools.

A candlelight vigil is being held tonight by the Menominee tribe to honor those who suffered abuse at the hands of the church. Tribe member Lorraine Shooter, who helped organize the event, said the event’s organizers are also calling for AG Kaul to open a full investigation into the abuses done at the schools.

“We are calling for a full investigation, and we are also calling the archdiocese of Green Bay to acknowledge the abuse as well, and to come forward and acknowledge their abuse and take proper steps to helping out community heal. Because the catholic church, their organization, what they did to our people, our ancestors, created a lot of intergenerational trauma,” said Shooter.

 While Kaul is currently creating a report on abuse by clergy and faith leaders in Wisconsin, the tribe says that they are not doing enough to help the indigenous people of Wisconsin who were abused at these schools. 

Nate’s Mission, a worldwide initiative looking to end clergy abuse, says that outreach and acknowledgement are the first steps. Deputy Director Sarah Pearson explains. 

“I think his office needs to first start with outreach to survivors of clergy sexual abuse and members of the different indigenous tribes across the state of Wisconsin. It’s important that that specific outreach is done. So I think what he could do is start by  placing specific phone calls to leaders within these tribes to make people aware of what’s happening,” said Pearson.

Previous calls to the archdiocese by the tribe were largely ignored, Shooter said, and a protest on the church’s grounds led to threats of arrest.

Shooter says that the acknowledgement and investigation are important first steps for the tribe to heal and feel seen by the church.

“I think it would show the Menominee tribe that we are no longer invisible. That our race isn’t invisible, that our people are important to the catholic church, and that the actions of the catholic church and their clergy, that the harm that they caused our people, that they acknowledge that what they did was wrong. And I think that that would be the first steps in the healing process that our people are looking for,” said Shooter.

In an email to WORT,  Kaul wrote that “The history of Indian boarding schools is shameful and disturbing. I am glad that U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has initiated a comprehensive national review and that Governor Evers  issued an executive order apologizing  for the history of Indian boarding schools in Wisconsin.” 

Kaul also encouraged survivors and those with knowledge of abuse at boarding schools to report it. An online tool is at supportsurvivors.widoj.gov. 

Governor Tony Evers lent his support to a state-led investigation into Wisconsin’s residential schools last month.

The candlelight vigil started at six this evening, in Keshena Wisconsin.