PELLSTON, MI (MPRN)— U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is expected to speak in northern Michigan this weekend, as survivors of Federal Indian Boarding Schools and their descendants share their stories.
It’s part of a federal initiative to document the history of boarding schools across the country.
The event is being hosted by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, which has invited 35 tribes from the Upper Midwest to attend.
It’s the second stop on the “Road to Healing” tour: part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. That project was launched in the early summer by Haaland, who is expected to give opening remarks.
She said in a press release that stories shared will help to “reorient federal policies to support the revitalization of Tribal languages and cultural practices.”
The event starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Pellston High School gymnasium. It’s open to the public, but testimonies are restricted to boarding school survivors and their descendants.