Michigan lawmakers question delay of state-funded boarding school report

Michigan lawmakers questioned state officials during a February subcommittee hearing about why a 300-page report examining the impact of Indian boarding schools in the state was not publicly released, according to reporting by The Imprint. The report, funded by more than $1 million in state appropriations in 2023 and produced by the Native American-led consulting firm Kauffman and Associates Inc., examined Michigan’s boarding school history and the role of the state in the system. The report was later obtained and published by Bridge Michigan, which first reported on the issue.

Testimony during the hearing included comments from boarding school survivors and representatives from Kauffman and Associates. “Limiting our role in this way was consequential,” Jo Ann Kauffman, president of the firm and a Nez Perce tribal member, told lawmakers, according to The Imprint. Boarding school survivor Marilyn Wakefield, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, criticized the delay in releasing the report. “It’s beyond ridiculous,” Wakefield was quoted as saying. “It’s unfair to the survivors and descendants who were part of this report.”