Montana News
Native American boarding school finds no evidence of unmarked graves
With Montana News, I'm Elinor Smith, a Southeastern Montana Catholic boarding school for Native Americans, said it found no evidence of unmarked graves on its grounds after a year-long investigation. MTPR's Austin Amistoy reports more than 100 students died while attending the school. The St. La Brei Indian School Board launched the investigation after Native American boarding schools run by the Catholic Church in Canada found evidence of hundreds of previously undocumented graves in 2021. Topographic scans of St. La Brei's three sites on and near the Crow and northern Cheyenne Indian reservations turned up no evidence of unmarked graves. But the investigation documented 113 student deaths from 1884 to 1960, largely from disease and illness. St. La Brei chartered a commission of five independent members to lead the investigation, including Montana State University Native American Studies Department head Walter Fleming. "It's a part of a need to heal, to reconcile." Fleming says many people who attended St. La Brei and federal boarding schools brought up painful memories during listening sessions the commission conducted. He says at least three generations of children were separated from their families during the United States' efforts to assimilate Native Americans. "I think we understand that that historic trauma still has an impact today." The investigation also found that St. La Brei students had relatively frequent contact with their families in contrast with most federal Native American boarding schools. Reporting in Missoula, I'm Austin