Young tribal members at the former Holy Childhood Boarding School in Harbor Springs, Michigan. The school operated from 1889 to 1983 and the building where it was housed was torn down in 2007. Photo from Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Repatriation, Archives and Records Department

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Michigan are still dealing with the harmful effects of the boarding school era.

One is language loss. According to Michigan Public Radio, only three people on and near the reservation can still speak Anishinaabemowin on a fluent basis.

“When we were in the school we were actually completely forbidden to speak the language, and if we were caught, the punishment was swift and it was severe,” Deleta Gasco Smith, a tribal employee who attended the Holy Childhood Boarding School for three years, told Michigan Radio.

Tribal members also suffered physical and sexual abuse at Holy Childhood, which operated from 1889 to 1983. The Diocese of Gaylord finally issued an apology to the tribe for the first time earlier this year, Michigan Radio reported.

“I feel badly that this has happened. I do whatever I can to heal them individually, or on a whole, but I certainly don’t’ deny anything that happened to them,” Sister Susan Gardner, who has been leading reconciliation efforts, told Michigan Radio.

Gardner will be taking part in a conference next month, Tekakwitha: Making Things Right, Patron of our Mother Earth, to address the role of Native Americans in the church.

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Native American boarding schools have nearly killed Michigan's native language (Michigan Radio 9/28)