HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 2026-4706

HR 4706

ByRepresentatives Lekanoff, Stearns, Taylor, Hall, Santos, Cortes, Burnett, Thai, Duerr, Timmons, Parshley, Ryu, Fosse, Thomas, Zahn, Simmons, Nance, and Gregerson

WHEREAS, Beginning with the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, hundreds of thousands of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children were removed from their families, tribes, communities, and villages and placed in more than 526 Indian boarding schools across the United States until the 1960s; and

WHEREAS, Between 1850 and 1930, at least twenty-eight Indian boarding schools, operated by the federal government or religious missions, existed within the boundaries of Washington state, including in Bellingham, Clallam, Port Gamble, Davenport, Federal Way, Kettle Falls, Mora, Neah Bay, Oakville, Olympia, Omak, Priest Point, Squaxin Island, Swinomish, Tacoma, Taholah, Tonasket, Tulalip Bay, Ward, White Swan, and Yakima; and

WHEREAS, Indigenous children from Washington state were also sent to asylums, orphanages, and other facilities far from their homes, including to Idaho, Montana, and Oregon; and

WHEREAS, Indian boarding schools aimed to culturally assimilate Indigenous children through practices that caused systemic destruction of Indigenous identities, traditions, ceremonies, spirituality, and language; and

WHEREAS, Countless American Indian and Alaska Native children died at these Indian boarding schools and were unceremoniously interred, without traditional burials, in unmarked graves and cemeteries at these schools, faraway from their ancestral lands; and

WHEREAS, The memory of this brutal history continues to haunt Indigenous communities through intergenerational trauma, compounded by systemic oppression and racism, and spiritual, cultural, and familial disruption; and

WHEREAS, September 30th is recognized in both the United States and Canada as "Every Child Matters Day," a national day of remembrance for United States Indian boarding schools to honor the victims and survivors of the Indian boarding schools and to acknowledge their ongoing suffering; and

WHEREAS, Across Indian country, this day is also known as "Orange Shirt Day" to remember the story of six-year old Phyllis Jack Webstad, whose brand-new orange shirt, chosen by her grandmother to represent her loss of freedom and individuality, was immediately confiscated on her first day at a residential mission school, an action that has come to symbolize how the Indian boarding schools stripped Indigenous students of their identities; and

WHEREAS, Indigenous communities recognize orange as the color of strength and power, truth telling, health, and regeneration, inviting victims and survivors of Indian boarding schools and governments to shine the light of truth on this long-hidden and shameful historical public policy, to engage in reconciliation through learning how this policy harmed American Indian and Alaska Native children, and to begin to heal;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State House of Representatives commend the importance of working to identify and preserve primary resources that document the existence of Washington state Indian boarding schools and the experiences of the children who resided in them; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Washington State House of Representatives recognize September 30, 2026, as Every Child Matters Day, as established by Phyllis Jack Webstad and the Orange Shirt Society, in recognition of the importance of learning about the history of the United States federal Indian boarding schools.