Investigation To Be Administered For Potential Unmarked Graves At Montana Indian Boarding Schools

A trio of Catholic-administered Indian boarding schools located in southeastern Montana has initiated a probe into reports of unmarked graves and student deaths across its century-long history.

The schools in question include the St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, adjacent to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, which serves students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. Also under investigation is the Pretty Eagle Catholic Academy (formerly known as St. Xavier Mission School), a pre-kindergarten to 8th-grade institution situated in St. Xavier on the Crow Reservation. The third school is the St. Charles Mission School in Pryor, also located on the Crow Reservation.

Established in the late 19th century, these schools were part of nine institutions in Montana managed by the Catholic Church, with staffing support from various religious orders such as the Jesuits and the Ursulines. Even today, they continue to function as elementary, middle, and high schools for Cheyenne and Crow students. In 1985, a private Catholic entity, the St. Labre Indian School Educational Association, assumed control over the schools’ operations.

Prompted by the 2021 revelation from a First Nations tribe in British Columbia about the discovery of over 200 unmarked graves at a former Indian residential school site, the St. Labre school board decided to launch their own investigation. This incident brought the contentious history of Indian boarding schools into the limelight in the mainstream media. Moreover, it sparked a series of comparable investigations across the United States, involving the federal government, which held the responsibility for the schools’ funding and operation.

Towards the end of 2022, the St. Labre school board selected a commission composed of five members to delve into the number of student deaths at its three schools and locate their burial sites.

“The thing that we do not have at Labre is any evidence of deaths and unmarked graves,” stated Dr. Janine Pease (Crow), chair of the commission. Pease, founder and president of Little Big Horn College on the Crow Reservation, is also a seasoned investigator of federal Indian boarding schools. She added, however, that a lack of initial evidence does not negate the possibility of deaths having occurred. From 1890 to 1910, according to census records from the Cheyenne and Crow tribes, 50 percent of all children died.

Pease told Native News Online, “The death rate was documented, but not the specific deaths.”

Her grandfather’s younger brother Benny’s remains were transported home from a federal Indian boarding school on the Crow Reservation without any explanation of his death. Pease has pored over federal paperwork from that time period without finding any trace of his death.

“What is in our family is: He died of being beaten or of meningitis. Those are the two things that have been discussed in our family all these years,” she said. “There’s no record of his death; we have to speculate.”

Complementing the commission is a team of four other members. This includes Dr. Matthew Redinger, the sole non-Native member, who currently serves as the provost of the University of Providence in Great Falls, Montana. Another member is Dr. Walter Fleming (Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas), who grew up on Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and now leads the Native American Studies department at Montana State University-Bozeman. The group is further enriched by the presence of Dr. Richard Littlebear (Northern Cheyenne), a retired president of Chief Dull Knife College located in Lame Deer, Montana, and a fluent speaker of Cheyenne. Finally, Anda Pretty on Top (Crow), a retired teacher from the local area and proficient Crow speaker, rounds off the commission.

Despite Redinger and Pretty on Top serving on the board of directors for St. Labre, the commission is described by the school board as autonomous.

According to Dr. Pease, the commission’s undertaking will be divided into three segments. Firstly, they have engaged the services of a research firm, Historical Research Associates, based in Missoula, Montana, to scrutinize government, private, and religious records stored at various locations across the United States. The firm’s notable historian, James Grant (Little Shell Chippewa Tribe), is anticipated to finalize his research by this fall.

The second part of the process involves organizing seven local listening sessions to gather oral histories from the past students of the three St. Labre schools and their descendants. The commission requests that only those possessing relevant information attend these sessions, slated for July 10-12.

“We’re inviting people locally to come,” Pease said. “Our interest is in that very narrow area: Do you know of any deaths or unmarked graves? I can’t speculate, but I know but from my own family’s memory and the death of little Benny, I expect there will be memories.”

In the final phase, Dr. Pease explained that the commission will amalgamate the gathered oral histories with the findings from the archival research. This will be compiled into a report for the St. Labre board of directors, with an expected completion by early 2024. She further noted that the ultimate decision on the report’s utilization lies with the directors. However, the commission intends to replicate all archival materials to be centrally stored at the St. Labre schools. Moreover, they are ready to employ ground-penetrating radar or cadaver-detection dogs should they discover evidence suggestive of potential unmarked graves.

“One of the key parts of our investigation is that we are members of our communities,” Pease said. “We’re not going to be a hit-and-run outfit, we’re right here, right now. And once we’re done with the report, we’ll still be right here.”