US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks during a news briefing at the White House in Washington on April 23, 2021. (EVAN VUCCI / FILE / AP)

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma－The US government will investigate its past oversight of Native American boarding schools to "uncover the truth about the loss of human life and the lasting consequences" of policies that broke up families, US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said on Tuesday.

The unprecedented work will include compiling and reviewing records to identify past boarding schools, locate known and possible burial sites at or near those schools, and uncover the names and tribal affiliations of students, Haaland said.

To address the intergenerational impact of Indian boarding schools and to promote spiritual and emotional healing in our communities, we must shed light on the unspoken traumas of the past no matter how hard it will be.

Deb Haaland, 

US interior secretary

"To address the intergenerational impact of Indian boarding schools and to promote spiritual and emotional healing in our communities, we must shed light on the unspoken traumas of the past no matter how hard it will be," she said.

ALSO READ: Remains of 215 children found at former indigenous school in Canada

A member of New Mexico's Laguna Pueblo and the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary, Haaland outlined the initiative while addressing members of the National Congress of American Indians at the group's midyear conference.

Starting with the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, the United States enacted laws and policies to establish and support Indian boarding schools across the nation. For over 150 years, indigenous children were taken from their communities and forced into boarding schools that focused on assimilation.

Haaland talked about the federal government's attempt to wipe out tribal identity, language and culture and how that past has continued to manifest itself through long-standing trauma, cycles of violence and abuse, premature deaths, mental health issues and substance abuse.

The recent discovery of children's remains buried at the site of what was once Canada's largest indigenous residential school has magnified interest in the troubling legacy both in Canada and the United States.

READ MORE: Canadian indigenous group: More unmarked graves found

In Canada, more than 150,000 First Nations children were required to attend state-funded Christian schools as part of a program to assimilate them into society. They were forced to convert to Christianity and were not allowed to speak their languages. Many were beaten and verbally abused, and up to 6,000 are said to have died.

Statistics cited

After reading about the unmarked graves in Canada, Haaland recounted her own family's story in a recent opinion article published by The Washington Post.

Haaland cited statistics from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, which reported that by 1926, more than 80 percent of indigenous school-age children were attending boarding schools that were run either by the federal government or religious organizations. Besides providing resources and raising awareness, the coalition has been working to compile additional research on US boarding schools and deaths that many say is sorely lacking.

Interior Department officials said that aside from trying to shed more light on the loss of life at the boarding schools, they will be working to protect burial sites associated with the schools and will consult with tribes on how best to do that while respecting families and communities.

ALSO READ: Native Americans left waiting for relief

As part of the initiative, a final report from agency staff is due by April 1, 2022.

Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, which had about 80 boarding schools, called the announcement encouraging and said anything that can be done to address those "troubling chapters of history" is a positive thing.

"I hope we don't discover gruesome incidents like were discovered in Canada. I just think it's good in this country to have conversations about what happened to Native American children," Hoskin said.