B-Roll, Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Visits Seneca Nation and Issues Formal Apology for New York State’s Role in Operating Thomas Indian School

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul visited the Cattaraugus Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians to issue a formal apology for New York State’s role in the operation of the Thomas Indian School. Today’s visit fulfills a pledge she made to President J. Conrad Seneca during a visit Nation leaders made to Albany earlier this year. Governor Hochul met with President Seneca and other leaders of the Seneca Nation before sitting down with survivors and those families still impacted by the atrocities that occurred at the Thomas Indian School. The event took place on the site of the current Seneca Nation Administration Campus which used to house the Thomas Indian School.

B-ROLL of the Governor’s visit to the Cattaraugus Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor’s Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

Thank you. Nya:weh, thank you very much, Mr. President. Yes, indeed, the sun always shines in Irving, I'm from Hamburg, I could attest to that. We always came down here — we need a little sunshine.

I want to acknowledge so many extraordinary leaders, people who have become my friends, starting with our President who we've had a number of conversations since he ascended to his position as I've developed relationships with the prior presidents, but he came to Albany at my invitation and we had a very powerful meeting, and you'll hear about why that led to, two months later, my visit here today.

I also want to recognize First Lady Nicole Seneca; First Daughter Olivia Maybee; our Seneca Nation counselors, I've become friends with many; our clerk; our executives; our elders; our survivors; our alumni; and descendants — all who have a connection to the Thomas Indian School; again, the past presidents; and Dr. Elizabeth Rule, who was the very first ever Deputy Secretary from my office to the First Nations, and she has been a great ambassador to help me understand more, and deepen in the relationship that always should have been there between the nations and our state.

So today is the day to come back — it's a homecoming for me. This is an area I'm well familiar with, but we gather here in Seneca Territory — a portion of the Seneca Homeland that extends over 13 counties of Western New York — and we came together to formally recognize, on behalf of the State of New York, the atrocities that happened here at the Thomas School.

And this is once known as the Thomas Asylum for Orphan and Destitute Indian Children, a name by itself conveys a harshness, a lack of compassion. It was founded in 1855 by missionaries to house orphan children. There are many diseases that ravaged the communities, and some children were left without parents. But over its long sorted history, over 2,500 students passed through the doors, and they came not just from the Seneca Nation, but from others throughout the state.

But instead of being a haven for orphan children, it became a place of nightmares; a place — a some would call a torture chamber — a site of sanctioned, ethnic cleansing is what was going here; trying to eradicate the long, proud story of the Senecas and other places. This occurred from Canada and elsewhere in our country. Children were forcefully removed from their families, stripped of their names, their languages and their traditions. Sometimes they were subjected to unimaginably horrific physical, emotional and sexual assaults.

These atrocities occurred for more than 100 years. They were known by the State of New York — 75 years of which it was owned by the State — and what has happened has been a long legacy of broken promises throughout the 19th and 20th centuries that continue today to affect the families, sometimes resulting in this generational trauma that I heard is so clearly so prevalent in the lives of the survivors, people whom themselves were students in the school, those whose mothers or fathers were there, or their grandparents.

And what I took note of most of all was from hearing these stories — it took courage to tell, by the way — opening up the wounds again that perhaps later in life might be just starting to heal: there's a lack of love; children in that school were not feeling part of a family. They were so lonely. They didn't know they had a connection to others on the outside. No one hugged them. No one gave them kisses goodnight. So they, in turn when they left and became parents themselves, were not conditioned in the nurturing ways of parents that you would expect.

What I heard was they knew there was love, but it was never visibly displayed, and sometimes it even carried on to the grandchildren. But I also heard today the voices of so many strong people who are resilient, ensuring that their grandchildren, their children knew what love was all about, and they embraced them and talked about how their own grandchildren will not carry on this trauma that was there because of these horrible, horrible situations.

And even our President, President Seneca talked about what his family had to endure at the school, and he wrote about it in a very powerful way. I read it — every word of it. And it's on the walls inside here. You need to go back and read about — you need to see the pictures of those little innocent children who never had anything resembling a normal childhood; again, stripped of their identity and their traditions, but the people have endured, and I admire that strength. It's inspiring to me and holding on now to the traditions, the dance, the food, the clothing — all those will now be passed on forevermore because people stood up and said, “No, we are reclaiming our identity. We've endured a lot, but again, we're going to be enduring for many generations to come.” That's the way.

So the story started emerging of cases up in Canada. They started coming here and. I cannot change the horrors of the past. I wish I could. I wish I could just wipe it all away. You deserve that. But first of all, by teaching our children today is the first step, making sure they understand what happened then. And that's one of the reasons why in my Budget, I'm insisting that we create new educational materials about the Indigenous nations, their histories, their cultures, their contributions; and I want that in our New York K-12 schools so there's a deeper understanding of the people whose land we are on and what they have gone through — that is a first step forward.

And in order to avoid repeating the sins of the past, we will acknowledge as a State the role we played. The path is not always easy moving forward, but it must include the collective movement to reclaim dignity and the ancestral legacy. It must include the telling of the truth about what happened at that school, and it must include repatriating those who are lost, and it must include a cultural revitalization and justice. And it must include the healing practices and spiritual ceremonies that were shunned for so long.

I will play my role. That's why today, on behalf of the State of New York, I, Governor Kathy Hochul, apologized to the Seneca Nation of Indians and survivors and descendants from all nations who attended the Thomas Indian School. And I recognize on behalf of the people of this State the atrocities that were committed there and the enduring trauma that's been inflicted upon the Seneca and all Indigenous peoples across our State, and that is why I recommit to the truth, the justice, the reconciliation, accountability and healing that must begin today and forward into the future.

With that, I'll present a proclamation to President Seneca on behalf of the people of the State of New York, acknowledging everything I've just said, but I want this forever enshrined visible to the rest of the State that this day occurred. And I'll say long overdue. I'm here two months after I was asked. Other Governors should have preceded me, but here we are today and I'm honored and privileged to be the Governor of a state that has such a rich history because of the people who are here today and those who came before — for we indeed are on their lands. Thank you very much.