CATTARAUGUS TERRITORY — President J. Conrad Seneca welcomed Gov. Kathy Hochul to Seneca Nation Territory on Tuesday to address the atrocities suffered at a local American Indian residential school.

Hochul issued a long-awaited official apology to the Seneca people, as well as all former students and their descendants from various Indigenous nations, for New York’s role in the operation of the Thomas Indian School. It is believed to be the first time a sitting governor has officially visited the Seneca Nation’s Cattaraugus Territory.

“The severity of the wounds inflicted on our children warrants the historical significance of our Nation welcoming Governor Hochul to the Cattaraugus Territory,” said President Seneca in a statement announcing the visit last week.

“No words or actions will ever be able to undue the pain and suffering of the Seneca people and other Indigenous peoples across the state,” Hochul said last week in a statement. “But by visiting the Seneca Nation and the site of the Thomas Indian School, we will mark a new day in our relations.”

Originally established by Presbyterian missionaries on the Cattaraugus Territory in 1855, Thomas Indian School was owned and operated by New York state from 1875 until it closed in 1957. Thomas Indian School, and other residential boarding schools across the United States and Canada, operated under the government’s policy of forced assimilation of Indigenous children.

“The atrocities that our children suffered at the Thomas Indian School have remained hidden in the shadows for far too long,” President Seneca said. “At long last, our people will hear, directly from the governor, the words we have waited lifetimes for the state of New York to say: ‘We’re sorry.’”

“As we prepare to officially recognize the horrifying shortcomings of our past, I thank President Seneca for his advocacy on behalf of the Seneca people and his invitation to the Cattaraugus Territory, and I look forward to further strengthening the relationship between the Seneca people and the State of New York,” Hochul added.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, thousands of children from various Indigenous nations were separated from their families and forced to attend the school. They were stripped of their traditional language and culture and suffered abuse, violence, hatred, and sometimes death, at the hands of school officials. Thousands of children are known to have died at residential boarding schools, and it is believed that the deaths of hundreds – if not thousands – more were never documented.

The devastating impacts the boarding schools had on Native American families and communities, including the decimation of family structures and traditional language, are still keenly felt today.

“I know the pain and the trauma because I have seen it and felt it in my own family, just as countless families have borne that pain and carried it every day for generations,” said President Seneca, whose father attended Thomas Indian School, and whose grandmother was removed from her family at age 11 and forced to attend Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. “The governor’s visit will be an important moment on our road to healing. In coming to our territory and apologizing to our people, the governor can give voice to the children whose youth and innocence were stolen.”

Governor Hochul’s planned visit and apology will fulfill a pledge she made to President Seneca during a visit Nation leaders made to Albany earlier this year. As part of this commitment, she has:

• Convened leaders from the Indigenous Nations across New York state for a historic summit at the New York State Capitol in Albany.

• Appointed Elizabeth Rule as the state’s First Deputy Secretary for Indigenous Nations.

• Proposed to strengthen the stability of Indigenous Families by directing Deputy Secretary Rule to advance, in consultation with Nation leadership and stakeholders, strategies to strengthen the objectives of the Indian Child Welfare Act, underscoring New York’s commitment to redressing injustices inflicted upon Indigenous communities.

• Ensured dental care access for Indigenous Nations, including $2.5 million in funding for Indigenous Nations dental health care, with the aim of addressing gaps in access.

• Responded to offensive representations by commencing a comprehensive review of artistic representation of Indigenous peoples in the Capitol, with invited participation from representatives from each of the nine Indigenous Nations to ensure that all New Yorkers are welcomed in the State Capitol.

The visit and apology also come as the state Senate unanimously approved a resolution earlier this week acknowledging New York’s role in the operation of Thomas Indian School and the horrors that occurred there. President Seneca and other Nation officials and citizens were present when the resolution was read on the Senate floor and approved.