Montana lawmakers make another bid for Indigenous Peoples Day

More than 30 people gathered Wednesday in support of a senate bill that would establish Indigenous Peoples Day as a Montana state holiday.

If passed, Indigenous Peoples Day would land on the second Monday of October, eliminating Columbus Day.

Senate Bill 141 appeared for its first time this legislative session before the Education and Cultural Resources Committee during a public hearing on Wednesday. The Montana American Indian Caucus also wrote a letter of support for the holiday change. Montana state law currently recognizes 12 legal holidays each year.

The committee is expected to vote on the bill at a later date, and if it approves, the bill is expected to go to the Senate floor for a vote.

This is the fifth attempt to establish a statewide Indigenous Peoples Day. Sen. Shane Morigeau, Democrat, introduced and sponsored this most recent version of the proposal. Morigeau said this bill would allow for a chance to help correct the harsh history of the state’s relationship with its Indigenous people.

Although Columbus has been celebrated for decades as an explorer who discovered America, more accounts have been revealed to describe a new historical narrative. More states and cities across the country have officially replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.

“Instead of having a day that celebrates a man who murdered, raped, and exterminated innocent native people, I want a day that acknowledges, the rich cultural heritage of all Indigenous people in our state,” said Morigeau, Salish, in a text message to ICT and Montana Free Press. “A day that recognizes the relationships we’ve all forged together because, at the end of the day, we are all Indigenous from somewhere.”

Morigeau said the bill is an attempt to get Montanans to better understand the tribes and their culture that are so iconic to the state.

“I’m asking you to recognize the full breadth of history,” Morigeau said in his opening statement to the committee Wednesday. “To be inclusive and to include everyone in this room, in these hallways and in this state. To talk about the wrongs in our history, to write our next chapter together, to reject selective history and recognize the good, the bad and the ugly so that we can learn and do better as a society.”

Marsha Small, one of the co-founders of Indigenous Peoples Day of Montana, an organization that provides advocacy and education on the significance of the holiday, drove this effort for the past eight years.

Small began the battle to establish Indigenous Peoples Day’ in 2015 in Bozeman. In 2016, the city formally recognized the holiday in place of Columbus Day.

For Small, getting this bill into law is driven by accuracy and education.

“We thought that we could have a day in Montana to introduce people to both sides of the aisle,” Small said. “To get people to know each other on more of a respectful dialogue, to get to know people from their identities, their ancestral lineages.”

If the bill passes, it would make Montana the latest state to commemorate Indigenous Peoples Day, following at least 14 states and 130 cities across the nation.

Several cities and communities in the state already recognized Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus day including Missoula, Bozeman and the state’s tribes.

Montana is home to seven tribal reservations and 12 tribes including the Blackfeet, Salish, Kootenai, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Assiniboine, Little Shell Band of Chippewa, Gros Ventre, Sioux, Plains Cree, Pend d’Oreille and Chippewa, according to Montanas Office of Public Instruction website.

Across the nation, activists regularly rally in protest against Columbus Day to demonstrate solidarity with the Indigenous communities that have historically been misrepresented and misdocumented in history.

Among the group of supporters at Wednesday’s public hearing was the De La Salle Blackfeet School from Browning, Montana, located on the Blackfeet reservation. The school had multiple students speak during the hearing including six-grader Kendee Calfbossribs Ollinger, Blackfeet.

“I would like to tell you guys what genocide means,” Ollinger said. “It means the deliberate killing of a large number of people, nation or ethnic group. I’m not supposed to be here. Columbus Day should be changed into Indigenous Peoples Day to honor the ones who were hurt and killed but also the ones still here, like me.”

Along with tribal individuals, many concerned citizens have stood in solidarity with the holiday change.

President Joe Biden initially recognized the observation of Indigenous Peoples Day in 2021 after he was elected into office and again in 2022. However, Columbus Day remains a federal holiday.

“I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities,” Biden said in his 2021 proclamation. “I also direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in honor of our diverse history and the Indigenous peoples who contribute to shaping this Nation.”

With no one present for any opposition testimony during the hearing, Rep. Daniel Emrich, Republican, who sits on the listening committee, commented on the bill. Emrich said that he is in favor of a thorough education of history, but doesnt want Columbus Day completely removed.

“I would support this bill but it would have to be not erasing a day that we currently have,” Emrich said. “I feel like that it would remind us of who Indigenous people are the same way Columbus Day reminds us of who Columbus was and we take that holistic approach.”

Morigeau responded by making a distinction between educating individuals on the history of Christopher Columbus and celebrating a holiday named after him. Morigeau agreed that Columbus should be taught holistically with conversations of his significance in history, but also what kind of person he was.

“I don’t think it’s someone who belongs in our schools, being celebrated,” Morigeau said “Because until we actually stop celebrating him, teachers and people aren’t going to talk about the bad things. How could you when you’re trying to celebrate somebody and put them on a pedestal?”