IRVING, NY (WKBW) — Governor Kathy Hochul visited the Seneca Nation's Cattaraugus Territory in Irving on Tuesday and delivered an apology for the atrocities that happened at the Thomas Indian School for more than 100 years.
“I, Governor Kathy Hochul, apologize to the Seneca Nation of Indians and survivors and descendants from all nations who attended the Thomas Indian School,” Hochul said.
The state operated the Thomas Indian School until it closed in 1957. Native American children who attended were removed from their families and stripped of their heritage, many faced sexual and physical abuse.
“I cannot change the horrors of the past," Hochul said. "I wish I could just wipe it all away. You deserve that.”
J.C. Seneca, president of the Seneca Nation of Indians, also spoke at the press conference.
“Today is about the children and the families they had to endure, the hardships and mistreatment that occurred here on this piece of land at this campus of the Thomas Indian School,” Seneca said.
He said his father attended the school, so this topic hits close to home.
When in Albany, Seneca invited Hochul to the nation to begin building a better relationship with the state.
"This was the top issue on my agenda when we went there," Seneca said. "Here we are two months later, and the governor is here on our territory.”
Members of the Nation delivered a Native American dance in full costume.
“We're dancing in the memory of all those people – all of our ancestors, our grandmas and our grandpas – they weren't here to hear this apology,” the leader of the dance said.
“I do still have some really bad memories,” said Carson Waterman, a survivor of the school.
Waterman, who is now 80, told me he started attending the school at the age of five. He left when it was shut down, but reflected on being abused.
"The coach...he beat us with a rubber hose, and that I will never forget, and that wasn't the only time,” Waterman recalled.
Waterman told me he appreciates the governor's apology.
“I think that's meaningful, and I’ve never had anybody come forward like that – no one's ever done this,” Waterman said.
Survivors and family members met with Hochul on Tuesday, telling the governor how many grew up without love.
“No one hugged them, no one gave them kisses goodnight, in turn, when they left and became parents themselves, were not conditioned in the nurturing ways,” Hochul said.
“Like they said, they don't know how to convey love,” Denise, a Seneca Nation member, said.
Denise carried a poster of her parents and uncles, who all attended the school. She told me that after her dad died, she dreamed about him apologizing to her.
@GovKathyHochul to appear on Seneca Nation territory in the first visit by a sitting NY governor to bring a long awaited apology for atrocities committed against Native American students at the former Thomas Indian School once operated by the state. @WKBW pic.twitter.com/5nn8pSla6P
— Eileen Buckley (@eileenwkbw) May 20, 2025
“He said 'I’m sorry, I'm sorry. I was never there for you girls,'” Denise described.
Along with the state’s apology, the governor is pledging to make sure children of today will learn what happened and has included funding in the newly approved state budget to create important educational tools.
“I’m insisting that we create new educational materials about the Indigenous nations, their histories, their cultures, their contributions," Hochul said. "I want that in our New York K through 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.”
Dr. Elizabeth Rule, who serves in the Governor’s office as the Deputy Secretary for First Nations, also spoke.
Rule noted that the apology is one step to help heal the Nation.
“What Governor Hochul did today was demonstrate that she was willing to take those steps, address those issues, and this is one part of a broader engagement that has been ongoing and that will continue,” Rule responded.
Seneca said that while the school is long gone and newer buildings have been added to the Cattaraugus campus, the memories will always remain.
“This land will always be sacred," Seneca said. "It will always be a memory of what occurred here.”
