Objectives:
Describe how the legacy of residential boarding schools and child welfare practices have affected health, education, and occupational outcomes for Native American children and adults.
Identify how the occupational therapy code of ethics supports practices of cultural safety and truth and reconciliation to promote occupational justice for Native American clients.
Reflect on how this history and lived experiences should influence ethical practice and advocacy both for individual occupational therapy practitioners and for the profession as a whole.
Speaker(s) and Credentials:
- Esther Anne, MSW (Passamaquoddy)
- Maggie Conners, OTD, OTR/L (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe)
- Mary Kolb, DMA, Chief Warrant Officer (ret.) (Nez Perce/Lumbee Tribe)
- Sarah Grinder, PhD, OTR/L (Nez Perce/Lumbee Tribe)
Film Synopsis
For most of the 20th century, government agents systematically forced Native children from their homes and placed them with white families. Many children suffered devastating emotional harm by adults who shamed and demeaned them, and tried to erase their culture. In Maine the fallout was unbearable. Dawnland tells the story of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the first in the U.S. to address Native issues. For over two years, Native and non-Native commissioners traveled across Maine to hear testimony and bear witness to the dramatic impact of the state’s child welfare practices on Wabanaki families. Dawnland takes viewers to Wabanaki communities and inside the truth commission as it grapples with the meaning of truth, reconciliation, racial healing, tribal autonomy, and child welfare system reform. VIEW TRAILER HERE
Speaker Panel
In a panel following the film, hear from Native voices about how this history and legacy impacts children and adults who might be supported by occupational therapy practitioners in education and health care settings today. Learn more about how ethical occupational therapy practice entails truth-telling, challenging systemic and colonial injustices, enacting cultural safety, and supporting reconciliation.
Speaker Bios:
Esther Anne, MSW (Passamaquoddy): Originally from Sipayik, Esther lives on Indian Island in Maine where she enjoys dabbling in many forms of art, growing food and flowers, cheffin' it up, and hugging trees with her granddaughter. She has been making people uncomfortable for decades, sharing both difficult and easy knowledge about Wabanaki and colonialism. Esther was one of the founders of a before-its-time activist group called IRATE - Indigenous Resistance Against Tribal Extinction that brought attention to issues like appropriation of Native spirituality and rights of Native college students. At the Catherine Cutler Research Institute at the University of Southern Maine, she works on projects that engage and benefit tribal communities including facilitating the Maine tribal-state Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) workgroup and creating child welfare resources with the Capacity Building Center for Tribes. She had a primary role in the creation and establishment of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Wabanaki REACH.
Maggie Conners, OTD, OTR/L (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe): Maggie Conners (she/her) is Kanien'kehá:ka; a member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. She is the granddaughter of a boarding school survivor. She is an occupational therapist who has been working in acute care, ICUs, nursing homes, pediatrics, and mental health facilities for the last 7 years. In 2025 she started an OT department in her tribe's health center and has spent the last year fighting alongside other aunties for justice for Mohawk children in special education who were subject to illegal seclusion and unauthorized timeout practices. Dr. Conners is the chair of OTNA and has provided training to OT practitioners at the local, state and national level regarding cultural safety for Indigenous clients. She is the Vice Chair of the Intertribal Disability Advocacy Council and co-authored the group's 2024 report on the lives of Indigenous Relatives with Disabilities which was presented to the National Council on Disabilities. She recently completed the 2025-2026 NCOA National Falls Prevention Fellowship Program.
Mary Kolb, DMA, Chief Warrant Officer (ret.), (Nez Perce/Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina): Dr. Kolb is an enrolled member of the Nez Perce tribe and holds a doctorate of musical arts from Michigan State University. She recently retired from the military as a Chief Warrant Officer 2, where she worked in personnel security. She served two tours overseas in combat areas and earned the Meritorious Service Medal and an Army Commendation Medal. She currently works for the Indian Health Service as a personnel security specialist, where she helps to ensure that all IHS employees are hired in accordance with Public Law 101-630, the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act.
Sarah Grinder, PhD, OTR/L (Nez Perce/Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina): Dr. Grinder is an enrolled member in the Nez Perce tribe. She is an assistant professor of occupational therapy at the University of Southern Maine and the founding program director for USM’s occupational therapy assistant baccalaureate program. She also works as an occupational therapist in early intervention. She is a 2025-2027 AOTA RISE Pathway Program scholar working on promoting awareness, inclusion, and support for Native American students in occupational therapy. She serves on the Indigenous Health, Education, and Resources Taskforce (IHEART), a collaborative developed in partnership with the Association of American Indian Physicians, American Indian Higher Education Consortium, Association of Native American Medical Students, Association of American Medical Colleges, and the Indian Health Service, to develop culturally safe pathways for Native students to enter and thrive in healthcare fields.
1.5 CEU available for attendance upon completion of evaluation.
Virtual attendance Tips/ Accessibility Note
