WASHINGTON — This week, President Joe Biden is doing something Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy has refused to do: Apologize to Native Americans.

Since September, Sheehy has rebuffed calls from tribal leaders and his Senate opponent, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), to apologize after recordings surfaced of him deriding Native Americans for the substance abuse issues that have plagued Indian Country for decades, including laughing them off as “drunk at 8 a.m.”

Sheehy’s response has included the veteran telling Tester in a Senate debate that “insensitive jokes” are part of military culture. That stands in stark contrast to the formal apology Biden is set to deliver Friday to the tens of thousands of Native American families impacted by the United States’ Indian boarding school policies from 1819 through the 1970s.

In an exclusive interview with Raw Story ahead of Biden’s Friday announcement in Arizona, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland gushed over the president’s formal apology.

“Oh my gosh, I never thought I would see this in my lifetime,” Haaland told Raw Story. “Decades ago, when I was sitting at my grandmother's kitchen table and talking to her about boarding schools, you know, she didn't tell me everything, right? I knew there was more to what she was telling me.”

As an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, Haaland is the first Native American in American history to serve as a cabinet secretary. For her, it’s personal. That’s partly why she launched the administration’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative in 2021, which is culminating with this formal apology to Indigenous communities on behalf of the United States of America.

The former New Mexico Democratic congresswoman’s grandma was sent to a Catholic boarding school some 125 miles away from her home, but “it could have been 1,000 miles because her dad only had a horse and wagon.”

“She told me he was able to only visit her twice during the five years she was there. Her time there, her dad's time at boarding school, that affected my life, and I didn't realize how much it affected my life right until I got a little bit older,” Haaland said. “So this is important.”

Over in Montana, the lack of an apology is also thundering across Indian Country.

“...there’s Coors Light cans flying by your head…”

In September, audio of Sheehy mocking Native Americans was uncovered by Char-Koosta News — “the official news publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation” — and no matter how many Montana tribal elders have demanded an apology, he’s refused.

“Great way to bond with all the Indians, to be out there while they’re drunk at 8 a.m.,” Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, says on one recording.

Sheehy is also heard insulting a historic parade at Montana’s annual Crow Fair, a 105-year-old celebration near the Little Big Horn River.

“If you know a tough crowd, you want to go to the Crow res,” Sheehy, a businessman, says on another recording. “They let you know whether they like you or not — there’s Coors Light cans flying by your head riding by.”

When Raw Story asked the Interior secretary about demeaning tropes like the ones the businessman — who’s been accused of siphoning $160 million from Montana taxpayers — has acknowledged perpetuating, Haaland said political aspirants like Sheehy need to study up on Native American history.

“All I can say is that I hope that people who say things like that will educate themselves, because if they're running for office, they need to be educated so that they can be effective leaders for their constituents,” Haaland said.

Across Montana there are 12 tribes and seven reservations, and the state’s nearly 70,000 Native Americans make up almost 7% of the state’s population. That makes them a crucial voting block in the state’s all-important U.S. Senate contest — a race that could tilt control of the Senate back to Republicans if the incumbent, Tester, loses.

Still, Sheehy refuses to apologize — and his campaign didn’t return Raw Story’s request for comment on this piece — which Haaland says is personally painful to Native Americans.

“I know that there will always be a certain amount of ignorance out there with respect to tribal nations. When people say really offensive things like that, they lack a knowledge of the history of our people. Our history is complicated. It's complex. It has many different eras,” Haaland said. “We went through eras of genocide, and we went through eras of land stealing and then assimilation policies. We have lived through so much.”

“It is a big deal”

Raw Story never mentioned Sheehy by name to the Interior secretary because federal officials like Haaland are prohibited from campaigning by the Hatch Act. When we specifically mentioned Tester, the secretary gently rebuffed us.

“I can't ask you about politics, but what has Sen. Tester — as a former chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee — what has he meant to Indian Country?” Raw Story asked.

“Would you like to ask a different question? Because I can’t speak for him,” Haaland said.

This is an election year and the president’s issuing the formal apology on behalf of the United States in the battleground state of Arizona, which smells of politics to critics.

But Haaland says there’s nothing political about the timing.

“No. I mean, they can say what they want. The president's apology is real and it's heartfelt and it's meaningful, and it will mean something to the people there. It will mean something to anyone who listens to it,” Haaland said. “It's a wonderful day to be indigenous, and I'm really proud to be by the president's side for this most important day.”

Knowing Native Americans like herself are far from monolithic, Haaland’s hoping enrolled members of tribes across Indian Country feel the sincerity of this long overdue presidential apology — one she was pivotal in bringing about.

“I hope they feel seen. I hope they feel heard by the president of the United States,” Haaland told Raw Story. “It is a big deal.”