Montana Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, delivers the rebuttal to the governor’s State of the State address on Jan. 13, 2025. (Micah Drew/ Daily Montanan)
Salish and Kootenai Sen. Shane Morigeau said the conversation around recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Montana has changed during the years.
The Missoula Democrat introduced similar measures during the 2021 and 2023 sessions, but both failed to make it to the Senate floor for a vote.
“I think I got yelled at last session,” Morigeau told his colleagues in the Senate on Tuesday. “So I’m happy this dynamic has finally changed.”
Morigieau introduced Senate Bill 224 to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the second Monday of October as a legal holiday in Montana, in addition to recognizing Columbus Day the same day.
The bill passed out of the Senate State Administration Committee in a 6-3 vote last week after a hearing Morigeau said was one of the best he’d ever had in the Capitol.
While previous efforts to recognize the holiday focused on the harms Christopher Columbus brought on the Indigenous communities living in the Americas half a millennia ago, Morigeau said conversations this session have focused on celebrating the ancestral lineage of all Montanans.
“It’s a day that is shaped and molded by each community and how each community wants to celebrate the day,” he told his colleagues. “I think what this bill does is it really asks people to look in the mirror and just learn about yourself, learn about others, and take the time to celebrate each other.”
The biggest change to the legislation from previous versions is sharing the holiday with Christopher Columbus Day, rather than replacing it entirely.
Longtime legislator Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, told reporters before the Senate floor session that he was optimistic the bill would pass, even when it had been repeatedly voted down in the past, because supporters decided they have to “give a little.”
“If that’s the compromise that’s going to happen, then so be it,” Windy Boy said. “I mean Columbus just came here in 1492. We’ve been here centuries and centuries and generations and generations ago. Why can’t we recognize that?”
The co-celebration of the two holidays in October is done in Rhode Island, Nebraska and Alabama, while four states and Washington D.C. have established Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a standalone state holiday.
Morigeau said organizers for Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Montana have met twice a month for the last two years to discuss how to properly recognize the shared heritage of Montanans. He said thousands of Montanans already celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day with many cities recognizing it, and this bill gives individuals the chance to “celebrate what they want.”
Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings, said history is complicated but doesn’t always have to be a “one side’s right, one side’s wrong” decision.
“I think this is an easy win, where we can, you know, do what you want and maybe you can indulge in both sides of the coin instead of choosing one or the other,” he said. “You can say, ‘You know, we are all here because of Columbus and that history, but other people were here prior.’ Everybody wins.”
The legislation faces a final procedural vote in the Senate on Wednesday and will head to the House for further consideration.
“I know there’s a heavy emphasis on Montana Native, because there’s a lot of Montana Native people here, Indigenous people here that have tribes and roots here,” Morigeau said. “But I genuinely mean it when we’re trying to celebrate the shared history and values of all Montanans … We do pride ourselves on our past.”
The bill made one additional change to recognized state holidays by updating “Lincoln’s and Washington’s Birthdays” to “Presidents’ Day.”