num_pages: 384
description: In 1966 twelve-year-old Chanie Wenjack froze to death on the railway tracks after running away from residential school. An inquest was called and four recommendations were made to prevent another tragedy. None of those recommendations were applied.More than a quarter of a century later from 2000 to 2011 seven Indigenous high school students died in Thunder Bay Ontario. The seven were hundreds of miles away from their families forced to leave home and live in a foreign and unwelcoming city. Five were found dead in the rivers surrounding Lake Superior below a sacred Indigenous site. Jordan Wabasse a gentle boy and star hockey player disappeared into the minus twenty degrees Celsius night. The body of celebrated artist Norval Morrisseaus grandson Kyle was pulled from a river as was Curran Strangs. Robyn Harper died in her boarding-house hallway and Paul Panacheese inexplicably collapsed on his kitchen floor. Reggie Bushies death finally prompted an inquest seven years after the discovery of Jethro Anderson the first boy whose body was found in the water.Using a sweeping narrative focusing on the lives of the students award-winning investigative journalist Tanya Talaga delves into the history of this small northern city that has come to manifest Canadas long struggle with human rights violations against Indigenous communities.
language: English
title: Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City
publisher: House of Anansi Press