Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 1

Chapters 2-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapter 9-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapter 9-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 9 Summary: “Less Than Worthy Victims”

The Court of Appeal released its judgment for Reggie Bushie’s case in March 2011: They were concerned that the coroners refused to tell Reggie’s family how they selected juries. This issue deserved an inquiry. However, Bushie’s inquest was delayed because officials needed to study the problem.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci conducted a review of the jury system. Iacobucci traveled to all the communities where the students were from, meeting with elders and surviving family members. He found a system in crisis. Indigenous parents didn’t trust the justice system because of the poor quality of police investigations. Talaga notes that what he “found most troubling was the strong possibility that the authorities had not taken the necessary steps to address these cases because the students were Indigenous” (272). He believed that an inquest into all seven deaths was necessary. He also released 17 recommendations to correct the justice system. Nevertheless, it took five years for the inquest to move forward. Tragically, another DFC student, Jordan Wabasse, died during this time. He represents the seventh fallen feather—the seventh student that the Nishnawbe Aski Nation lost in Thunder Bay.

The inquest finally began in October 2015. While Alvin Fiddler and Julian Falconer hoped to expand the inquest to include racism in Thunder Bay and misconduct by the Thunder Bay Police, the coroner, Dr. David Eden, rejected this expansion. Six of the seven students’ families participated in the inquest. Elder Sam Achneepineskum attended the inquest to offer spiritual support and guidance to the families. Sam, a residential school survivor and Chanie’s cousin, was a well-known and trusted figure in Thunder Bay.

During the inquest, Falconer grilled several members of the Thunder Bay Police. He argued that the police force showed apathy and racism when it came to investigating the disappearance and deaths of Indigenous children. Falconer reminded the jury that the pathologist who re-reviewed the post-mortems of all the students couldn’t rule out homicide. Falconer believes that Canadian society set the students up for failure because of its inability to accept Indigenous cultural traditions as equal to Western cultural traditions. Falconer stated that “they [the seven students] died of flat neglect” (282).

In June 2016, eight months after the start of the inquest, the jury made 145 recommendations. The jury ruled that Jordan, Kyle, Jethro, and Paul died of undetermined causes. The families still didn’t know why their children died, although homicide did seem to have been a possibility.

Chapter 10 Summary: “Seven Fallen Feathers”

Talaga opens this chapter by noting that the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) ruled that the federal government failed to implement Jordan’s Principle. Thus, it “racially discriminated against the country’s 163,000 Indigenous children” (287). The CHRT ordered the government to remedy its mistakes. However, the government has yet to live up to its promise to protect Indigenous children. Advocates, like Blackstock, blame the colonialist legacy of the Department of Indian Affairs.

The Office of Independent Police Review Director launched its own investigation into the Thunder Bay Police in 2016 after the inquest ended. The review focused on interactions between Indigenous people and the police to identify any evidence of racism or discriminatory behavior.

Talaga ends by discussing some of the family members of the seven fallen feathers post-inquest. In all cases, the inquest didn’t help them heal. They still face the grief and trauma of having lost a family member in Thunder Bay. Talaga reveals that the book’s name comes from one of Christian’s paintings, entitled Seven Fallen Feathers. Each feather in the painting represents one of the seven Indigenous children who died. Christian hated that the media and others referred to them as the “seven dead students” (301). For him, it took away the fact that all these kids had spirits. He thus started to call them the fallen feathers.

Epilogue Summary

Talaga ends by describing how two more teenagers, 17-year-old Tammy Keesh and 14-year-old Josiah Begg, were found dead in Thunder Bay’s rivers. Tammy’s body was immediately recovered, but it took longer to find Josiah. Alvin called in Indigenous searchers and told them to search every inch of the riverbanks. Both deaths were ruled accidental, despite the two teens’ disappearances being shrouded in mystery. Their deaths made headline news across Canada. People across the country grew increasingly concerned about the safety of Indigenous children in Thunder Bay. Facebook and Twitter posts popped up that detailed physical and sexual assaults on Indigenous peoples that had never been reported or solved in the city. In addition, there were accounts of white residents throwing Indigenous people into the rivers. These disappearances and assaults underscore why Indigenous communities don’t trust the police in Canada.

Despite years of attempted overhauls of the major institutions in the country, little has changed for Indigenous communities, especially in Thunder Bay. Most of the 145 recommendations from the 2015 inquest have yet to be implemented, and the federal government hasn’t complied with the CHRT recommendations to provide equitable health care, education, and social services funding to Indigenous communities. Fiddler plans to hold a community meeting to determine how the community can keep its new batch of high school students safe.

Chapter 9-Epilogue Analysis

In this final section, Talaga drives home how racism and apathy are embedded in Canada’s key institutions. A particularly poignant example was the room assigned to “one of the largest, most complex inquests in Ontario’s history” (277). The court system assigned the smallest room, despite knowing how many people planned to attend. For the families, this scheduling blunder represented everything that is wrong with the justice system. For years, they’d fought against a system that didn’t seem to care about them, all while hearing from government and judicial officials that this simply wasn’t true. This mistake was insulting and highlights how the Canadian justice system seems incapable of treating Indigenous peoples with dignity and respect.

Another example was when the executive officer of the Thunder Bay Police tried to explain away the statistics showing that Thunder Bay has the highest hate crime rates against Indigenous peoples in Canada. He noted, “I think it reflects the fact that more people are coming forward, as well as our officers are utilizing the training they’ve been given to recognize and be able to investigate hate-motivated crimes more thoroughly” (268). His statement shows why Canada struggles to end systemic racism. Here, the executive officer refuses to acknowledge that Indigenous peoples face high rates of hate crimes. In his refusal to acknowledge this reality, he reaffirms the feeling that Indigenous life is less valued than non-Indigenous life in Thunder Bay. Refusing to acknowledge structural racism makes it impossible for non-Indigenous and Indigenous communities to truly reconcile.

In addition, Talaga highlights how nothing has really changed for Indigenous communities despite recommendations from the inquest and CHRT. For example, Norma Kejick grew so frustrated and depressed with the lack of change, especially in light of the inquest, that she contemplated death by suicide herself, despite being “the one person who championed suicide prevention in her community” (291). She kept herself alive and has stayed committed to fighting for Indigenous people’s rights. Nevertheless, her story shows how Canada’s inability to address its injustices could further destroy people who are fighting for change.

In Seven Fallen Feathers, Talaga focuses primarily on the deaths of Jethro Anderson, Reggie Bushie, Robyn Harper, Kyle Morrisseau, Paul Panacheese, Jordan Wabasse, and Curran Strang, yet she also describes the loss of other Indigenous peoples, especially the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. All these individuals experience injustice from a system that seems unable and perhaps unwilling to overcome its colonial legacy and view Indigenous peoples as human. Until the government and key institutions within the country are willing to protect and support Indigenous peoples, nothing will change.

Nevertheless, things need to change. Talaga ends the book by describing the eighth fire, which is when Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples come together and move toward a future of peace, hope, and harmony. While all the voices in this story might make this final prophecy seem impossible, Talaga has hope. She highlights these Indigenous voices so that readers, especially those who identify as non-Indigenous, see the impacts of centuries of racism and colonialism on Indigenous communities and so that they can help fight for change. Talaga calls all who want a more equitable and just future for all—especially for those who have been mistreated for centuries—to adhere to this call for action.