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2018 RBC Charles Taylor Prize Finalist
By KJ Mullins, Newz4U
Toronto Star investigative
reporter Tanya Talaga's investigation into the 2011 death of teenager Jordan
Wabasse opened the door for a horror show of questions. Why is there inequality
in the standards of First Nations schools. Why was there negligence on the part
of the Canadian Government into the disappearance and death of a First Nations' student?
A journalist job is to dig
and Tanya is one of Canada’s best. She began delving into ta student death in
Thunder Bay and found the broken trail of six more student deaths. The result
of that research is her first book, the current #1 non-fiction book in Canada, Seven Fallen Feathers. The explosive expose is shortlisted for the
2018 RBC Charles Taylor Prize.
Racism and discrimination
from the government level to the street is an everyday occurrence for Native
People in Thunder Bay. In her award-winning book Seven Fallen Feathers
journalist Tanya Talaga examines the deaths of seven young people who moved
from reservations in Northern Ontario to Thunder Bay to attend high school.
Talaga's journey to uncover
their stories shows a nation that is guilty of
neglecting their own children and until now getting away with it. The last
death took place in 2011; unfortunately the story is as current today as it was
seven years ago. One need look no further than this month’s trial concerning
the death of Colten Boushie hammers home the injustices that still befall First
Nations people.
Jordan Wabasse. Kyle Morrisseau. Reggie Bushie. Jethro Anderson. Paul Panacheese. Curran Strang. Robyn Harper.
Each of these young people is
connected to each other by death. They are all victims of an educational system
that is sub-par in a nation that prides itself on its higher learning. They
were Canadian children, living in third world conditions on lands that have
been destroyed, the reservations. The how and the why of how they died remains
a mystery. The cases were plagued by police bias and racial profiling. City
authorities closed their eyes and stood still instead of conducting
investigations that would have taken place if the victims hadn’t died in Thunder
Bay and were not from First Nations communities.
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| Tanya Talaga |
Author Tanya Talaga's Seven
Fallen Feathers brings to light the continuing injustices that First Nations
people face every single day, from the broken treaties to governmental
promises, she tells the stories of the seven young lives that were lost. Each
one of the dead attended Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School(DFC), a private
school in Thunder Bay that hosts students from several Sioux Lookout District
First Nations reserves.
The stories in Talaga's book
“echoes the tragedies that are mirrored across Canada.” The educational issues
that children face in Northern Ontario reservations are the same
throughout most of Canada. Student
funding is in some cases as much as $6,000(per student) less for Native schools
than for other schools in the same area.
Often First Nations children attend school in classrooms filled with
mould, dirty water and a lack of resources. Many youths who want a proper high
school education must leave home and family in order to attend Grade 9 and
beyond. In Northern Ontario, most students attend DFC.
In each of the seven deaths,
the Thunder Bay Police Department failed to notify parents in a timely matter
that their children were missing. When the bodies were recovered sub-par forensic
investigations took place giving no real detail in how the children died.
Considering that several of the boys who died in water were strong swimmers and
their bodies were recovered with signs of trauma, it shocking to read that only
a basic autopsies were performed on a number of the dead. Currently, Thunder
Bay Police are under review for 40 investigations dating back to the 1990s by
Ontario's Office of the Independent Police Review. Almost all of these new
cases deal with Indigenous deaths.
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| Tanya Talaga signs books at Ben McNally Books |
According to Talaga DFC tries
to do right by their students. There is an on-site Elder for spiritual guidance
and dedicated teachers whose jobs don't end when the final bell rings. Teachers
struggle mightly to fit the needs of students whose prior education at the
primary level has left them years behind the educational curve.
During the hours between
classes many of the young people (most who have never lived away from their
families), are on their own. Drugs and alcohol become a part of their lives as
they try to fit into a culture that is rife with prejudice.
While the current government
administration is working to make improvements for First Nations people Talaga
says that “I am hopeful for the future but this will take generations to
correct. The education problem is nation-wide, only when First Nations children
are treated fairly with equality will this be solved.”
Talaga said that she had no
idea how her book would be perceived when she started writing it. She has found
that educators are her biggest champions giving praise to her research that
shows a shameful side of modern Canada. She asks w how it is that children have
been cast aside and made to endure substandard living and educational
conditions.
This is a story that every
Canadian should be aware of but Talaga has found, “unless you are living the
story you don't know the story.” With Seven Fallen Feathers the truth has been
brought to life, and the voices of Jordan, Kyle, Reggie, Jethro, Paul, Curran
and Robyn are heard long and clear.
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