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

From the founding of Thunder Bay, many white residents discriminated against Indigenous people within the city, and it was split into “white” and “Ojibwe” sides. Racism and apathy toward Indigenous communities still occurs today. Thunder Bay, which has a population of around 120,000 residents, has the highest hate crime rate in Canada. In addition, a third of Indigenous murders in Ontario occur in the city. As the book illustrates, all seven Indigenous children encountered racist attitudes from the city’s white residents. Thunder Bay is a dangerous place for the Ojibwe people, especially Ojibwe children. The Ojibwe have tried to file reports about hate crimes, but the police rarely conduct thorough investigations related to the treatment of Indigenous peoples. Given the city’s high levels of racism and apathy, Indigenous people living in Thunder Bay have a deep mistrust of the city’s institutions, particularly the police and justice system.

Talaga emphasizes that Thunder Bay is radically different than the communities the Indigenous people leave behind: “Back home, there are no traffic lights or crosswalks. No McDonald’s or Loblaws. Most communities have only one shop—the Northern Store, a catch-all selling everything from high-priced groceries to batteries and rubber boots” (19). Not only does Thunder Bay look radically different, but Indigenous children often come to the city without their families to pursue an education. They live with “boarding parents,” but these adults aren’t required to supervise the children. Indigenous children thus face culture shock and lack parental guidance to help them navigate their new surroundings. This often leads children to turn to alcohol and drugs to try to fit in or cope with the sadness they experience in losing their sense of home and belonging.

In addition, Talaga details how structural racism against Indigenous communities isn’t limited to Thunder Bay but occurs within broader Canadian society. The federal government broke most of the promises it outlined in treaties with Indigenous groups and created the Indian Act of 1976. The Indian Residential School System is a product of this act. This system resulted in cultural genocide. The Canadian government set out to destroy the social, political, and cultural institutions of Indigenous communities. The legacy of this system, which shattered Indigenous families and communities, is still felt today. Many of the seven children whose stories Talaga shares in this book came from homes with residential school survivors. Because of the lack of access to mental health services in northwestern Ontario, many of these survivors have never been able to get counseling to help them process the horrific abuses they experienced at residential schools. As a result, many residential school survivors turned to alcohol and drug use or other unhealthy behaviors to numb the painful memories. Their children and grandchildren thus grow up in shattered families and communities and bring this trauma with them to school.

Food insecurity is another serious problem for many Indigenous communities throughout Canada, partly because of the high cost of goods in their remote communities. In addition, many Indigenous people can’t afford healthy food and must therefore consume processed food, which leads to a host of health issues for Indigenous peoples, including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, dental issues, and obesity. Many remote communities lack access to hospitals and healthcare, so Indigenous people can’t get the medical care they need to combat the health issues caused by structural racism.

Moreover, although many reservations are on the shores of Lake Superior, they often don’t have sustainable power systems, sewage systems, or clean running water. Even when these communities do have access to water, it’s often poisoned or stolen by larger cities in the southern part of the country. Indigenous communities also lack adequate fire departments and schools (which almost all end at grade eight) and universities.

Talaga’s description of structural racism within Thunder Bay and Canada as a whole shows how Indigenous peoples are treated as a separate class of citizens compared to their white counterparts. From her perspective, this division and “lack of cultural awareness and understanding” (11) led to education, justice, and federal government systems that fail to protect Indigenous children. The deaths of Jordan Wabasse, Jethro Anderson, Curran Strang, Paul Panacheese, Robyn Harper, Reggie Bushie, and Kyle Morrisseau directly relate to Canadian society’s racism and apathy toward Indigenous peoples.