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

In Chapter 3, Talaga explains the origin of Dennis Franklin Cromarty (DFC) High School. After the federal government closed the residential schools, Indigenous communities in remote parts of the country didn’t have access to local schools. Although the government, especially the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) department, was supposed to help close this education gap, they failed to do so. Indigenous families still had to send their children to schools in urban areas. Canada’s office of Auditor General, a branch of the Parliament of Canada responsible for conducting audits of federal departments, raised the alarm in 2000 that the “INAC had no idea if the money it was spending was helping to close the woefully large education gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children” (101). The Auditor General underscored that the INAC needed to resolve performance problems so that it could better serve Indigenous children.

In the absence of government support, tribal councils banded together to build schools for their children. DFC High School in Thunder Bay was one such school. Talaga notes that “it was a place of hope for many” (101) since it was one of the first Indigenous-run schools. Guidance counselors were assigned to each student, a nurse and Elder were on staff each day, and teachers were on call all the time. With these practices, the DFC staff hoped to help students adjust to their new environment.

Unfortunately, the school had its first disappearance and death within one month of opening. Fifteen-year-old Jethro Anderson was the first of the seven fallen feathers. Jethro’s friend, Shawon Wavy (who was the same age), saw Jethro the night he disappeared. Both had attended a party near the Kam. Shawon recalls seeing Jethro, who was likely intoxicated, get into a fight with several other teenagers. Shawon left the party shortly thereafter.

On the evening that Jethro disappeared, his mom, Stella Anderson, saw a wolf. In Indigenous tradition, a wolf always carries a message. Stella learned two days later that Jethro was missing.

Dora’s aunt, whom Jethro boarded with, became increasingly worried when Jethro didn’t report home at curfew. She and her husband drove around the streets the next day, looking for him. Unable to find Jethro, Dora called the police, who didn’t take her call seriously. Dora had to physically walk into the Thunder Bay Police station for them to file a missing person’s report. Dora continued to search for Jethro and was joined by other Indigenous searchers and Jethro’s parents but not the police. Eventually, the police recovered Jethro’s hat. Dora had to beg the police to search the river. As Talaga notes, “She had a feeling. She knew that Jethro was in the water” (119). The police recovered Jethro’s body from the water several weeks after his disappearance. They ruled out foul play as the cause of Jethro’s death, despite the mystery surrounding his disappearance.

In response to Jethro’s death, the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC) asked Bob Pearce, a Ministry of Education supervisory officer with 33 years of experience in the Canadian education system, to conduct an operational report of Dennis Franklin and one other high school. After 100 interviews and 190 questionnaires, Pearce made several recommendations. He suggested that Dennis Franklin should accept only students in 11th and 12th grade. The other high school should accept younger students, who were less mature, to give them time to adjust. Another investigation, which looked at the NNEC operation and leadership, reached similar findings.

In 2004, Canada’s Auditor General office once again highlighted the failure of the INAC to provide a high-quality education to Indigenous children and close the education gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, even suggesting that “the department had set back progress in education in First Nation communities” (127); it would now take another year to close this education gap.

In the same year, educational consultant Jerry Paquette reviewed the NNEC. He spent a year interviewing its board members, teachers, and students and studied the system. In his final report, which produced 81 recommendations, he blasted the NNEC’s lack of communication with Indigenous communities about education decisions, adding that the NNEC ignored parents’ concerns and failed to notify them when their children went missing. Paquette’s findings echoed those of Bob Pearce.

Both Paquette and Pearce argued that Dennis Franklin should be only for older students. In addition, Paquette wanted the NNEC to build a residential hall for students at DFC and stated that the rules around boarding parents needed to be reexamined and made stricter. For all these reasons, Paquette recommended the creation of a “joint arbitration style board” (129) that included local Indigenous community members and members of the NNEC and INAC. Once this board implemented his recommendations, he wanted control over Indigenous children’s education returned to Indigenous communities. He warned that failure to make changes would exacerbate harm to Indigenous children by the current education system.

Indigenous communities face high rates of death by suicide, particularly among youth. Pikangikum First Nation, or “Pik,” is one example. Pik lacks basic necessities, including running water, plumbing, and heat. Talaga notes that “extreme hopelessness and poverty” (135) led to Pik’s having one of the world’s highest rates of death by suicide. The community lost nearly five percent of its community members to death by suicide over a 20-year period. Children, facing abusive homes, turn to alcohol and drug use to numb their despair.

Pik sent all its children, including 18-year-old Curran Strang, to Dennis Franklin. Curran had been at Dennis Franklin for several years but struggled with his studies. He befriended James Benson. Both boys came from religious families, and Curran struggled with being so far from home. As a result, he started hanging out with a group of kids that partied. Numerous police reports for public intoxication and underage drinking and school occurrence reports were filed starting when he was 16 years old. Curran sought help from school authorities several times, especially after several people he knew, including close friends and family members, died by suicide. His drinking increased after these deaths.

James saw Curran on the night he disappeared—September 22, 2005—at the Intercity mall. Curran asked James to help him buy beer, but James refused. James notes that “when Curran walked away from him, an ominous feeling washed over James. He knew in his heart that he would never see his friend alive again” (151). Like Jethro Anderson, no one knows what happened to Curran between the time he was last seen and the recovery of his body from the Kam. Police ruled his death an accident. Rates of death by suicide spiked at Pik one year after Curran’s death, highlighting the despair that children from Pik felt and their inability to get medical and well-being care.