Status
Available
Call number
Call number
305.897 T35 2017 c. 3
Collection
Description
"Over the span of ten years, seven high school students died in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The seven were hundreds of miles away from their families, forced to leave their reserve because there was no high school there for them to attend. Award-winning journalist Tanya Talaga delves into the history of this northern city that has come to manifest, and struggle with, human rights violations past and present against aboriginal communities."--
Genres
Publication
House of Anansi Press (2017), Edition: Third Printing, 376 pages
Original publication date
2017
Original language
English
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member arosoff
I would never have read this book if a friend hadn't recommended it, and I'm very glad I did. The book description says it's about the deaths of 7 First Nations students in Thunder Bay, but it's not a true crime story at all, and it's about so much more than their deaths. It's the story of those 7
This is not a dispassionate book. Talaga is herself First Nations and her goal here is to amplify the voices and the stories of the communities of Northern Ontario--to discuss the racism they faced and still face. But this isn't a tale of passive victimhood. The individual children were, but the community is not passive. They are fighting for agency and equality from the Canadian government. Not only is the story compelling, but it's beautifully and sensitively written.
In the US, we tend to hear a lot less about anti-Native racism--especially on the East Coast, where I'm from--because anti black racism has been so dominant. But I have to mention that our own history and present, while different in specifics, has been no better.
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children, and how their lives and deaths were the product of history and institutional failures that continue to the present day. Residential schools traumatized First Nations communities in Ontario (and across Canada), and the government has failed to provide an appropriate and equal education on reserves today--leading to the unprepared teens being sent off to Thunder Bay because they lack an alternative closer to home. This is not a dispassionate book. Talaga is herself First Nations and her goal here is to amplify the voices and the stories of the communities of Northern Ontario--to discuss the racism they faced and still face. But this isn't a tale of passive victimhood. The individual children were, but the community is not passive. They are fighting for agency and equality from the Canadian government. Not only is the story compelling, but it's beautifully and sensitively written.
In the US, we tend to hear a lot less about anti-Native racism--especially on the East Coast, where I'm from--because anti black racism has been so dominant. But I have to mention that our own history and present, while different in specifics, has been no better.
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LibraryThing member gypsysmom
This was not an easy book to listen to but it is certainly an important book. Canadians all know that how the original people of the land were treated by those who came after was shameful and racist and violent. However, I think that most of us think we are treating our indigenous peoples better
Thunder Bay Ontario has a separate school for indigenous youth from reservations in North West Ontario to attend high school. All of the teachers are indigenous, there are elders present for guidance during the school day, counsellors are assigned to each student and each student is boarded with a family in Thunder Bay so this is not a residential school. There are very few reservations with schools going up to Grade 13 so for those indigenous youth who want to pursue higher education they have to leave home. They are of course homesick but also entranced by the attractions of the big city which includes alcohol and drugs. The high school has a van staffed by counsellors who drive the streets at night looking for their students who might be out late and may be intoxicated or in some other kind of trouble. If a student violates curfew or is found intoxicated they must sign a form accepting responsibility and agreeing to refrain from getting into trouble. There is usually some form of punishment such as writing an essay or taking special classes. The ultimate sanction is to suspend the student and send them home. For some students this may work but all seven of the students who died had run afoul of the authorities at least once prior to their death. Most of the bodies were found in one of the rivers in Thunder Bay and the police determined that these deaths were not suspicious. However, the author and others think that it is unlikely these students would have drowned unless there was some other factor because all of them came from reserves where they lived close to water. One boy whose brother was lost in this manner had been with him on the bank of the river and then the next thing he knew he was under the water and had a very sore back. When his brother's body was recovered he also sported a significant bruise on his back. Another man narrowly missed dying after he was attacked by some white men who hit him and called him names and then dumped him in the river. It seems pretty clear that there was some gang of racists who were targeting young indigenous students but the Thunder Bay Police never charged anyone. The other deaths that did not involve drowning are equally mysterious but proper investigations were not done at the time so it is unclear why one student suddenly collapsed and died. I am pretty sure that if a white student living away from home had died suddenly there would have been a thorough examination and an inquest. Instead it took seven deaths and ten years for an inquest to look into these deaths. So not much has changed from the bad old days.
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this day. This book, which details the deaths of seven indigenous students who were attending high school in Thunder Bay in the 21st century, shows that not much has changed.Thunder Bay Ontario has a separate school for indigenous youth from reservations in North West Ontario to attend high school. All of the teachers are indigenous, there are elders present for guidance during the school day, counsellors are assigned to each student and each student is boarded with a family in Thunder Bay so this is not a residential school. There are very few reservations with schools going up to Grade 13 so for those indigenous youth who want to pursue higher education they have to leave home. They are of course homesick but also entranced by the attractions of the big city which includes alcohol and drugs. The high school has a van staffed by counsellors who drive the streets at night looking for their students who might be out late and may be intoxicated or in some other kind of trouble. If a student violates curfew or is found intoxicated they must sign a form accepting responsibility and agreeing to refrain from getting into trouble. There is usually some form of punishment such as writing an essay or taking special classes. The ultimate sanction is to suspend the student and send them home. For some students this may work but all seven of the students who died had run afoul of the authorities at least once prior to their death. Most of the bodies were found in one of the rivers in Thunder Bay and the police determined that these deaths were not suspicious. However, the author and others think that it is unlikely these students would have drowned unless there was some other factor because all of them came from reserves where they lived close to water. One boy whose brother was lost in this manner had been with him on the bank of the river and then the next thing he knew he was under the water and had a very sore back. When his brother's body was recovered he also sported a significant bruise on his back. Another man narrowly missed dying after he was attacked by some white men who hit him and called him names and then dumped him in the river. It seems pretty clear that there was some gang of racists who were targeting young indigenous students but the Thunder Bay Police never charged anyone. The other deaths that did not involve drowning are equally mysterious but proper investigations were not done at the time so it is unclear why one student suddenly collapsed and died. I am pretty sure that if a white student living away from home had died suddenly there would have been a thorough examination and an inquest. Instead it took seven deaths and ten years for an inquest to look into these deaths. So not much has changed from the bad old days.
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LibraryThing member LibraryCin
4.5 stars
There are all kinds of issues on indigenous reservations in Canada. Education is just one of them. In 2000(?), a group of indigenous people built and started running a high school in Thunder Bay, Ontario for those students living north who didn’t have a high school to go to.
The Thunder Bay police did very little to help, often not even contacting the families on the reserves to let them know their kids had disappeared. In some cases, they went too long before starting to look for the kids. Five of the kids were found in the river, and in most cases, just written off as “no foul play suspected”. But the indigenous people running the school, the families and friends question this. It was so unlike these kids to just get drunk and drown in the river. It has never really been figured out what exactly happened to these kids.
Wow, this is so sad. And aggravating that not enough is being done to help the indigenous kids and their communities. It’s an eye-opener and definitely worth reading. There are some repetitive bits and the author kind of went all over the place sometimes – between telling the kids’ stories, then working in other information about other people or communities. But really worth the read.
There are all kinds of issues on indigenous reservations in Canada. Education is just one of them. In 2000(?), a group of indigenous people built and started running a high school in Thunder Bay, Ontario for those students living north who didn’t have a high school to go to.
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Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before some of those kids – many who were away from home for the first time, who had never been in a city before, a new culture, a new language, no (or not many) family or friends to help – started disappearing. And dying. Over 11 years, seven teenagers died. The Thunder Bay police did very little to help, often not even contacting the families on the reserves to let them know their kids had disappeared. In some cases, they went too long before starting to look for the kids. Five of the kids were found in the river, and in most cases, just written off as “no foul play suspected”. But the indigenous people running the school, the families and friends question this. It was so unlike these kids to just get drunk and drown in the river. It has never really been figured out what exactly happened to these kids.
Wow, this is so sad. And aggravating that not enough is being done to help the indigenous kids and their communities. It’s an eye-opener and definitely worth reading. There are some repetitive bits and the author kind of went all over the place sometimes – between telling the kids’ stories, then working in other information about other people or communities. But really worth the read.
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LibraryThing member bemislibrary
This book set 2000 to 2011 tells how the Canadian government separated Native American children from their families and placed in residential schools. The book focused on an eight-month investigation into the death of seven indigenous high school students that died in Thunder Bay, Canada. The jury
I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway. Although encouraged, I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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did not hold anyone responsible for the deaths but issued 145 recommendations on how to treat indigenous students with the same as other non-indigenous students. In 2016, the Canadian Human rights Tribunal concluded that the government systematically racially discriminated against indigenous children. Separately, the Office of Independent Police Review planned to review the actions of the Thunder Bay Police Service for evidence of racism or discrimination conduct in missing indigenous persons and death investigations. While the governments may have implemented small changes because of the investigations, the book describes how easy it is to ignore or support systematic mistreatment of a group or class of people.I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway. Although encouraged, I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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LibraryThing member JHIcollection
Heartbreaking, intense journalism. An eye-opener about racism in Canada.
LibraryThing member quondame
Accounts of the of 7 deaths, the investigations and impact in Thunder Bay, with family and tribal background. It is an accounting of the continuing grinding genocide of aboriginal North Americans via government hostility, outright racism and deliberate neglect. In other words only the details are
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new. There is nothing pleasant, positive or hopeful as whatever the committees find never seems to be funded or positively implemented. Show Less
ISBN
1487002262 / 9781487002268