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

Content Warning: In this section, Talaga describes child abuse, sexual and gender-based violence, drug and alcohol use, and death by suicide. Additionally, to highlight racism and apathy toward Indigenous communities, she reproduces offensive terms that non-Indigenous Canadians often use to describe Indigenous peoples.

Talaga begins Chapter 2 by recounting one of her conversations with the new NAN grand chief, Alvin Fiddler. Fiddler was heavily involved in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and in trying to stop the high rate of death by suicide among Indigenous teenagers. Fiddler asks Talaga about Raith, which is a small town about an hour west of Thunder Bay. Most white Canadians have never heard of Raith. As a child, Talaga spent summers in Raith, which is where her mom grew up. Talaga tells Fiddler that she plans to write a book on the seven fallen feathers. He encourages her to start with the death of Chanie Wenjack, who died in 1966. Talaga had never heard of Chanie.

Talaga turns to the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School, which Chanie attended in the late 1960s. She speaks with Elder Thomas White, who shows her hundreds of photographs of the students, including Pearl Wenjack, Chanie’s sister.