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

Throughout Seven Fallen Feathers, Tanya Talaga describes how racism is embedded within the Canadian education system. This harm stems back centuries, beginning with the Indian Residential Schools System, and continues today. The dark purpose of residential schools was to shatter Indigenous children’s ties to their cultures and languages and assimilate them into white Canadian society. Federal government officials and the police achieved this by ripping children away from their families and sending them to schools hundreds of miles away. While at these schools, children couldn’t speak their native languages or practice their cultural traditions. Failure to follow these rules resulted in brutal abuse. Residential schools were thus “an act of cultural genocide” (61). Through these schools, the Canadian federal government intentionally tried to destroy the practices and structures that allow Indigenous groups to maintain their identities.

In addition, the federal government didn’t always send Indigenous children to schools with other children from their tribe. Maryanne Panacheese’s experience with the residential school system is one example. Maryanne was from an Anishinaabe background, yet she was sent to residential school with children who were primarily Akwesasne, which is a different cultural group. As Talaga notes, this “shows the government’s complete lack of regard for the diversity of Indigenous cultures” (160).

Residential schools were horrible environments. They were often overcrowded, and thus unsanitary, because funding from the government was tied to the number of students. Thus, school administrators cared more about their numbers than the welfare of the children. Additionally, money from the federal government was supposed to go toward clothing and food, yet numerous stories tell of children who lacked a healthy diet and weren’t adequately clothed. Likewise, children received inadequate medical care. Thousands likely died as a result of not receiving medicine for curable diseases or seeing a doctor in time. Also, physical and sexual assault by teachers, administrators, and other students occurred at extremely high rates. All of these aspects of the residential school system suggest that the Canadian federal government didn’t view Indigenous children as humans. If they had, the conditions would have been far better.

The federal government knew for decades that this system wasn’t working and was causing undue harm to Indigenous children and their communities. In fact, the government destroyed thousands of records that likely supported the atrocities that occurred at these schools. Rather than ending the residential school system as soon as it realized that this system was harming children, the government kept the system alive until the 1990s. This decision highlights how apathy and racism are built into educational institutions for Indigenous children.

The end of the Indian Residential School System should have marked a new beginning in education rights for Indigenous communities. Local and federal governments were supposed to provide funding to Indigenous communities to build schools, ensuring that Indigenous children had access to high-quality curricula at home. Nevertheless, Indigenous communities still lack high schools and universities. Indigenous Elders have tried to band together to remedy this issue, including offering remote options like Wahsa Distance Education Centre, which was the first radio school in North America. Elders have also helped build schools, like DFC High School in Thunder Bay, but many of these schools remain under-resourced and underfunded.

One example of egregious government neglect is the elementary school in Attawapiskat, a small Cree community accessible only by plane. The school had mold growing inside, and children and teachers were getting sick because of a diesel leak. Eventually, the school was permanently closed because the community didn’t want to send their children to it. This meant that the community’s children no longer had access to an education. The government promised over and over again to rebuild the school, but it took years.

Another example is DFC High School. While all the staff did everything they could to help support the students and keep them safe, it simply wasn’t enough. The school needed far greater investments in support systems and mental healthcare, which the federal government should have provided but didn’t. The deaths of the seven fallen feathers might have been preventable if the federal government had adequately invested in education for Indigenous children. Education is a basic human right. As Talaga emphasizes throughout, the fact that the Canadian federal government doesn’t live up to its promises to provide equitable access to education services for Indigenous children shows that racism and apathy continue in the country’s education system.