Poplar Hill First Nation student Reggie Bushie, as shown in this still image provided by documentary Spirit-to-Soar was in Grade 9 when he disappeared in Thunder Bay in fall, 2007.Four years after her acclaimed book Seven Fallen Feathers explored the deaths of Indigenous teens in Thunder Bay, Ont., journalist Tanya Talaga has returned to shine a new light on the ongoing colonial oppression there and across Canada.
“Our children are still dying in the water, our people are still dying on the streets. It is something that we are still living with.” In each case, an independent review concluded police didn’t conduct proper investigations in finding the deaths undetermined or accidental. “I lean on generational change that is needed, that we need to have the political will to make change. It is not acceptable that the Thunder Bay jail is full of our people, and the conditions that they’re living in and the conditions that are now upon them due to COVID. It is not acceptable that we see videos, still, of our people being abused by officers. None of this is acceptable. It never was. And it will take generational change.”Recalling a sentiment expressed to her by retired Sen.