Jordan Wabasse was the last of the titular “seven fallen feathers” who are the subjects of Tanya Talaga’s book. Jordan Wabasse disappeared in Thunder Bay, Ontario in February of 2011, but his body wasn’t recovered from the city’s Kam River until 92 days after he was last seen. There were many confusing and suspicious rumors surrounding Jordan’s death: one was that two white men had pushed him off a bridge. Two other Indigenous young men, Jordan Waboose and Kenny Wabasse (unrelated to Jordan Wabasse despite their similar names), had conversations online in which they feared that the Native Syndicate might have mistaken Jordan for someone with ties to the gang’s activity and killed him accidentally. But the Thunder Bay Police never followed up on any of these leads, immediately declaring that no foul play was involved in Jordan’s death.
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Jordan Wabasse Character Timeline in Seven Fallen Feathers
The timeline below shows where the character Jordan Wabasse appears in Seven Fallen Feathers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Notes from a Blind Man
...doesn’t want to talk about voting—he wants to know why Talaga isn’t instead writing about Jordan Wabasse, a 15-year-old Indigenous boy who has been missing for 71 days. Stan tells Talaga...
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...for the Ojibwe of Fort William First Nation. Stan tells Talaga that he believes that Jordan was chased into the river; searchers recently found one of Jordan’s running shoes at this...
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After the search for Jordan first got under way, a blind Elder of the Webequie First Nation told—the leader of...
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Jordan Wabasse arrived in Thunder Bay in September of 2010 to attend the Matawa Learning Centre....
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On the frigid morning of February 7, 2011, Jordan left home for school at his usual time. Jordan had been raised far away from...
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Jordan was last seen alive getting off of a Thunder Bay Transit bus just a block...
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Six days after Jordan’s disappearance, a search team turned up a ballcap that appeared to have belonged to Jordan,...
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On March 20, a team from Cat Lake First Nation found Jordan’s running shoe after following the map of the blind Elder’s vision. When the team notified...
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The Indigenous search team continued to look for Jordan, combing the Kam riverbanks and passing out missing person flyers tirelessly. Rumors about Jordan’s connections...
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...swing bridge—the location that the blind Elder had seen in his visions. After 92 days, Jordan’s body was pulled from the river; it was badly decomposed, but still clothed in the...
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...tip from a residence for teenagers—one of the residents heard that two men had pushed Jordan off the bridge. But the resident didn’t want to talk to the police—she fled the...
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To this day, Jordan’s death has no explanation. It doesn’t make sense that Jordan would’ve wound up on the...
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Chapter 2: Why Chanie Ran
...school in Thunder Bay—a book she’s wanted to write since joining the search team for Jordan Wabasse. At that time, Fiddler was traveling with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or TRC—the...
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When Fiddler heard of Jordan’s disappearance, he was sad and furious—in 2008, after another student named Reggie Bushie had been...
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Chapter 9: Less Than Worthy Victims
...the inquest for many years. While the case was stalled, the NAN lost another student, Jordan Wabasse, in May of 2011. He was the seventh student to die and the fifth...
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