Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Seven Fallen Feathers, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonialism, Cultural Genocide, and Racism
Generational Trauma and Circular Suffering
Indigenous Youth, Education Reform, and Support Networks
Tradition, Prophecy, Spirituality, and Hope
Summary
Analysis
At a record store in downtown Toronto, Tanya Talaga watches as Alvin Fiddler flips through some old country music albums. Every Saturday morning, he posts a melancholy country song to his Facebook—the posts are a “respite” from recent events. On the night of May 6, 2017, two teens disappeared in Thunder Bay on the same night—and their bodies were found within two weeks of their disappearance.
The death of these two Indigenous youth suggest that the racist violence—a legacy of colonial thinking on the part of white Canadians—along with lacking support networks continue to operate throughout Thunder Bay despite the inquest into the deaths of the “seven fallen feathers.” In this environment, Indigenous leaders like Alvin Fiddler look for small ways to boost their people’s spirits, but that they must go to such efforts is itself a signal that the Canadian powers that be are themselves not doing enough .
Themes
The students’ names are Tammy Keeash and Josiah Begg; they were 17 and 14 when they died. Tammy was a student, but Josiah was just visiting the city with his father for some medical appointments. Tammy’s body was found quickly, but the NAN had to organize their own search command center to “turn Thunder Bay upside down” until Josiah was found at last. Alvin Fiddler and NAN’S Deputy Grand Chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum made it clear to their search teams that they were to check the rivers.
Years after the deaths of the “seven fallen feathers,” the Thunder Bay Police had not changed. It is not just the pattern of Indigenous youth dying and their bodies showing up in local rivers that repeats over and over. It is also the shockingly indifferent and irresponsible response of the police that recurs again and again, which in turn forces already-overburdened Indigenous communities and their leaders to attempt to investigate these deaths.
Themes
Tammy’s death was immediately listed as “consistent with drowning”—again, police quickly claimed that there was “no evidence to indicate criminality.” Fiddler couldn’t believe his ears when he heard the news—though Tammy was the sixth Indigenous youth found in the water, police still weren’t taking the patterns before them seriously.
Indigenous youths continue to be swallowed up by a Canadian system that doesn’t look out for them at any level, and a racist state that continues to neglect them even in death. The egregiousness of the police force’s oversight is, at this point, impossible to ignore.
Themes
But Tammy’s death marked a change: it made the national news, and Indigenous people began taking to social media to tell their stories of experiencing violence and assault in Thunder Bay. Local and national pressure to finally address targeted racism and violence against Indigenous people in Thunder Bay mounted.
Indigenous people were forced to take on the burden of securing justice themselves. They had to kick up a lot of noise about Tammy’s death in order to make any kind of small change, since the state and government authorities that should have protected them failed. But it is meaningful that they were able to make their voices heard, and that a different sort of national response began to take shape.
Themes
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On May 31, Alvin Fiddler held a press conference alongside other Indigenous leaders and Julian Falconer. He called for the federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police to be called in to investigate the deaths in Thunder Bay, since the local police could not be trusted to “fix” the problem there. But because of bureaucratic strictures, the RCMP could only be brought in if Thunder Bay Police requested assistance themselves. On June 23, the Ontario chief coroner stepped in to request the assistance of the York Regional Police to investigate Tammy and Josiah’s deaths. It wasn’t the RCMP, but it did offer “a bit of hope.”
This passage shows, on the one hand, the way that Canadian bureaucracy and red tape continue to thwart the most vulnerable. At the same time, it also shows small changes. These changes aren’t enough, and it would be too optimistic to say that they will continue down a path in a way that will eventually become enough. But at the same time it does seem as if there is at least some shift in the response of Canadian authorities to the needs and desires of Indigenous people.
Themes
At the time of Talaga’s writing, more than a year has passed since the end of the inquest—and while there is still much to be done, some signs of improvement have begun to emerge. The City of Thunder Bay carried out a safety audit of problem areas along the riverbanks. The Thunder Bay Police began conducting daily foot patrols of these areas. They also requested descriptors and identifiers for all First Nations students from the north attending Thunder Bay schools.
Even though the structural changes that have taken place are small, they are at last focusing on preventative measures to help protect the lives of Indigenous students who find themselves alone and struggling in Thunder Bay.
Themes
NAN took many steps to create more community and youth leadership activities for teens, to keep them busy—but funding, at the time of the book’s publication, still hadn’t been approved, making NAN chiefs question the Government of Canada’s commitment to following through with the inquest’s recommendations.
While some strides have been made, large and meaningful structural change remains out of reach for many Indigenous communities and individuals. The baby steps should be acknowledge as real steps, but at the same time should not be taken as being enough to redress or alleviate the issues facing Indigenous communities in Canada.
Themes
Alvin Fiddler began working to fund and build a safe student residence for northern children who come to Thunder Bay for school. But, again, the Government of Canada refused to comply with the CHRT ruling to provide funding. Fiddler, concerned that time was “ticking” for Indigenous youth in Thunder Bay, called for an emergency NAN meeting to discuss the crisis of how to keep students safe throughout the school year, and whether arrangements should be made with local public schools to take in NAN kids. Fiddler didn’t want parents to feel forced to send their children to dangerous Thunder Bay.
In the absence of substantial enough help from the government, Indigenous leaders and community members were, once again, forced to take matters into their own hands to try to cobble together a plan that would help save their children—without the promised funding and support from the government. The Indigenous community, in other words, is being forced to heal the wounds of the past themselves—even though the government of Canada itself is responsible for the existence of many of those wounds in the first place.
Themes
As Canada Day approaches and the country prepares to celebrate its 150th birthday on July 1, 2017, Fiddler tells Talaga that he plans to spend the day in reflection at a powwow with his family. He wants to use the day to figure out what he can do to make sure his people make it to the final prophecy, or the eighth fire—the prophecy in which the settlers and the Indigenous people learn to come together and look forward in harmony.
In the final lines of the book, Talaga shows how people like Alvin Fiddler remain optimistic in the face of outright neglect and racism. Fiddler has had to invent a new prophecy to optimistically complete the prophecy of the seven fires. And in spite of everything he’s seen and experienced, he’s turned to his own spiritual practice for hope about the future of relations between white Canadians and First Nations people. The obvious question raised by Fiddler’s efforts is whether white Canadian society will similarly invest in the effort to create an “eighth fire” that ushers in a new era of the relationship between Canada and its Indigenous people.
Themes
