When Toronto Star columnist Tanya Talaga arrived in Thunder Bay several years ago to interview Anishinaabe chief Alvin Fiddler  she had no idea her new book would detail the deaths of 7 Indigenous youth in about 10 years.  In Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City  Talaga painstakingly investigates the deaths of the youth — and shows that they were no accidents. Her prize-winning book opens a look at white colonial violence in the the settler state called Canada.  She shows how the police, the (then) mayor, elected and also court officials routinely conducted racist attacks — whether violent and/or sexual against Indigenous young people.  Her book isn’t simply a wake up call, but a call to action.

I travelled here, on two planes —  2823 km — to visit my sons and daughter in law for a week.  I narrowly escaped the -33C temperatures, and hit a warm spell where today it’s only -16C, and snowing.Daybreak in Thunder Bay. At the James St Bridge to nowhere, read on

La famille après le diner