‘Tanya Talaga's powerful book is a hard-hitting story of the realities of Canadian racism, complicity, and Indigenous suffering. It is also a testament to the resilience of the Anishinaabe families who endure the crushing impacts of historic and contemporary injustices. In spare prose and a direct voice, Talaga documents the tragedies of the lost lives of Indigenous youth while creating a compelling narrative that educates the reader on the sad history of Indigenous-White relations. This book is a crucial document of our times, and vital to the emergence of a true vision of justice in Canada.’
Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing Jury Citation
‘This story is hard and harrowing, but Talaga tells it with the care of a storyteller and the factual attention of a journalist. She makes the difficult connections between this national tragedy and the greater colonial systems that have endangered our most vulnerable for over a century, and she does it all with a keen, compassionate eye for all involved, especially the families who are too often overlooked. These stories need to be heard. These young people deserve nothing less than to be honoured everywhere.’
Katherena Vermette, bestselling author of The Break
‘Seven Fallen Feathers may prove to be the most important book published in Canada in 2017. Tanya Talaga offers well-researched, difficult truths that expose the systemic racism, poverty, and powerlessness that contribute to the ongoing issues facing Indigenous youth, their families, and their communities. It is a call to action that deeply honours the lives of the seven young people; our entire nation should feel their loss profoundly.’
Patti LaBoucane-Benson, author of The Outside Circle
‘Talaga, a veteran investigative reporter for the Toronto Star, has crafted an urgent and unshakable portrait of the horrors faced by indigenous teens going to school in Thunder Bay, Ontario, far from their homes and families. Since the early twentieth century, indigenous children living on Native reservations in northwestern Ontario have lacked access to a quality education … [I]ndigenous teenagers face a myriad of hardships while attending big-city high schools — rampant racism, extreme underage alcohol and substance abuse, along with physical and sexual violence. Talaga chronicles seven untimely and largely unsolved deaths that have taken place among Native Thunder Bay students since the new millennium … Talaga's incisive research and breathtaking storytelling could bring this community one step closer to the healing it deserves.’ STARRED REVIEW
Courtney Eathorne, Booklist
‘Journalist Talaga’s debut, about the deaths of seven young indigenous people between 2000 and 2011 in Thunder Bay, Ont., is a powerful examination and critique of present and past Canadian policies on indigenous peoples … Talaga's research is meticulous and her journalistic style is crisp and uncompromising. She brings each story to life, skillfully weaving the stories of the youths' lives, deaths, and families together with sharp analysis. She connects each death to neocolonial policies and institutional racism in all levels of governments, as well as the legacy of Canada’s infamously abusive residential schools. The book is heartbreaking and infuriating, both an important testament to the need for change and a call to action.’ STARRED REVIEW
Publishers Weekly
‘What is happening in Thunder Bay is particularly destructive, but Talaga makes clear how Thunder Bay is symptomatic, not the problem itself … Talaga's is a book to be justly infuriated by.’
Globe and Mail
‘Seven Fallen Feathers tells the story of seven students, all of whom died in Thunder Bay, Ontario, between 2000 and 2011 … [A]s Toronto Star journalist Tanya Talaga looked into the stories of these students' deaths, she was struck by the similarities the modern system bore to the one-time residential school system in Canada — a system that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has, in 2015, deemed a tool of cultural genocide against Canada's Aboriginal peoples. Talaga draws the parallels between the historical school system and the deaths of these students in her detailed account … Her research unveils a legacy of racism and colonialism that has resulted in poor educational prospects, abuse and mistreatment, high suicide rates and broken family structures, among other injustices. Much of Seven Fallen Feathers feels imbued with a strange sense of deja vu … from the eerie similarity between the lives and deaths of these seven students — and, indeed, the similarities between these seven and the many who died or disappeared from residential schools as far back as the late 19th century. The repetition is what Talaga works hard to warn against: look at what's been done. Remember what has happened. Do not let it happen again.’
Shelf Awareness
‘You simply must read this book. Tanya Talaga has done the hard work for us. She sat with the families, heard their stories. Now, with the keen eye and meticulous research of an uncompromising journalist, she is sharing their truths. We have to start listening. Parents are sending their children to school in Thunder Bay to watch them die. Racism, police indifference, bureaucratic ineptitude, lateral violence — it doesn't have to be this way. Let this book enrage you — and then demand that Canada act now.’
Duncan McCue, host of Cross Country Checkup on CBC Radio
‘Once started, this book is difficult to put down. At just over 300 pages, Seven Fallen Feathers moves from one compelling story to the next, and seamlessly weaves in facts and history. The writing is crisp and thoughtful. Seven Fallen Feathers … fosters understanding, and is a book that can benefit everyone.’
Ottawa Review of Books
‘[W]here Seven Fallen Feathers truly shines is in Talaga's intimate retellings of what families experience when a loved one goes missing, from filing a missing-persons report with police, to the long and brutal investigation process, to the final visit in the coroner's office. It's a heartbreaking portrait of an indifferent and often callous.’
The Walrus
‘Devastating, angry, and thought-provoking.’
Open Letters Monthly
‘A poignant, emotional glimpse into the lives of the seven fallen feathers — Jethro Anderson, Curran Strang, Kyle Morriseau, Paul Panacheese, Reggie Bushie, Robyn Harper, and Jordan Wabasse — through the eyes of their friends and families.’
TBNewswatch
‘Seven Fallen Feathers… is a must read. One can hope in Seven Fallen Feathers people in our community might find a path forward to true understanding and reconciliation.’
NetNewsLedger
‘This is a book that everyone should read … It will grip you, make you think and help you understand better what has led up to the horrific experiences of young people cut down too soon. It connects the local experience to the larger experience of Canada and is a cry for justice, human rights and respect.’
The Chronicle Journal
Talaga's work brings stories to the fore when mainstream media have covered them up for decades … Seven Fallen Feathers is a difficult read. It deals with death and racism; it tackles pain and suffering head on. Telling the students' stories is also an act of hope and healing based on the certainty that things can be better, and that they must. This book is a solid piece of investigative journalism and should be read, and shared far and wide.’
Citizens' Press
‘Tanya Talaga investigates the deaths of seven Indigenous teens in Thunder Bay — Jethro Anderson, Curran Strang, Robyn Harper, Paul Panacheese, Reggie Bushie, Kyle Morrisseau, and Jordan Wabasse — searching for answers and offering a deserved censure to the authorities who haven't investigated, or considered the contributing factors, nearly enough.’
National Post
‘Seven Fallen Feathers is presented in an urgent context. Talaga looks at the past (both relatively distant and shockingly recent) deaths of Indigenous students in Canadian residential schools. This detailed investigation from Talaga tells the stories of seven individual students and their tragic endings. Though it focuses on a single city, its resonance is global.’
Happy Mag, starred review
Praise for All Our Relations
‘While drawing on academic studies, All Our Relations is a burning missive about what is happening now, on the ground, and what needs to be done to make for safe and healthy Indigenous communities.’
Fiona Capp, The Age
Praise for All Our Relations
‘Talaga’s treatment and explanation of Indigenous people’s trauma is essential reading.’
Rosaleen McDonagh, The Irish Times
Praise for All Our Relations
‘All Our Relations is an impeccably researched and unflinching documentation of how both colonial histories and ongoing genocidal practices have created the suicide crisis among Indigenous youth across the globe. Tanya Talaga expertly folds together interviews, storytelling, and statistics to bring us directly to the startling truth that Indigenous youth are fighting to find themselves through the multiple separations forced on them by settler states: separation of parents from children, separation of peoples from their land, and separation of tongues and hearts from their languages and traditions. All Our Relations is a call to action and a testament to the strength and tenacity of Indigenous people around the world.’
2019 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Jury Citation
