Seven student deaths far too many: Kakegamic

Jordan Wabasse. Kyle Morrisseau. Reggie Bushie. Jethro Anderson. Paul Panacheese. Curran Strang. Robyn Harper.
They are not just names and not just statistics. There is an unmistakable link between these youth as each was a student attending school in Thunder Bay, hundreds of kilometres away from home, when they died.
Each was on the minds of participants at a May 20 gathering outside the constituency office of Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Michael Gravelle.
The rally participants were calling for the inquest into Bushie’s 2007 drowning in the McIntyre River to proceed.
“We need to advocate to the provincial government, the minister especially, to proceed with the inquest,” said Anna Betty Achneepineskum, an organizer of the gathering. “We will no longer accept any excuses.”
The inquest had been delayed due to jury issues, but a Ministry of the Attorney General spokesman said May 17 it is now back with the coroner to proceed.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Coroner said they had not yet determined the dates, venue or any details of the inquest as of May 19.
Achneepineskum also called for the development of a committee within the City of Thunder Bay to address the issues surrounding the deaths of the seven students.
“I also want to honour the families of those young people who have gone on, the families of Jordan Wabasse, Kyle Morrisseau, Reggie Bushie, Jethro Anderson, Adrian Spade, Dennis Fiddler, Sam Achneepinskum, Paul Panacheese, Curran Strang, Robyn Harper. These are just a few of the young people who have lost their lives and their bodies were recovered on the streets and rivers of Thunder Bay.”
Achneepineskum called for people to work together to prevent similar deaths in the future.
“I don’t want to be gathering again next year at this time because we are burying another one of our young people,” she said.
Gravelle said he has heard the message “loud and clear” of those gathered before his office, noting the seven deaths are an issue that touches all people in Thunder Bay.
“I will be going back to Queen’s Park and I will certainly pass this on to Premier (Dalton) McGuinty and to our Aboriginal Affairs minister Chris Bentley,” Gravelle said.
McGuinty has called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to hold a First Minister’s summit related to Aboriginal education, Gravelle said.
A Prime Minister’s Office spokeswoman said in an e-mail that while they have not received the summit request from McGuinty’s office, First Nation students are entitled to an education that not only encourages them to stay in school, but will also see them graduate with the skills they need to enter the labour market and share fully in Canada’s economic opportunities.
“Improving educational outcomes for Aboriginal peoples is a shared responsibility in which governments, communities, educators, families and students all have a role to play in achieving real results,” said Sara MacIntyre, press secretary with the PMO, in the e-mail.
She said the Conservative government has partnered with the Assembly of First Nations to hold an Expert Panel on Education in order to listen to all interested parties and recommend next steps.
“We will continue to work with Aboriginal communities and provinces and territories to reform and strengthen education and to support student success,” MacIntyre said.
Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School principal Jonathan Kakegamic also called for the federal and provincial governments to take action.
“The seven deaths are too much,” Kakegamic said, noting that even one death is too much. “After the first death of Jethro Anderson (in 2000), something should have been done. Nothing was. That’s wrong. This is Canada. Something is wrong with our government and the country we live in when nothing was done.”
Kakegamic said that message has to be sent to the prime minister.
“We are still awaiting words from him, his reaction to what is going on,” Kakegamic said. “Too many youth are gone because they left their homes to make a better life for themselves.”
Kakegamic said he couldn’t imagine losing a son or a daughter because they just wanted to go to school to further their education.
“I played chess with Reggie Bushie in my office,” Kakegamic said. “Curran Strang, I see you every day. Robyn Harper was only here for three days. She passed away tragically. She was so excited to be here. We need to change things in Canada.”
Anderson’s aunt Dora Morris said his family is still waiting for the results of his death.
“He wasn’t out for a little over a month and he went missing and from this day we never really got the results,” she said.