Seven Fallen Feathers

Seven Fallen Feathers

This painting, which shares its name with a book by Tanya Talaga, is by the Ojibwe artist Christian Morrisseau. His son Kyle is among the Seven Fallen Feathers, seven indigenous high school students who lost their lives in Thunder Bay between 2000 and 2011. The public schools in many remote communities do not go past grade eight or, in some cases, grade ten. This means that most young First Nations people need to leave their homes and families to finish their high school education. One of the few available schools is DFC High School in Thunder Bay. Unfortunately many of the young people living alone and in a new and unfamiliar place for the first time experience racism and isolation. The book uses these seven tragedies as a jumping off point to discuss residential schools, historical trauma, and modern racism.

All of this pain exists in the city where we are preparing to move. We feel a call to go to Thunder Bay and share the good news of a Kingdom that brings the world back to the way it is supposed to be. God is using all of us to rebuild a world where young men and women are not pulled out of the river on a regular basis, where precious feathers do not fall...

Christian Morrisseau and his famous artwork tells the story of his son and the other children better than we can.
This video is ten minutes of your life that will not be wasted. 🙂