We share reports or reviews on the deaths of specific Indigenous individuals as they teach us valuable lessons about the ways systems and societal responses need to change. It is critical to keep in mind that these reports are about the lives of those loved and missed by many and can be emotionally distressing to read, in particular for Indigenous students. Please ensure your students are aware of this, that time for debriefing is provided, and that self-care and supportive resources are discussed.
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A Place Where it Feels Like Home: The Story of Tina Fontaine
This report provides a chronology of the short life of Tina Fontaine, an Indigenous youth. She went missing in July 2014 and her body was found wrapped in plastic and a duvet cover in Winnipeg’s Red River on August 17, 2014. Tina was only 15 years old. The chronology includes the numerous public services that…
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Broken Promises: Alex’s Story
This report documents how the BC child welfare system did not provide Alex, a Métis youth, a permanent home with family, leaving him to be placed in multiple care placements for over an 11-year period. Placed in a hotel room in Abbotsford, Alex took his own life by jumping out a window in an act…
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Investigation report concerning the death of Joyce Echaquan
This report is on the circumstances of the death in a health care setting of 37-year-old Joyce Echaquan, an Atikamekw woman. It recognizes the existence of systemic racism and that racism and prejudice contributed to her tragic death on September 28, 2020, in the Centre Hospitalier de Lanaudière in Saint-Charles-Borromée, Quebec.
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Paige’s Story: Abuse, Indifference and a Young Life Discarded
The life of Paige, an Indigenous child with great potential who never received the protection and care she needed and deserved, is documented in this report. Professional indifference by many placed her in harm’s way. Paige died of an overdose in April 2013 in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside at the age of 19.
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Remembering Keegan: A BC First Nations Case Study Reflection
This case study reflection is about Keegan Combes of Skwah First Nation, a high school graduate, Grade 10 pianist and chess champion. He was enrolled in trades college at the time of his death at the age of 29. Keegan lived with disabilities, and was non-verbal by choice. He passed away on September 26, 2015…
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Skye’s Legacy: A Focus on Belonging
This report documents the life and death of Skye, an Indigenous youth, and illustrates the critical need for children in government care to be connected to family, culture, and community. Skye died on her 17th birthday in 2017. She had spent nearly 12 years in care of the Ministry for Children and Family Development and was…
Land Acknowledgement
The UBC School of Social Work acknowledges that we are situated on the traditional, ancestral and stolen territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) People.