Courtney Scott – 2017

16 year old Courtney Scott died at a fire while she was placed in foster care. It is kind of odd that the buildings which houses vulnerable minors don’t have fire alarms in every room. A fire alarm you can buy for 10 dollars and it would have alerted the rest of the people in the building enabling them to save this poor girl.

She died thousand of miles from her family having been in the foster care system for years. Isolated from her culture and the life she had before she ended up in foster care. After her death the authorities didn’t seem very busy informing her relatives about her death.

It was a very sad tragedy which could have been prevented by using a small sum on properly alerting systems. A simple change in fire code regulations for foster care families and group homes would have made it.

May she find peace where she is now.

Sources:

• Orléans fire victim, 16, called ‘the sweetest and kindest young woman’ (Ottawa Sun)
• Youth advocate urges immediate action after deadly foster home fire in Orléans (Ottawa Sun)
• Friends and family of teen who died in Orléans fire shocked by her death (CBC news)

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Kanina Sue Turtle – 2016

15 year old Kanina Sue Turtle had been in the system for many years. Living far away from her family, they were informed that she had committed suicide late October 2016. However that is all they were told. None seems to know exactly what took place this terrible day which ended with the death of this poor girl.

Now some are asking for a full inquery into the events and the question everyone has to ask themselves is: Why is it necessary? Should it not be mandatory for a full investigation into every tragic death?

Maybe her death could have been prevented if investigations into previous deaths had been conducted. Because something is missing. You see a lot of young adults living in shelters and on the streets thousand of kilometers from the place where they were born and their families live. Was it the possibility of ending up in the streets that made her take her own life? Did she take her own life? Not even that is to known if none are investigating.

It was a tragic death which properly could have been prevented. May she find peace where she is now.

Sources:

• Ontario indigenous leaders want mandatory inquest when a child dies at group home (The Star)
• Three First Nations girls died in Ontario group homes in last 6 months (APTN news)
• How Could You? Hall of Shame-Canada-Kanina Sue Turtle case-Child Death (Reform Talk)

Amy Owen – 2017

13 year old Amy Owen died after she was transferred from her home to a group home and apparently then transferred to another group home. She had suicidal thoughts which led to her being committed to a place where she could be under observation 24-7.

However now none seems to know what happen and the authorities seems to be very quick ruling her death as a suicide. What is fast considering that it was uncertaint where she even lived at the time of her death. The group home her parents sent her to denied that it was there she lived at the time of her death.

It is sad her her parents that she was not given the care she needed.

May she rest in peace where she is now.

Sources:

• Prescott group home owner: Amy Owen didn’t die in our care (APTN news)
• Ontario indigenous leaders want mandatory inquest when a child dies at group home (The Star)
• Ontario First Nations call for mandatory inquests when children die in child welfare system (CBC news)

Marieyvonne Alaka – 1967

A mother has been trying to find out what happened to her 8 year old daughter. She is looking for the grave of her daughter. A system has hidden the fate of her daugther from her for decades. It is unclear what the motive is. Did corporal punishment end the life of her daughter prematurely? Did her daughter die from an illness which could have been treated?

Someone in the system tried to keep the facts a secret. May the mother finally be able to find out the truth.

Sources:

• After 50-year search, Inuk mother finds daughter’s grave 2,000 km from home (CBC News)
• With heavy heart, mother returns to Iqaluit without finding daughter’s grave (CBC News)

Roderick Taypaywaykejick – 1970

12 year old Roderick Taypaywaykejick ran from St. Mary’s Indian Residential School in 1970 and died due to exposure to the cold. Together with another boy they never made it home. At that time many children were forced to live at boarding schools instead of at their home together with their family.

It was a tragedy for the families of these children.

Source:
The other residential school runaways

Phillip Swain – 1970

12 year old Phillip Swain ran from St. Mary’s Indian Residential School in 1970 and died due to exposure to the cold. Together with another boy they never made it home. At that time many children were forced to live at boarding schools instead of at their home together with their family.

It was a tragedy for the families of these children.

Source:
The other residential school runaways

3000 confirmed deaths in Indian residential schools

Indian residential school didn’t bother to report how many children who died at the schools for a number of decades. That is sad and a tragedy. At least each and every one of them should be named in this blog. Our mission is to name each and every one to state that they mattered.

Their family suffered a loss. They were never given to opportunity to live a life on the terms on their own.

May it never happen again.

Every child who is removed from their home in order to go to school or receive treatment or therapy and doesn’t make it home, deserves to be remembered. We will continue to investigate and publish the names when they are revealed.

Source:
‘It was obviously a policy not to report them’: New research finds at least 3,000 confirmed Indian residential school deaths (The National post)