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Alvin Fiddler
Chanie Wenjack was a student at the Cecilia Jeffrey residential school in the mid-1960s. In October of 1966, Chanie and two other boys ran away from the school, where students were abused, malnourished, and kept in unsanitary conditions. After staying a couple of nights with the family of one of the boys he escaped with, Chanie no longer felt welcome, so he set out on his own. But Chanie never made it to his destination—he was found dead beside some railroad tracks several days after leaving. Chanie’s death led to a formal inquest, after which several recommendations were made as to how schools and support systems for Indigenous children could better function. But few of those recommendations were ever followed up on—and many Indigenous elders draw connections between Chanie’s death decades ago and the deaths of the “seven fallen feathers” in 21st-century Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Chanie Wenjack Quotes in Seven Fallen Feathers
The Seven Fallen Feathers quotes below are all either spoken by Chanie Wenjack or refer to Chanie Wenjack. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2: Why Chanie Ran
Quotes
What the statistics don't tell you is how some of the older children would form their own abusive circles, preying on the younger, more vulnerable kids. The abuse suffered at the hands of adult supervisors took its toll on the students. They became further disengaged from the classroom, angry, and in need of someone to take their rage out on. For some of these kids, the younger children were easy victims.
This is the life Chanie ran from.
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"When I am alone at home, I think about my brother. The drive to go home was so strong. I don’t want his death to be in vain[.] […] As a residential school survivor, you can feel it all over again, what these students felt. Yes, you can feel it."
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Get the entire Seven Fallen Feathers LitChart as a printable PDF.
Chanie Wenjack Quotes in Seven Fallen Feathers
The Seven Fallen Feathers quotes below are all either spoken by Chanie Wenjack or refer to Chanie Wenjack. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2: Why Chanie Ran
Quotes
What the statistics don't tell you is how some of the older children would form their own abusive circles, preying on the younger, more vulnerable kids. The abuse suffered at the hands of adult supervisors took its toll on the students. They became further disengaged from the classroom, angry, and in need of someone to take their rage out on. For some of these kids, the younger children were easy victims.
This is the life Chanie ran from.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
"When I am alone at home, I think about my brother. The drive to go home was so strong. I don’t want his death to be in vain[.] […] As a residential school survivor, you can feel it all over again, what these students felt. Yes, you can feel it."
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
