How we approach Indigenous affairs
Star’s Tanya Talaga strives to ask hard questions while keeping compassion in mind
This story is part of the Toronto Star’s trust initiative, where, every week, we take readers behind the scenes of our journalism. This week, we focus on how Tanya Talaga approaches her coverage of Indigenous affairs.
In recent years, consumers of mainstream media may have noticed greater coverage of Indigenous people in Canada. The Star’s Tanya Talaga believes this is due to the Idle No More movement, the rise of social media, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and an awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
While Talaga was reporting on politics at Queen’s Park between 2009 and 2012, she began concentrating on issues affecting Indigenous people, such as land rights disputes, natural resource exploration and the proposed Ring of Fire development in northern Ontario. She also noted a need for greater scrutiny of the deaths of seven Indigenous students who had left home to attend high school in Thunder Bay, Ont., between 2000 and 2011.
Since then, Talaga, whose maternal grandmother is Ojibwa and a member of Fort William First Nation, has covered countless stories about Indigenous rights, murdered and missing women in Thunder Bay and inequities facing First Nations children. Her book, Seven Fallen Feathers, about the seven students who died in Thunder Bay, will be published in September.
It’s a beat that involves building trust with members of marginalized communities experiencing trauma, such as suicide among youth. Each case involves different people and circumstances. So how does Talaga maintain a balance of compassion and sensitivity with the journalist’s job of asking the hard questions?
“My editor Lynn McAuley and I approach each story on youth suicide and the deaths of youth in care with concern for the families and communities left behind,” Talaga says. “We aim to look at the broader issues behind each death, such as intergenerational trauma brought on by residential schools. We try very hard to make sure our stories are not gratuitous or disrespectful.”
For instance, while covering youth suicides this year at Wapekeka First Nation, a remote community 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Talaga examined the historical presence and effect of convicted pedophile Ralph Rowe, a former Anglican minister and Boy Scout leader. Rowe, who would fly into remote First Nations, including Wapekeka, in the 1970s and ’80s, was convicted many years later of more than three dozen counts of indecent assault on young boys.
When seeking more information about the death of a young person, Talaga acknowledges that each First Nations community is its own entity and has its own way of handling a crisis or trauma. She might call an official from the community or the band office to find out if a family member wants to talk, or reach out to someone she knows. Trust, she says, is key.
“Trust can take time — weeks, months and sometimes longer,” she says. “I try to keep in touch with those who have shared their stories with me. Often, I’m writing about traumatic or pivotal events in someone’s life. Checking in to see how someone is shows you care about how they are — that is important.”
Last year, Talaga was part of a team that won the Project of the Year prize at the National Newspaper Awards for “Gone,” an investigation into missing and murdered Indigenous women. A 2014 RCMP report put the number of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in Canada at1,181, but that number has been challenged by many who believe it is much higher.
Talaga approaches every story with the understanding that a grieving family is trying to process what has happened.
“Families often feel their concerns are not being heard by investigators, and often complain of never hearing from the officers handling their cases,” she says. “Each one of these women and girls has a name, was a person with her own identity and not just a number. She was a mom, a sister, an aunt, a friend. I try not to lose sight of who she was.”
Many of Talaga’s stories touch on the length of time it can take authorities or governments to respond to issues facing Indigenous people. In May, Talaga wrote about Indigenous leaders seeking an inquest into the deaths of Indigenous children in care following the deaths of four teenage girls in provincial group homes. There is still no word on whether one will be held.
Do situations like this frustrate Talaga?
“I have faith that one day, the chance at justice for the families and all involved will come.”