THE OTHER SIX
JORDAN WABASSE, 15
A Grade 9 student and star hockey player from Webequie First Nation, he got off the bus at the stop near his boarding house late on Feb. 7, 2011, and he disappeared into the -20 C night. A massive three-month search, led by his parents and members of his community, ended when his body was pulled from the Kaministiquia River.
CURRAN STRANG, 18
He had been near a local floodway on Sept. 22, 2005, and was said to have been drinking earlier with friends. His body was found four days later with “evidence of drowning,” the inquest heard. Strang was from Pikangikum First Nation, a reserve struggling with unemployment, no drinkable water and one of the highest youth suicide rates in the North.
ROBYN HARPER, 18
From Keewaywin First Nation, Harper was the only woman of the seven students. She died alone in the doorway of her boarding home after being dropped off by a patrol team from Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School, who picked her up because they found her drunk on the street. She had been at the school in Thunder Bay for only one week.
JETHRO ANDERSON, 15
He was found dead on Nov. 11, 2000, less than one month after his 15th birthday. Jethro, who spoke only Oji-Cree until Grade 7, called the remote Kasabonika First Nation home. Kasabonika is 400 kilometres north of Sioux Lookout in northwestern Ontario. His mother, Stella, reluctantly let her son go to school in Thunder Bay alone so he could realize his dream of becoming a police officer.
PAUL PANACHEESE, 21
The oldest of the seven, he lived in 10 different boarding houses when he first came to attend high school in Thunder Bay. Panacheese’s mother, Maryanne, finally moved from her home at Mishkeegogamang First Nation to live with her son so he could safely go to school. The coroner could not find an anatomical reason why he died on his mother’s kitchen floor on Nov. 11, 2006.
REGGIE BUSHIE, 15
He was last seen at the McIntyre River with his older brother, Ricki, on Oct. 26, 2007. Reggie’s body was found in the river, days later, on Nov. 1.