Seven aboriginal youths died in Thunder Bay, Ont., under murky circumstances, from 2000 to 2011. According to the coroner's verdict in the inquest, the causes of their deaths varied from "undetermined" to "accident" – words that come close to being synonyms.
In striking contrast, the coroner's recommendations are vast, so much so that their valuable content is at grave risk of getting lost. These proposals almost verge on becoming a comprehensive plan for aboriginal education, in 18 chapters on 47 dense pages.
Last April, there was a wave of attempted suicides of teenagers in the particularly remote Attawapiskat reserve on James Bay, and the same self-destructive distress soon surfaced in other communities.
In an isolated community, there is not much to do, but at least young people have the company of their friends and extended families.
On the other hand, native adolescents who go to major centres like Thunder Bay and Winnipeg to get a high-school education are exposed to all sorts of dangers, away from their families. The deaths of the Thunder Bay seven will probably never be fully understood.
Buried deep in the coroner's recommendations are some sensible proposals. Inexperienced native students shouldn't be just lodged in this or that boarding house, which may be iffy. A genuinely responsible, genuinely concerned adult needs to keep an eye on them, as an approximation of a good parent.
Above all, steps need to be taken to make sure that underage teenage students don't hire "runners" (of drinking age) to buy alcohol for them. This is not stereotyping; it's just what teenagers of any ethnicity might do in the absence of adult supervision.
The recommendations of the inquest essentially call for excellent boarding schools (unlike the residential schools of the bad old days), with "a cafeteria capable of producing three hot meals each school day" and a whole range of well-equipped facilities, from music rooms to gymnasiums to "spaces for elders." It may sound extravagant, but if it is actually done, surely it would yield much value for young natives, and Canada as a whole.