Stories From The River's Edge...

[Coddfish]

From CBC's The Fifth Estate:

For aboriginal kids from reserves in northern Ontario, a high school diploma is a ticket to a better future. But a shocking number of these students have ended up dead before graduation.

the fifth estate's Gillian Findlay presents an extremely up-close and personal look inside the native secondary education program in Thunder Bay, Ont., where seven students have tragically died in the past ten years. Five of the victims died apparent alcohol related deaths -- their bodies were pulled from local rivers amid swirling suspicions and rumours about what pushed them over the edge. Another two teens suffered troubling and unexpected deaths that have left lingering questions.

Filmed by a local crew with close connections to the community, with unprecedented access, the fifth estate takes viewers inside the school halls, the homes where the kids are billeted, the mall where they hang out, and onto the dark streets where their dedicated teachers and mentors run nightly patrols in a desperate bid to try and get them all home safe.

Link:
Stories from the River's Edge - the fifth estate

[SassyCdngal]

I caught part of this the other night. I'm waiting for Newsworld to replay it so I can watch the whole thing.

It's heartbreaking, these kids just seem so lost. The one young girl I saw seemed to be desperately trying to hold onto her past and family, even though that life brought her so much pain and isolation. And her rejection of the potential offered to her in this school progam through excessive drinking/partying. It's difficult to express in just a few sentences but it spoke to me of fear of having hope.