A teen's suspicious death, a shocking police cover-up and a mother's search for truth: this landmark investigation into justice and Canada's Indigenous people is re-issued and updated here for the first time in over a decade. In 1990, on a brutally cold night, 17-year-old Neil Stonechild disappeared from downtown Saskatoon, last seen in police custody. His frozen body was found three days later in a field outside town. Though his mother pressed for answers, a cursory investigation pinned the blame on the teen himself, dead by alcohol and misadventure. Only in 2000, when two more men were found frozen to death, and a third survived his "starlight tour" at the hands of police, did the truth about Stonechild's fate begin to emerge. Soon one of the country's most prominent Indigenous lawyers was on the case, and an open secret was secret no more. With exclusive co-operation from the Stonechild family, lawyer Donald Worme, and others, Starlight Tour is an engrossing portrait of rogue cops, racism, obstruction of justice and justice denied, not only to a boy and his family but to an entire nation.

ldquo;Starlight Tour documents in clear, direct prose the death of Neil Stonechild. With compassion and grace, it exposes what has become all too ordinary, in language that refuses to victimize the family.” —Governor General’s Literary Award Jury Citation

“Starlight Tour is a vital chronicle of a tragedy that opened many eyes and yet still remains as painfully relevant as ever. A devastating portrait of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and a justice system that has offered us little real justice, it is as important for Canadians to read now as it was when first published and exposes just how long past due systemic reform is.” —Jesse Wente, CBC Radio

“Searing, unforgettable, important, haunting, thorough, infuriating, heartbreaking and sometimes inspiring, Starlight Tour is journalism at its best. This book will change you.” —Peter Edwards, author of The Bandido Massacre and One Dead Indian

“For justice junkies like myself, this is a deeply engrossing account. . . . Should be compulsory reading for Canadian police recruits from sea to shining sea.”
–William Deverell, The Globe and Mail

“The Stonechild story is ably captured by veteran CBC journalists Susanne Reber and Robert Renaud in a thoroughly researched, deftly written work. . . . A powerfully written, meticulously researched work with a cinematic feel, which should be on reading lists for students of Canadian history, journalism or law enforcement.”
–Toronto Star

“The suspenseful and meticulous account of a very real and dark chapter in Canada’s modern history.”
–TIME (Canada)

Autorentext
SUSANNE REBER is an award-winning veteran investigative journalist and editor. She is the co-founder and former executive editor of Reveal, the investigative radio program and podcast. The show airs on more than 450 public radio stations in the U.S. Reber produced Reveal for The Center for Investigative Reporting, where she held various senior editorial roles, including Director of Digital Media, for which she was responsible for all content in film, audio and digital. Her investigative projects have garnered her three Peabody Awards, an Emmy award and a DuPont award, among many others, and were showcased in national and international film festivals. Prior to joining CIR in 2012, Reber formed and led NPR's first Investigations Unit, which went on to win many national and international awards. Prior to moving to the U.S., Reber spent 23 years at the CBC, where she was deputy managing editor of National Radio News and executive producer of CBC's Michener Award-winning Investigative Unit from 2003 to 2009.

ROBERT RENAUD is formerly a regional director of CBC Radio Ottawa. He and Reber worked together for over seven years, leading CBC National Radio News and winning a number of awards for investigative journalism.

Leseprobe
Prologue

Early one January morning, a curious four-year-old wandered about his new home, scouting his surroundings. The little bungalow on Avenue J North, Saskatoon, was a modest house, but after the cramped apartment where the boy and his family used to stay, it seemed enormous.

Four people lived with the boy, whose name was Donald, although people usually called him Donny. Among them was his mother, Margaret Worme, who was thirty-eight years old. Donny loved everything about her. He liked the way she dressed, neatly and carefully, even though her life had been tough. Born and raised on the Kawacatoose reserve, southeast of the city, she’d had four children before Donny’s father had left. Donny didn’t remember him. Nor did he remember his brother Darren, born almost three years ago and given up for adoption at nine months old. Donny’s mother had made an excruciating choice with the infant Darren: she’d decided that the best thing for the rest of her children, and for Darren too, was to hand him over to a couple she knew, because the money she got from social assistance and the odd cleaning job would never stretch to feed, clothe and house them all.

Donny still lived with his other brother, Dale, a rambunctious seven-year-old who, as dawn approached, was busy getting ready for school. Their uncle Hilliard was visiting from the Quinton reserve and Donny’s seventeen-year-old sister, Pat, and her son, eighteen-month-old Kim, had moved in.

Donny, an observant little boy with cropped raven hair and intense dark eyes, knew that his sister was sad, though she was doing her best to hide it. She’d had a baby girl just four weeks ago, but had reluctantly decided to give her daughter up, thinking that surrendering her child might make it easier for her to flee from her husband, Francis Littlechief, who beat her in his frequent drunken rages. When Pat moved with little Kim to the new house, she left her husband behind, hoping it would be for good.

Donny didn’t care much about Francis, one way or the other—Francis had never paid much attention to him—but Donny did know that his mother was happy Francis was gone. Even though he was often unemployed, Francis had trained as a welder and mechanic’s helper, and in mid-November he’d left to take on a short-term mill job in Thompson, Manitoba. Margaret had hoped her son-in-law wouldn’t come back. But he’d returned to Saskatoon on Christmas Eve, showing up at the old apartment and berating Pat about giving up their newborn daughter in his absence.

Francis had showed up again, at the new house this time, just a couple of nights ago. It was a strange appearance. As the family was sitting down to supper, he had barged through the back door and stood by the table while they ate.

“I want to talk to Pat about the children,” he had insisted, staring fixedly at his mother-in-law even though his wife was right there at the table too. Donny sat watching. His big sister was having none of her husband’s strange behaviour.

“I don’t want anything to do with you,” Pat said. Francis didn’t move. When she finally retreated to the bedroom, he followed her. They stayed in there talking for well over an hour. There was no yelling, so Margaret decided to leave them be. When Francis came out, he sat with Hilliard in the front room for a bit, watching television. Then, as abruptly as he’d arrived, he said, “I have to go,” and took off.

— — —

Margaret and Pat were bustling around now, a mother and daughter getting ready to face the cold dawn and a day of cleaning houses. Even when she was dressing for menial work, Margaret wore something nice, and that mornin…