Decades after his death, family repatriates First Nation man’s remains 1,200 km back home

May 5, 2025

It’s a day the Onabigon family has spent decades waiting for: the repatriation of their uncle, Percy Onabigon, back to Long Lake #58 First Nation. Percy was taken from the northern Ontario community as a young child and put into St. Joseph’s Indian Residential School in Thunder Bay. From there, he was sent to a number of hospitals and institutions, on account of being epileptic and partially paralyzed. His family was never told where he was sent or what became of him after he was removed from St. Joseph’s by a federal Indian agent…