Raven Thundersky: Advocate who wanted insulation inquiry dies at 50

A Manitoba indigenous woman who advocated for victims of asbestos-linked cancers has died.

Fifty-year-old Raven Thundersky was found dead in her home on Christmas Eve. She had been sick with lung cancer for over 10 years.

“It was hard. It was, definitely. You know it’s coming, but it sucks when it comes,” said Thundersky’s daughter Raven-Domique Gobeil.

The family knew it was coming because, for the last decade, Thundersky lived with mesothelioma. Health Canada links the cancer to asbestos.

The disease has also taken the lives of four of Thundersky’s sisters and both her parents.

Deborah Favell, the last surviving sister, used to get tested every year.

“I haven’t really done it for the last two years,” said Favell. “It’s at the point now where I don’t want to know anymore.”

The family thinks asbestos insulation in their childhood home in Poplar River is to blame for all the cases of cancer.

According to the provincial government, hundreds of homes on Manitoba First Nations were insulated with materials containing asbestos.

“It hurts me and it angers me to think that such a thing could have been prevented,” said Favell.

As she watched her family members die, one by one, Thundersky began to pressure the federal government to remove the insulation from First Nations homes.

A GoFundMe page has been started to help Megan Butler, another of Thundersky’s daughters, cover travel costs associated with coming from British Columbia to Manitoba for her mother’s funeral.

Thundersky’s funeral will take place Dec. 31 at 10 a.m. at Eternal Grace Funerals in Winnipeg.

Agencies/Canadajournal