The Story of Cheyenne Fox

In April 2013, a young woman from Wikwemikong First Nation on Manitoulin Island was found dead below a Toronto highrise. Her name is Cheyenne Fox, and she was the mother of a 5-year-old boy. Cheyenne landed on the pavement at the bottom of a high rise from the 24th floor.

The Toronto Police determined there was no evidence of criminal activity despite several calls made on behalf of the incident with Cheyenne that night. It is stated that Cheyenne was a victim of human traffickers who befriended her and exploited the fact that she was a young indigenous woman. The claimed intent was to convert Cheyenne into an involuntary sex worker. It was also reported that on the day of Cheyenne’s death, she was also the victim of an alleged sexual assault by a Toronto taxicab driver. Two separate individuals made calls to the police around 6 p.m., but Cheyenne later ended up at the alleged traffickers’ home to meet a “customer”.

Another call was made to 911 around 11 p.m., reporting that a fight had been going on between Cheyenne and the male. After the third call to the police, they responded only because the caller stated that Cheyenne had jumped over his balcony. The man Cheyenne was with was supposed to take a lie detector test, but later the police told her family that the man was too traumatized to participate. The case even ended up closed before the man ever took the test.

Cheyenne’s father asked police where she had fallen exactly so the family could perform a proper indigenous ceremony but was told no and if he went to the highrise he would be charged with trespassing. Cheyenne’s case is now closed, and her family never got a proper ceremony or closure on what happened the night of her death. They never heard the story of the man who she had altercations with and who had been the last person to see her alive. Cheyenne, like many other indigenous women, died in fear and will never receive proper respect and justice for what happened to her.