Susan Clairmont: In death, nine year-old Hunter Plain becomes family’s spirit guide

Hunter is now in the Land of Everlasting Happiness.

He is fishing and swimming. Dancing and playing video games. Collecting cool rocks. Eating endless amounts of food to satisfy his voracious hunger.

And, as his Ojibwe ancestors know, he is now the spirit guide for his mommy and daddy and baby sister and the new sister who is yet to be born.

Hunter Plain died March 4. He was nine.

If I could bottle his energy and sell it, I'd be a millionaire," says his mother, Rebecca Pooke, 33.

He was very energetic," agrees his father, Adam Plain, 33.

The pathologist has ruled it was a terrible, awful accident. Hunter fell off his loft bed, with one end of a bathrobe belt around his neck, the other around the safety railing. His brain stem was severed.

For a sickening time, the question of suicide was raised. In the end, that possibility was eliminated and the tragedy was ruled an accident.

Figures compiled from 15 pediatric hospitals by the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program from 2002 to 2006 indicated 1,500 children were hurt in bunk or loft bed accidents.

Hunter was a Gr. 4 student at Memorial Elementary School. He was an outgoing, confident boy who loved going to class. He enjoyed the walk there and back - collecting sticks and leaves and other treasures along the way. He hoped to be a geologist, his love of rocks and crystals growing from a school project he once did on volcanoes. He liked being with his friends, reading and being his silly self in class, sometimes dancing spontaneously.

He'd go for it," Rebecca says.

Hunter was also passionate about his heritage.

Adam's family is Ojibwe from Aamjiwnaang First Nation near Sarnia. He and Rebecca moved to Hamilton seven years ago.

Adam and Hunter were extremely involved with the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre (HRIC), going there three times a week to play games, do crafts and learn about their culture. Hunter especially enjoyed his drum circle.

Most of all, Hunter loved being a big brother.

His sister Aurora is 18-months-old. Another sister is expected to arrive at the end of April.

Hunter was very happy about being the older, protective brother," Rebecca says.

When Aurora was born, Hunter was disappointed she couldn't do anything yet.

He was surprised that he had to wait for her to grow up before he could play with her," Rebecca says.

On the evening of March 3, Hunter was in fine spirits. He'd had a great day at school and a nice walk home with his dad. He was excited about his upcoming birthday. And he was looking forward to summer camp at HRIC.

He and Aurora watched the movie Tinkerbell together. As it ended and the closing music soared, the two danced.

Then Hunter, who had already had supper, asked for more food.

He was growing so much," his mom says.

While she was heating spaghetti for him, he went to his room. It was about 8 p.m.

Rebecca went to his room a moment later and found him hanging.

She called for Adam. They did CPR and called 911.

Paramedics and police - more than they can count - got their boy to McMaster Children's Hospital in record time.

Hunter was kept on life support for a day so his loved ones could say goodbye.

He was just playing and he must have slipped," says Rebecca. It was all so fast."

Hunter was given a traditional Ojibwe farewell.

Women in his family bathed his body with cedar water preparing for his spirit to leave.

He was dressed in a grass dancer's regalia, donated by a young man who had never met Hunter. He was given a turtle shell shaker.

A satchel was packed for him, with the traditional items needed to make the sacred four day journey to his ancestors in the Land of Everlasting Happiness: four matches, a brass bowl, a knife, a wooden spoon adorned with an eagle head and a bow and arrow.

Hunter was cremated. His family had a feast to honour his journey.

Adam takes comfort in knowing his son is now his family's spirit guide.

For now, we are keeping his ashes."

A GoFundMe account has been set up to assist Hunter's parents with his ceremony costs. Rebecca, who worked at a restaurant before the pandemic, is at home full time now. Adam, a former roofer, collects Ontario Disability Support Program benefits.

Contribute at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/hunter-adam-plain-funeral-and-memorial

Susan Clairmont is a justice columnist at The Spectator. sclairmont@thespec.com