Attawapiskat students await a new school

Shannen Koostachin's Grade 8 teacher was planning a field trip to Niagara Falls this year until a student requested they cancel the excursion and go to Ottawa to plead for a new school instead.
This dedication and willingness to sacrifice fun for duty is uncommon in children so young, so it's not surprising it has earned the youngster international attention.
Koostachin, a 13-year-old member of Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario, has been nominated for an International Children's Peace Prize for her efforts to get a new school built. The prize is awarded yearly to a child who has made an important contribution to children's rights.
The prize is an initiative of the Kids Rights Foundation, an international children's aid and advocacy organization, and was established in 2005. It is overseen by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.
In July, the government of Canada, through Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, was put on notice by Koostachin and three other Attawapiskat students that it was their intention to challenge the decision to renege on a promise to build a school in the poor northern community. Their forum would be the upcoming review of Canada's obligations to the UN Rights of the Child Convention.
Koostachin's public campaign to shame the government on this issue was demonstrated on Parliament Hill on May 29 when she gave a speech about the school during the National Day of Action.
"We went to Parliament Hill to go ask Strahl for a new school. He said he didn't have the money for the new school. He said there are other things going on in his hands right now. He looked really uncomfortable. Before he left, he shook our hands and when I shook his hand I looked at him straight in the eye and told him 'We are not going to give up.' That just made him nervous and he just walked right out," said Koostachin.
The Attawapiskat First Nation has been waiting eight years for a new school. In December 2007, the plans were cancelled by Canada, which sparked the awareness campaign.
"They have been promised by about three or four different ministers that told them 'Yes, you can get your new school,' but recently they were told they had to wait at least another five years," said Stan Beardy, the grand chief of the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN).
Currently, the school is comprised of small portable structures that, according to students, leak and are unsuitable for learning.
"When it is 40 or 50 below during the winter time they have their gym somewhere else and soaking from sweat they have to run across a few hundred feet to their classroom, and I don't think that that is healthy at all. When it's 40 below, children that are five, six and seven years old, run across in that weather to some other building," said Beardy.
The classroom doors and window shutters do not close very well, said Koostachin.
"We always have to walk back and forth just to go to gym class, computers and library. We walk probably 100 feet just to go there," she said.
Beardy shares Koostachin's feelings and determination to improve the educational infrastructure in her community. NAN has long been a supporter of Attawapiskat's battle for a new school, Beardy said.
"We have brought in media, we have arranged meetings with the federal government, and we will continue to advocate on her behalf. I think the next step for NAN is that we will go international and make our case known because it just isn't fair for Canada to deny its First Nations children the right to education," said Beardy.
"I feel that the children of Attawapiskat are being denied the opportunity to learn in safe, clean and comfortable surroundings," said Beardy.
Koostachin was nominated for the Children's Peace Prize by Cindy Blackstock of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society.
"I first heard of the inspiring story of the students of Attawapiskat during the debate on Jordan's Principle in the House of Commons in the fall of 2007, and then saw her eloquent speech on the steps of the House of Commons during the National Day of Action," said Blackstock. "She was clear in her message, respectful and committed. She did not believe the minister of Indian Affairs when he said he had no money to replace their school. This is not surprising given that the government is recording record surplus budgets. And she committed not to stop until the children of Attawapiskat had a school they could feel proud of and she has not.
"Shannen and the other students plan to take their case to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and to continue to reach out to other Canadian children and their families."
Blackstock was very impressed with Koostachin and her potential to impact her community.
"An Elder once told me that to change the world in a good way you need three things: knowledge, commitment and spirit. Shannen has all of these in abundance," said Blackstock.
"Shannen is a moral and visionary leader and under her leadership, hundreds of non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal Canadian school children have written letters to the Canadian government to ask them to give a new and nurturing school to the children of Attawapiskat and other First Nations children in need. Shannen goes past the rhetoric of reconciliation to actually putting the principles in action, bringing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children together to ensure their government honors its promises and commitments on child rights."
Koostachin is thrilled about being nominated for the prize, but didn't see it coming. "I was expecting to get a school, but I never expected to get a prize," said Koostachin. "I didn't do this for a prize and I didn't even know there was a prize. But I feel excited about the nomination."
A video to create awareness about the Attawapiskat school situation is posted on Youtube. It's called Eight Long Struggling Years.
The video shows footage of the current portables and many of the children of Attawapiskat holding signs and asking for a new school.