Attawapiskat Finally Gets New School

Good news concerning primary education for Attawapiskat has arrived in the form of a promise by the government of Canada to build a new school in the Attawapiskat First Nation. The minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, John Duncan, recently announced that funding has been set aside for the design and development of a new elementary school. The new school is proposed to be completed by 2013.
Attawapiskat is finally getting its new school. Everyone is looking forward to a positive resolution to the substandard condition of our community's current school. Elementary school students are currently being taught in a series of what were supposed to be temporary portable buildings.
The original JR Nakogee Elementary, which was built in the late 1970s, was a well built structure that provided a modern building for our education needs. JR Nakogee was closed in 2000 when it was discovered that a major diesel oil leak had contaminated the school grounds and posed a health risk to young children inside the building. Kids were getting sick.
To deal with this situation, portable buildings were brought in to provide a temporary school shelter for students while a solution could be found. Three Indian Affairs Ministers made promises to build a new school but nothing took place. People got excited in 2007 when a new school was promised but was later cancelled. The plan to build a new school was cancelled because the government decided that the portable buildings were adequate.
The use of portable structures was sufficient for immediate and emergency rationale but after eleven years, these buildings were in poor shape and deteriorating. Sadly, the First Nation students in Attawapiskat had to put up with temporary school buildings which leaked in heavy rain and were cold in winter when the temperature often fell below minus 40. The temporary units were cold and often damp. It angers me that many children spent their entire elementary school experience in these terrible conditions.
This would not have been allowed to happen in any other part of non-Native Canada. How would parents, politicians and communities have reacted if this exact situation occurred in Timmins, North Bay or Toronto? If this had occurred in southern Ontario, the situation would have made headlines and a solution would have been found immediately. I do not believe that a problem such as this would have been allowed to carry on for eleven years in the non-Native community.
It is good to know now that there is light at the end of the tunnel or should I say hallway. This would not have been possible without the continued advocacy of local leaders and administrators in Attawapiskat. Current Chief Theresa Spence and her councillors should be recognized for their ongoing negotiations with governments and agencies. Politicians such as Member of Parliament Charlie Angus and Member of Provincial Parliament Gilles Bisson should be thanked for representing Attawapiskat at the different levels of government. During this period school children from across Canada helped their friends in Attawapiskat by conducting a letter writing campaign to keep pressure on the government and keep the issue in the media spotlight before the public.
Shannon Koostachin, a JR Nakogee elementary school student became an inspiration to everyone for leading the fight for the new school. She led in the struggle for a new school and in the process was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize for her efforts. Although she was only 15 years of age at the time she was a courageous speaker that bravely told her story to the public in pleading for a new school.
Sadly, Shannon passed on in a motor vehicle accident on May 31, 2010. She would have been happy to hear the news of a new school and to learn that generations of students would have a proper education facility in Attawapiskat. We should all learn a lesson from young Shannon in that when an injustice befalls our community we have to stand up and do our best to seek a fair and reasonable solution. Too many of us these days are not willing to take on governments and powerful entities and in the long run we can only blame ourselves if we end up with a less than perfect society.
So, thanks to the government of Canada for finally stepping up to the plate to make things right for the children of Attawapiskat with a little help from our little angel Shannon Koostachin.www.underthenorthernsky.com