The Legacy of Shannen Koostachin and Shannen’s Dream

Who was Shannen Koostachin?

Shannen Koostachin was a young Cree education activist from Attawapiskat First Nation, Ontario. She attended J.R Nakogee Elementary School in her community, and always loved going to school. However, her classes were held in portable trailers due to a gas leak in the late ‘70s that polluted the school, and had not been properly fixed and cleaned. These trailers were supposed to be temporary, but continued to be used as a classroom years later. Children younger than ten stopped going to school because of these harmful conditions. Shannen realized that the government was not giving the proper funds and care to Indigenous schools.  Many schools on-reserve across Canada lack proper needs, like permanent teachers, or safe drinking water.

Shannen and other youth in the community advocated for “safe and comfy schools.” She used social media platforms to encourage Indigenous and non-Indigenous kids across the country to write letters to the government, asking for change and equal opportunities for every student. 

In 2008, Chuck Strahl, a Canadian politician and former member of the House of Commons, wrote a letter to the community and said that the government wasn’t able to fund a new school.

Shannen’s Grade 8 class cancelled their graduation trip and instead used that money to go to Ottawa, Ontario, and demand a new and safer school from the government. After hearing that the government was unable to, and had no intent to fund a new school, Shannen went to parliament. “Minister Strahl went on with his excuses, saying that they didn’t have enough money,” she said. “And then I looked at his fancy office, and then I said ‘I wish my classroom looked like this.” Before Shannen left with her classmates, she looked him in the eye and said “We are not going to quit. We are not going to give up until we are given a new school.”

In 2009, because of Shannen’s determination of bringing attention to the subpar conditions for Indigenous schools, the government followed through with their promise to build a new school in Attawapiskat.

Shannen’s Dream

When Shannen was 14, she moved to New Liskeard to receive her secondary education. Sadly, Koostachin passed away from a car accident before her sixteenth birthday. In November 2010, the movement, Shannen’s Dream, came to life. Shannen’s Dream is a youth focused organization with the aim to bring awareness to the unfair funding for Indigenous children’s education. 

On June 22, 2012, the day Koostachin would have graduated, construction for the new school, Kattawapiskak Elementary School had started. This school opened its doors on September 8, 2014.

Shannen was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize when she was 14 in 2009. In 2015, a statue of her dressed in her regalia was displayed in New Liskeard, Ontario. In 2017, a Twitter and Facebook account, called 150GreatCanadians, was created, and made a list of 150 Greatest Canadians to celebrate Canada’s “150th” birthday. Shannen Koostachin made the list, and her name was among names like Terry Fox, Louis Riel, and David Suzuki.

Though Shannen Koostachin has passed, her dream and spirit live on through Kattawapiskak Elementary School, and touches anyone with a passion to fight for equality. 

For anyone who wants to learn about Shannen and her dream, a documentary by Alanis Obomsawin, Hi-Ho Mistahey, is available to watch on Youtube. (Hi-Ho Mistahey!)

Donate to Shannen’s Dream: https://fncaringsociety.com/donate-shannens-dream

Sources:

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/shannen-koostachin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannen%27s_Dream

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/shannon-dream-legacy-150-canada-1.3981858

https://twitter.com/Canadians150/status/831971416341938181/photo/1

Shannen and her Grade 8 classmates at Parliament.

Inaugural Statue of Shannen Koostachin.