Attawapiskat school-fight videos

Here's the background information that was largely missing from the article on the online Cree campaign:

Attawapiskat Children Fight for SchoolAttawapiskat Facts

Where is it?
Attawapiskat is an isolated, fly-in community on the coast of James Bay. It is located 455 kilometres north of Timmins, Ontario.

Who are they?
The residents of Attawapiskat are known as the “Mushkego”--the Swampy Cree of western James Bay. There are over 1300 people in the community.

What's the issue?
For 8 years, Attawapiskat children have had no school. In 2000, the grade school was closed because children were getting sick from a massive diesel spill under the school. The spill happened in 1979 while the government of Canada was operating the school. Since then, 400 students have had to rely on portables. The community has worked hard to get a new school built. They have developed clear plans for a proper school and have arranged funding agreements with banks. THREE federal Indian Affairs Ministers have committed to moving ahead with the project. In December 2007, however, the new Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl arbitrarily cancelled the proposed school. The government claims there is no money for schools for the next five years.

Why is this happening?
There are two standards for education in Canada. Every
non-Native child has guaranteed rights under provincial education standards. The First Nation children of Canada have no such rights. This means that reserve schools are built with inadequate classroom sizes, fewer resources and less special education dollars. A system of educational Apartheid exists in Canada.

We must change this appalling double-standard.

WE AS NATIVE PEOPLE NEED TO SHOW OUR SUPPORT FOR THE CHILDREN WHO ARE OUR NEXT GENERATION!!!This posting was triggered by the following e-mail I received. It links to some of the videos used in the nationwide campaign.Rob,

I read your posting and thought you should see some of the online campaign materials that have come out of the fight for a school for the Cree children in Attawapiskat. This campaign has been called the largest Youth-Driven, Children's Rights Campaign in Canadian history.

It started with this video which launched a grassroots, nation-wide letter writing and activism campaign among students:As the fight went on in Parliament, it was all posted on youtube:

Charlie Angus on Attawapiskat School Issue
Charlie Angus Reveals Document on Attawapiskat School

Here is some footage of the kids speaking out:

Attawapiskat Press Conference in Ottawa

In November we held an "Education is a Human Right Conference" in Toronto with over 500 students from school boards across the province.

Attawapiskat Youth Forum--Serena Koostachin
Attawapiskat Youth Forum--Shannen Koostachin

Here;s the facebook site:

Attawapiskat Children Fight for School

All the best,
Charlie Angus
Member of Parliament (region of Attawapiskat)Comment:  A member of the Canadian Parliament...whew! It's safe to say that Charlie Angus is the highest-ranking government official ever to contact me. (I'm still waiting to hear from President Obama about my helping him with his Eurocentric speeches.)

As always, I'm glad to have done my bit to help a Native cause. Let's get those kids their school!