WEBVTT

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[music]

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[music]

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[music]

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(inaudible)

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in three words, okay?

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So we\'re going to go in and sit down and start going through
the press conference, people want to sit in or watch,

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but if everyone can move-in
in that direction.

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Hello, how are you?

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Yes. We\'re at the Justice Building.

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Yeah. Yeah, yeah, well, they are now.

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So, okay, come on over.

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Okay, bye. I\'m not here to fight.

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[music]

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Shannen\'s Dream is here to stay

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as we go to our the one

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and the family is (inaudible)

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in the hard time,

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but it\'s a good hard time.

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Our Shannen\'s Dream is taking full

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all the way across the country

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all around.

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Oh, Shannen\'s Dream.

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She\'s watching us today.
Here we are yearning,

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Shannen\'s Dream lives on.

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That\'s right, folks.

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You didn\'t do the yodel. You got to
finish the… of this honor, right.

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[music]

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Okay, let\'s bring the gang in here.

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We\'re going to go through some of the
questions, one\'s we might get asked.

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Just so people know this press
conference we\'re just laying out

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the issue this morning. This is not the big show.
The big show\'s this afternoon at the school.

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But, we are sending a message, right, that
we are there, uh… a broad base of community

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there to support the young people. And the young
people who are speaking… Chelsea will speak

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and some of you will be standing with her. You
are not speaking for the youth of Attawapiskat,

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you are speaking for all the
youth and all the community,

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so you, you\'re carrying a, a big load this morning. I
will step forward, and I will introduce everybody.

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I\'m gonna say that Shannen came here

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with a group of students two years ago, and they were asking
the government for school to find out why after 10 years

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of broken promises the government
walked away on their commitment.

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And they didn\'t know when they came that
there were children all across Canada

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who are falling to the cracks like them. They didn\'t know that
the shortfall in capital funding for First nation schools

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runs at $189 million dollars a year. They
didn\'t know that over the last five years

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$122 million dollars that should have gone into building
schools was siphoned off by an act and spent elsewhere.

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But, the minister opened her eyes,
he told them that building a school

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for children in their community wasn\'t a priority for his government. And young
Shannen surprised everyone when she told them that answer wasn\'t good enough,

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and the children weren\'t
going to give up the fight.

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And they unleashed what became the largest youth
driven child\'s right movement in Canadian history,

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and at the age of 14 Shannen Koostachin was nominated for the
International Children\'s Peace Prize because, she became the voice

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of a generation of children who had been abandoned
by substandard, under-funded education.

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Hello, everyone. My name
is Shannen Koostachin.

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I\'m from the Attawapiskat First Nation.
I would like to talk to you

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what it is like to be a
child who never goes,

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who would never see a real school. I want to tell
you what it is like to never have the chance

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to feel excited about being educated. It\'s hard
to feel proud when your classrooms are cold

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and mice when run, run over our lunches.

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It\'s hard to feel you can have
the chance to grow up somebody

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important when you don\'t have proper
resources like libraries and science labs.

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That\'s why some of our
students begin to give up

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in grade four and five. They
just stop going to school.

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Imagine that, imagine that a child
who feels they have no future

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even after young age.

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Yeah, we\'ve been fighting for a school for the
longest time. I have been fighting for one, two,

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when I was in grade seven. That\'s
when they asked me to, you know,

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to talk up to the government, and I did,

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and I guess when Shannen came to high school
she took on my footsteps, and she kept going,

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she made it stronger this time,

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and, yeah, she was really,
really good speaker.

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She inspires so many people. She
even inspired me, you know.

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But uh… ever since what happened

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everybody just started helping out more, you know,
everybody started to get more involved with the,

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what they call now Shannen\'s Dream.

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We\'re honored to have a special daughter

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who was really a NASA kid
though for our community

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not only for our school but she
spoke about the unfair conditions

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of the educational system in our
communities and First Nations as a whole.

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We have our, uh… children
going to school in portables.

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It\'s been 10 years since we closed
the school in our community.

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We\'re still waiting for the federal
government to provide the, the funding

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for the new school, and uh…
last I hear it was going to be

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in two years time. Well, we will
see a new school in Attawapiskat.

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My daughter passed away last, uh… summer

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in June, and today\'s day she\'s still,

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uh… had people out there
carrying on what she fought for.

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It is an honor to welcome
Shannen\'s dream team

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to Pierre Elliott Trudeau School.
This is a very important day.

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There are kids up north in our country who
are not getting a safe and proper education.

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Our grade three, four class
believes that we should change that

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and stand up for the rights
of First Nations children.

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We must stand up for what we believe
in just as Shannen Koostachin did.

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Now I would like to invite Mr.
Charlie Angus MP to say a few words.

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Thank you, thank you, Gentlemen.

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Thank you. Good morning, Gatineau.

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Are you ready to make history today?

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Yes! That\'s what I wanted to hear,

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and that\'s what I knew I would get
when I came to this wonderful school

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because something is happening in this country,
and it\'s being led by young people just like you.

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We are making a great
change in this country

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to ensure that every child has the right

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to a safe and a comfy school. Did you
know the story of Shannen Koostachin?

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Yeah! And you know how Shannen believed

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that the children in her reserve,
they counted, they were special

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just like you were special.
So what we\'re doing today

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is we\'re taking your voices, and we\'re going
to go all the way to the United Nations,

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and we are going to say something
that every child in this school knows

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that education is a right. That\'s
the message had Shannen taught us,

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that never doubt yourself, never doubt
the ability to change this world.

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We\'re not going to stop
until every last child

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crosses the finish line and does well.
Is that a good plan?

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Yeah! Alright.

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When I first went into Attawapiskat and same as when I
went into Chipewyan and Fort Albany, the other communities

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in my region. I\'d been on reserves, had worked on
reserves, but I\'d never seen poverty like that.

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And I was… couldn\'t, I couldn\'t even figure out
how these communities have been so neglected,

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and I remember saying to the communities

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like \"How… what did your member of parliament do? When did you…
What did, what did he do when he came here?\" and they laughed,

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they said, \"Come here? A member of
parliament never came to our communities.\"

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they said \"But he\'s like your representative.\" And they
said, \"If we needed to find him we\'d have to go to,

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we\'d have to fly down to Timmons which
is about a $700 flight and see him.\"

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and I thought, \"No.\" We need
to be in these communities,

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and in each of the communities I\'ve learned something, and it\'s been about
building trust, and in Attawapiskat from the beginning it was about education.

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We want our kids to get a
school, we want a good school.

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We want our kids to have a future that was the first thing anybody
ever said to me in Attawapiskat. When I go in there today

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that\'s what they\'re still
saying to me. In 1979

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a spill of more than 50,000
liters of diesel fuel

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contaminated a large area of earth where they
Attawapiskat elementary school was located.

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For years, children, the workers,
and the teachers were getting sick,

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feeling tired and sleepy,

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some had rashes and other serious problems.
Kindergarten children were breathing fumes of benzene

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in the classroom. There were complaints,

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but Indian Affairs would not acknowledge
that there was a real problem.

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In 2000, the community
decided to close the school

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ensuring the children would not return to
the building. After nine years of pressure

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the school was finally demolished with the
promise of a new school in two years.

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Twelve years later the children are
still waiting for a new school

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while attending classes
in rundown portables.

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[sil.]

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And these are tiny classrooms,
and schools are not like this.

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It\'s just like probably just
two classes here longing,

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and this is small hallway. And
my washroom\'s just right there,

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we have really loud noises there.

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Whenever my teacher\'s teaching us somebody\'s like flushing the
toilet or somebody\'s always doing their hands and it\'s like vroom

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or the (inaudible)

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boiling.

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There\'s a kind of cold every
time when we had to like

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leave our shoes in the hallway or boots,
winter boots and there must we go

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in the hallway to get our stuff.
It\'s really cold in there

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unless we are not caught (inaudible)

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.

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[sil.]

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We have to walk to here to
library, here to computers,

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here to our return gym. We have to walk

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and then once we go there
I\'ll be like very cold.

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[sil.]

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Working in this kind of atmosphere
that with the portables is not easy,

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uh… out of an office that\'s,
that\'s a portable itself.

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You\'ve got a population of 400 students, uh…
on any given day we might get a dozen students

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coming through the office with issues. Sometimes we
get them all at once, and we have no place for them

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to properly deal with them. Just leave your
work there you will go back to it later.

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Classrooms are, are, they\'re small, they\'re congested,
if you have to have a lot of resources in there.

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And then the fragmentation like
the portables everybody sort us

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in their own little cubicle, when you\'re
in a school where it\'s all one building,

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you know, yes, you\'re in your own classroom, but
there\'s there is hallways and you\'re connected

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through the hallways and it\'ll be a
little bit more accessible. Ready, go.

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I am. I am. Open to the next page.

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Ready, point with your pointing finger. We don\'t
really often see what other teachers are doing,

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so a lot of your, your work really has to come from
yourself, and it\'s pretty easy to get burnt out

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or drained, you know, because we\'re
not really filling up all the time.

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You may go, don\'t forget your books
we\'re gonna go read to them, okay?

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Most of the teachers tend to leave
after one or two years it seems.

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One year there were something
like 12 teachers who left

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or eight new teachers that left by Christmas
or before Christmas that year so.

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Yes, there has been a big
turnover of teachers for sure.

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[sil.]

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Guys, you going to fit yourself we
going to finish them after. Okay.

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The sloppy. Strom. Hmm… storm does…

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Getting. Getting. I love living here.
I love working with the kids here.

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Oh, no, a wolf! What\'s that?

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Some of the grade six reading buddies who are very apprehensive
about it because some of their reading levels aren\'t too high,

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so, I give them the books on
the Monday, and they practice

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all week with their teachers so that they, they have a little more
confidence when they come in and read to the younger children.

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[sil.]

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This is real caring of the older ones for the
younger ones. I can see them kind of shining

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in this role when they come into the classroom. He\'s
going to write what he liked or didn\'t like here,

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and you\'re going to have to help him write them. We\'re told that,
you know, their levels are much lower than in children down south,

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and I know them in reading and some numeracy
that\'s true, but I believe in them,

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you know, I think if they can have that passion
for learning they can go really, really far.

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In order to educate a child

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to say in Timmins, Calgary,
Sudbury that probably be about

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$15,000 a year, uh… whereas

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we are given half of that.

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We are expected to educate
a child at $8,000 a year.

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Our school here don\'t
have a science program.

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If you were to go to a
regular school down south

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you go into their science room and you could see
the different equipment, the apparatus of the US.

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Well, we don\'t have that here because of the lack of
funding. I used to say this to Minister Chuck Strahl,

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\"You\'re the, you\'re the education minister for these
children, and you have to start acting like one,

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and you have to start meeting the same standards any small
school board.\" It doesn\'t matter how small the area

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has certain standards for class
sizes, for teacher ratios

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and for the capital investments. You
can\'t meet us a polity can\'t come along

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to a school board and say, \"We\'re taking your
money for the school\" and spending it on a road

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though that money\'s protected but in any
affairs none of the school money is protected.

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It gets spent on lawsuits. It gets spent
on hiring lawyers or spin doctors

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if there\'s a crisis in a community, in a flood. They
take money out of what would have been spent on schools

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and deal with the flood. Well, you
know when there\'s a flood in,

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in Saskatchewan or Quebec. They don\'t shut schools down
and take the money from the schools to pay for the flood,

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but they do that in Indian
Affairs country all the time.

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My name is Summer Mudd. I\'m from Attawapiskat, Ontario, and I
am 12 years old. I am here to let the world know especially

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the government of Canada that
we demand an proper education

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like any other Canadian child.
This is one of Shannen\'s dream

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to have a proper education,
and this is what

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she would want us to have. And I want,

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and I want to tell you something.

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My mom and dad are talking

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about… we\'re moving to the
city… It\'s okay, it\'s okay.

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…where a real school

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and proper education is.

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I don\'t want to leave my home.

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We want a proper education.

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We want the government of
Canada to give us that,

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and we are demanding that
we will not stop until

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each one First Nation child has it.

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[sil.]

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All these problems in a community
that we have socially, educationally,

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uh… and we have a big diamond by in

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just 94 kilometers west of us.

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And maybe all there people not
only us but outside people, uh…

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they don\'t know that.

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They always say when, when there\'s a blockade they
say, \"What now? Don\'t they have enough, uh… benefits

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from this mine that
they\'re asking for more?\"

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They don\'t realize that,
uh… we, we get peanuts,

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we get nothing.

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According, uh… to news releases that,
that diamond mine will produce

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something like, umm… $2 billion, I believe.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
That\'s how much money it will be worth. And
all they\'ve given us is, uh… 400,000 a year

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
as a trust fund.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
It\'s all administrative.
It does not lend itself

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
to provide for other
support and to education.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
It does not lend any money to provide support into
health services, into housing for that matter.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
So umm… our, our trust fund is
purely for administrative use only.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
I\'ve been to the portables, and
we\'ve seen the school system there,

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
and uh… we know that one of the things that
will help any community is the ability to,

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
how to increase their opportunities for education, so we
actually did lobby with the community to the federal government

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
for Attawapiskat to become a priority.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
And we also offered up things like, umm… project
managements. We, we offered physical things

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
like sending over trailers so they can
actually have a project management office.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
We\'ve offered that, you know, like the equivalent
where we have expertise in things like contracts,

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
uh… you know, reviewing the scope of the project,
helping them with requests for proposals,

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
offering if we could do it even sending over skilled labor to
help, you know, should they get the funding for the school,

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
you know, can we provide some, some things they\'re
above and beyond what\'s required. I mean, it\'s not,

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
we\'re not in the business of building schools. It\'s, it\'s not our
responsibility, but we felt certainly there are things we could probably do

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
to hopefully accelerate the opportunity for
Attawapiskat to, you know, to get a school

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
and get it in place, and we\'re pleased to see that recently the last couple
of weeks it appears as if they are going to accelerate that process,

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
and also get that school,
uh… that the children need.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
And we\'ve had three, umm…
ministers, crown ministers

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
so ministers of the crown
that promised the school.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
One was in 2000, one was in 2002

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
and the other was in 2004.

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
And none of those promises from these
federal crown ministers, uh… materialized.

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:13.000
[sil.]

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
When you\'re here smoke the geese

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
People smoke it for two days sometimes, three days.
It all depends how kind of flavor they want.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
Umm… I usually like to smoke mine 6 hours

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
because I like the red meat inside
there still and I like that one.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
What do you do with the feathers? With
the feathers I make some blanket. Yeah?

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
Yeah. Make them for my husband. First
time I made one was really heavy.

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
I often stuffed in it. You
only put some in there.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
My first time, I mean, I was stuffed it full
and look like a mattress. My husband says,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.000
\"Oh, my god, I\'m happy.\"

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
Thank you.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
[music]

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
I think she\'s hungry. Throw that bone.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
She is hungry. Oh, my god.
That\'s a good one for her.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:38.000
[music]

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
[music]

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
(ph) Hi. What\'s your name?

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:11.999
(ph) Runeo(ph) Runeo(ph) (ph) (inaudible)

00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:13.000
. (inaudible)

00:26:13.001 --> 00:26:14.999
.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
How old are you? (ph) Eight.
Eight. That\'s your bike?

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
Yes. You ride it everyday.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.000
And you? What\'s your name? (ph) James.
(ph) (inaudible)

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
And how old are you? Six. (ph) Seven.
Seven, no? Seven, yeah.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
No. (ph) Mike,

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:41.999
Michael, Michael (inaudible)

00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:43.999
then. Michael (inaudible)

00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:45.000
, how old are you?

00:26:45.001 --> 00:26:49.999
Ten. Ten, wow! You good on your bikes?
(ph) He\'s grade a four,

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
he\'s grade one. I\'m grade two.
See that after coming here,

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
look at that… people will go hunting geese.

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
There\'s a lot of troops there.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
People went by skidoo, but now
they come by helicopters.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
[sil.]

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
Okay, I\'ll go this way.

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
(ph) Round and round and round…
Oh, won\'t you go down? Okay,

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
come on, kids, now lets go.
(ph) There we go!

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:38.000
[music]

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
Welcome in, into our camp.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:03.999
This is my, my uncle\'s camp. Yes. At a
place that\'s called Old (inaudible)

00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:05.000
net.

00:28:05.001 --> 00:28:09.999
This place has a history.

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
Lot of stories of this place,
you know, I remember just, uh…

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
even stories from my grandmother saying
that they used to campout on the open ice

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
you just put grass on the
ice and put up your tent.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
[sil.]

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
Yesterday was a good hunt. And there is
11 of us here so we share everything,

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
you know, help each other out.
One guy is designated as a cook,

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
another guy\'s in charge of water.
Oh, he\'s a fire keeper.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
He\'s in charge of the fire at night then it goes out
in the middle of the night then he\'s responsible

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
for getting the fire started again in the
morning. That is our breakfast chef,

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
this one, this guy here. This one here?
Yeah. He\'s in charge of the eggs

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:03.999
and makes sure there\'s no bacon in the morning and
beans. It\'s, it\'s fun out really. (inaudible)

00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:05.000
. Yes.

00:29:05.001 --> 00:29:09.999
Most of the guys send some sort of thing like
every spring. This is my first time here.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
Oh, really? So you\'re all sleeping
in that same room? Same tent.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
Are they some that go snoring at night? Oh, yeah,
there\'s… They do? …they snore, they snore,

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
we snore. All team work.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:33.000
[music]

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
[non-English narration]

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
They\'re still coming. Come here, Alanis.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
Come here, get inside. Everybody,
get down, they\'re still coming.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
Don\'t move.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
[sil.]

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
Don\'t move, don\'t move, don\'t move.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:38.000
[sil.]

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
That is going down. Nah, going down.

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
[sil.]

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
Now it\'s that way.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:13.000
[music]

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:18.000
[music]

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:23.999
The church was the first building built
in Attawapiskat. I saw in (inaudible)

00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:25.000
history, 8 BC

00:33:25.001 --> 00:33:29.999
before Christ but nothing at Attawapiskat. And
so Attawapiskat the church came first thing

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
and the church was built
1893 and this one into place

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
the other one was built in 1930.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
City people would cut some logs up the river
and they went the machine at the sawmill

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
over here they will bring summertime bring the logs
in here and half of the log was to build the church,

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
the other half was build
their own house, say,

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
this way they shared the, the
building here, you know.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
I am here since 1973, there was
not so many people over here,

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
that time there was only 600 people then.
Village was much smaller, much more contact,

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
I would say, with the people and when they were living and
so on. People were still trapping and hunting at that time

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
and made many trips in the skidoo to
visit them on the trap line there

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
or some people who are sick then they will call
and will go and see them on the trap line.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
People were happy then even if they
were poor, but they were happy

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
that the still living with the geese sound.
I remember there was a little shack

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
just beside the church over here, was
springtime the geese begin to fly

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
and the following heard these geese coming
on he walked out of this little shack

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
and flee flying on and he took his
rifle and the goose fell right

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
in front of his house
there, it was right there.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
Oh, yeah, all kind of stories like
that happened here. Oh, yeah.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:08.000
[music]

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
Where we are right now is
a place of my own place

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
where I like to be.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
The last time I\'ve been here
was with my friend Shannen.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
It was me and my friend\'s favorite
place before her passing.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
She loved everything about her home.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
And it\'s just she won\'t see
her leave her home community

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
just to get her a proper education.

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:51.000
I actually went to (inaudible)

00:35:51.001 --> 00:35:54.999
high school for a one semester in grade 10.

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
Uh… unfortunately I came back
because it was just hard for me

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
especially with her passing, and

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
everything\'s been crazy.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
It was difficult for me, uh…

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
leaving this place because all
my family friends were here,

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
and I grew up here, and it\'s
hard for me to leave home,

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
and I\'d always get homesick.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
Perhaps, you have heard the
story of how Rosa Parks helps

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
start the civil rights movement.
Well, we are the children

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
who have been sitting at the back of the school bus our
whole lives. And we don\'t want to stay there any more.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
That is why we are here today
to launch Shannen\'s Dream.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
Shannen said, \"We can change
the world if we tried.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
Stand with us hand in hand one
spark starts fire and much.\"

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
[sil.]

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
Everybody deserves

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
to go forward in life and to have
the proper funding. But here,

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
we don\'t have that.

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
There are some people who go to college
and they come back due to, umm…

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
not enough funding to pay
their rent or their bus.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
That\'s why I\'m working.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
I have to use that money for school.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
[music]

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
One day I dream of becoming a lawyer

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
and go to university, come back
to represent Attawapiskat.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
That was actually one of
Shannen\'s, uh… dreams.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:08.000
[music]

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
The school secondary funding
is at, uh… roughly, uh…

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
795 a month for a single person which
is, which is impossible to live on

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
given day price of an apartment.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
And right after that again you extend,

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
you extend the… although you\'re
saying you\'re providing a service

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
you\'re extending a failure system to
that, to that particular student.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
Although you\'re intentions are the best

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
you\'re still promoting the, uh… the failure,
umm… the student will fail eventually.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
For high school I stayed
here for grade 9 and 10

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
and, for a grade 11 and 12 I
finished in New Liskeard, Ontario.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
It was a very good experience I
got to meet so many good people.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
In the first year a home was offered to us

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
so I got to take my late
sister Shannen with me,

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
and we went to school for one year there.
What happened was,

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
was a family friends of theirs\' Rhodes Thorton
who actually ended up dying in the car accident

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
was in my neighborhood and was telling me
that the family was trying to find a place

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
for Serena to go to high school. They were
worried about Serena not finishing high school.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
That\'s reality in these communities. If you\'re a good student they
want to get you out otherwise they\'re afraid you\'re not gonna make it.

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
We lived with Shannen
and Serena for a year.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
That was a big huge adjustment for them even though they
knew me and they were in, you know, supportive family,

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
but umm… they had real problems
with their marks initially because…

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
They weren\'t prepared. …they were not, yeah, they were not
prepared. Well, no student is when they come out of the,

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
the, these communities. It really,
for many students it really damages

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
their sense of self being because Shannen
and Serena were excellent students,

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
but I know Shannen really
struggled in grade nine.

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
I had to go away from home.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
And I also had to

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
just leave my home and my family.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
[sil.]

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
You know every day I
would have to call home

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
because at times I would get homesick.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
And when they have to go I can\'t hang up.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
Because every time I hang up I get
that cold feeling that I\'m on my own.

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
[sil.]

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
But, I have to put my heart aside and put
my head into what I have to accomplish,

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
to be in a proper school and
finish what I have to do.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
This is my second year
schooling down south.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
It\'s also my last year of high school,

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
and if I had to compare my old high school
with the high school I\'m attending now

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
there really is a major difference. The
schools, the schools we have back home

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
are far behind in everything,
everything they do. Uh…

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
the kids think that\'s okay,
but to my concern that\'s not.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
It has gotten so bad for some of us that
my parents had sent my sister and I down

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
just for more proper education.
We miss, we miss back home, yes,

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
we get homesick a lot. But
overall I consider us

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
to be the fortunate ones. Every
child matters in this country,

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
right? Yes! We all matter.

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
And you know the Canada government
they make promises to the world,

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
they say that every child, every
child deserves a proper education.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
And don\'t they deserve that? They
deserve a good school. Yeah!

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
So your school is the first one in
Canada to ever see this report.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
Yeah! There are 38 letters from kids

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
all over Canada here, and
they are kids just like you

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
who say if the Canadian government can\'t
build schools we\'re gonna talk to the world

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
because we know the world cares about kids, and they will say
to the Canadian government \"It\'s time to do the right thing

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
because every child matters and
Shannen\'s dream is important.\" Right?

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
Yes! From the Kitigan Zibi School…

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
Inspired by Shannen Koostachin
this alternative report

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
led by the Shannen\'s dream team with First
Nations and non First Nations Children

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
and youth across Canada will be presented
to the United Nations Committee

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
on the rights of the child on
the occasion of Canada\'s third

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
and fourth periodic
reviews later this year.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
I am confident that the international community
will be wondering as these children are wondering,

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
why our First Nations children in Canada
go into schools infested with snakes,

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
infested with mold, sitting on contaminated
waste dumps, not learning their languages.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
Well, our government is spending a billion too, to host
a gathering for the 8 richest nations in the world.

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
I think those are the questions
that are to be brought to Canada.

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
I don\'t know if this is gonna be enough, but I can promise you this.
It\'s not a question whether the government of Canada is going to give

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
every child a proper school. The only question
is how embarrassed do they want to be

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
when they actually have to do it, and I am relying on
the prime minister to take care of business today,

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
not tomorrow because the kids can\'t wait.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:13.000
[sil.]

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
…for the second annual walk
for my late brother Dwayne.

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
Reason why I am doing this
it\'s for to youth out there.

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:53.000
…not only my brother.

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
I want to hum, talk about my personal
experience, what I went through

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
last year at home. It was the toughest,
toughest thing that I went through last year

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
in my life with the hum.

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:15.000
…to, to suicide.

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
…just to help out the youth.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:15.000
If you guys want to talk just
come and see me. I\'m, I\'m here.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:25.000
[sil.]

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:18.000
[sil.]

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
I hardly go to, umm… some of my classes

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
because the way I feel.

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
Sometimes I would just go home and make up an
excuse to my parents why I\'m home so early.

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
I just tell them stuff that
I\'m sick or something.

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
Because I don\'t really like telling
them what I feel and stuff like that.

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
I think of my friends a lot,

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
the ones, umm… that I\'ve lost. I have…

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
I lost one back in 2009

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
and five friends last year.

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
The first one was named Brannon.
He had a gunshot accident

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
when they\'re out hunting.
And I had a friend

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
in kasch(ph) named Haven Huey. She
was 14, she committed suicide.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
And…

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
then Ian,

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
he drowned on… uh… he was
heading back to town

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
and the ice broke or something.

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
And…

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
Dakota, I don\'t really
know what happened to her.

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
She just recently passed,
uh… after she had her baby.

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
How old was she? She was 16.

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
Umm… she\'s my cousin.

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
And then there\'s Shannen, she
was in a car accident. Mm-hmm.

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:18.000
[sil.]

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
I wasn\'t expecting anything
like that especially

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
with a girl like her.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
She loved dancing.

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:36.999
She loved her Vampire (inaudible)

00:49:37.000 --> 00:49:39.999
. And those were her colors baby blue,

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
black and white. She could have danced

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
on that June 4. There was
just a spot for her.

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
She could have been the head dancer.

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
But umm… it never happened because,
umm… she passed away on that June 1st.

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
We knew that

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
she liked going to Pow Wow\'s, and she
liked to dance, so we set like, you know,

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
Shannen is going to be there, and
they had the empty spot for her,

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
and, and that was so touching, you
know, you know, it broke my heart

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
when I saw that spot empty,

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
but I knew, I knew though like… She
was there. …yeah, she was there,

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
you know, in spirit she was.

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
I\'ve had many dreams of her.

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
I\'ve had this one dream that I can\'t
seem to forget. My friend David,

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
my brother and his girlfriend
we\'re all in a group

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
in this empty house looked like somebody was going
to move into the house, and it was always empty,

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
and the four of us were in there. And
we decided to play tag for some reason.

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
Anyways, David was it,

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
and I ran into the kitchen
that\'s where I saw Shannen.

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
She\'s smiling at me in her heart, she was just
the way she looked like a she had a tank top on,

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
her hair was tied up, she was
wearing sweats like she used to.

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
And, I guess when I looked at
her she just smiled at me,

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
and I was like, \"Shannen, let\'s run, let\'s run. David is
it.\" And I guess in my dream I didn\'t know she was gone.

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
All of her hair was white.

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
She was smiling at me.

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
Just smiling and I, I still didn\'t
know what was going on until I woke up

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
and, you know, had the biggest cry.
Because I realized,

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
you know, that she visited me.

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
[sil.]

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
Sometimes I feel like she\'s here.

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
[sil.]

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
I guess in a way I\'m glad
that she\'s my angel now,

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
you know, an angel for all of us.

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
That\'s what\'s giving me hope for this time.

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
If she had hope, you
know, all of us can too.

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
[sil.]

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
I guess I\'m really proud
of being her sister.

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:48.000
[sil.]

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
My dear, I am the member of the
Cree Attawapiskat First Nation.

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
We would like to thank
everyone for joining today.

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
We thank you for your on going support of our
community in our, our fight for a new school.

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
We have been caught… Nothing has changed.

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
Our education is just like, umm…

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
we\'re being tuned like the night too much.

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
When I see the other kids going
through that I feel guilty.

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
Since we lost too many people

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
in Attawapiskat it\'s because the, umm…

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
after when Shannen, Dakota, Ian and Dwayne

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
last year was devastating like,

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
it\'s like living in a
nightmare for everybody.

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
[sil.]

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
The youth has nothing to do in this town.

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
This, this month was like I only see like
kids tryint to like burning a lot of stuff

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
like trucks,

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
sheds whatever. That tells me something

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
inside they got nothing to
do and this reservation

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
like nothing to do.
They\'re, they\'re that bored

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
and like understand that whatever is…

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
what\'s gonna happen if one of,
one of them kids got hurt

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
like if a truck exploded right away.
Like there\'s got to be something

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
that this community should do

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
for the youth mostly, so they don\'t
have to get like, get in trouble

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
or get hurt by anything.
Because I went through

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
a lot of that when I was a kid and also
I used to be a troublemaker myself

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
beyond this.

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
I think the only reason
why my friends do drugs

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
because they have a lot of problems of their own
which I don\'t even know, and they can\'t judge that.

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
It\'s a lot of people who has
these kind of problems,

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
we are not the only ones. I
think people just need to help

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
each other out that\'s, that\'s what is need.

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
If I have a lot of problems I
talk with what my dad mostly.

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
He teaches me a lot.

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
And with all the stuff he tells me
about himself, what he thinks of life,

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
how he goes through problems.

00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
It kind of boosts me up too.
The stuff he teaches me

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
specially at the right words he has.

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
I love, I love my dad. He\'s
like the best person in world,

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
in my life.

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
[sil.]

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
My art teacher Sharon Hunter, uh…

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
when ever I had problems she
would ask me to come and see her

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
and talk to her about it.

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
Sometimes we would go out for
a coffee with the students.

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.999
I have a lot of fun with her,

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:49.999
well, sometimes.

00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:54.999
I\'ve been here now two years. I\'ve really
wanted to work in first nation education,

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.999
so I was very honored and lucky
to get a job working in art.

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.999
I like being here and
working with the youth.

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:09.999
[sil.]

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.999
All the work that we do

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.999
is centered around self-identity, umm…

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.999
and umm… taking from what,
what each person knows

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.999
and just stopping to look at what\'s
around them in a different way,

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:34.999
and they really like that. Okay, so you
want to bring the red to the black

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:39.999
and yellow to black? Yes, so, so I can do a bigger
black line instead of just putting some line because…

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
I think kids more, more traditional
knowledge they want that

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:49.999
when I was teaching a geography class in
grade nine we start talking about, umm…

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.999
self and community and sustainability.
They really had a lot of voice about that

00:57:55.000 --> 00:57:59.999
they were talked about drinking and
nothing to do, we need a youth center,

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:04.999
we want our healing circles,
we want activities.

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:09.999
They want, they want these things so badly,

00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:14.999
and for me as a teacher here

00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.999
I don\'t want to give it to them.
I want to be able to work

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:24.999
with people in the community to put my part
in what\'s needed and what the youth want.

00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:33.000
[non-English narration]

00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:44.999
There has to be more that should be done
about the language and culture itself

00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:49.999
because even in, in this community, in this
particular school we have, uh… pre-language classes

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:54.999
five days a week, but
it\'s only for 35 minutes

00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:59.999
which is not enough. The thing
that we should be offering

00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:04.999
is a culture/language activities
put a major part of that

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:09.999
they unfortunately we do not have the space
to hold such classes throughout the day.

00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:18.000
[non-English narration]

00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:29.999
I was really shocked

00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:33.999
to find out how we came to lose our
cultural practices, our (inaudible)

00:59:34.000 --> 00:59:35.000
ways of, you know,

00:59:35.001 --> 00:59:39.999
of the teachings and practices to
keep our holistic life balanced.

00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.999
In the early 1900s

00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:49.999
Father Francois Xavier Fafard managed to
learn the Ojibeway and Cree languages

00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:54.999
including the syllabics,.
He wrote catechism in 1907

00:59:55.000 --> 00:59:59.999
which was updated in 1910

01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.999
and 1924. In 1907

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:09.999
they start, uh…digging up
our, you know, our culture.

01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:14.999
They started now with a clan system.

01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:19.999
They demolished a clan
system to break it apart.

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:24.999
If you look at the books we have carefully
you gonna see is a question and answer.

01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:29.999
The question you see mostly in those
books, who\'s the first one to sin,

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:34.999
he who does evil sounding,
evil feasting, evil smudging,

01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:39.999
boosting or evil.

01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:44.999
One critical area that we lost instead of
being connected through our spirituality

01:00:45.000 --> 01:00:49.999
and the source of a
higher power the Dipper,

01:00:50.000 --> 01:00:54.999
the fisher stars in Cree
represents the seven grandfathers

01:00:55.000 --> 01:00:59.999
wisdom, love, respect, bravery,

01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:04.999
honesty, humility and the truth.

01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:09.999
And the philosophies of each of 53
philosophies and all of them and we lost that,

01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:14.999
we have abandoned that. In exchange,
you know, our catholic teachings

01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:19.999
there\'s seven sacraments. They replaced that
seven sacraments to our seven grandfathers.

01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:24.999
You know, a lot of people
there are still young people

01:01:25.000 --> 01:01:29.999
they don\'t even know how
we lost those things.

01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:38.000
[sil.]

01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:13.000
[music]

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:24.999
The best part of my childhood
is when I wake up every morning

01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:29.999
in the summer day, smell of the fresh
air in the morning from the sun.

01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:34.999
My family, my parents,

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:39.999
how they raised me is a
lot of camping we did,

01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:44.999
so many memories of that too.

01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:49.999
I think what I loved the most about camping is
when we\'re all snuggled up in that little tent.

01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:54.999
It\'s a nice warm night when it\'s raining
and you can hear the rain drops

01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:59.999
as they hit the top of the tent.

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:04.999
And what we like to do is we sit around
the fire and we just talk, you know,

01:04:05.000 --> 01:04:09.999
talk about stories and tell each
other things we never knew.

01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:14.999
You can see all those stars again

01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:19.999
and sometimes like couple of
hints of northern lights.

01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:24.999
It\'s really nice.

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:29.999
That\'s all I think about when
I think of my childhood.

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:34.999
[sil.]

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:39.999
Yeah, I want you to open up your ears,

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:44.999
and if you want to join in singing after you can.
How many know it\'s important to brush your teeth?

01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:49.999
When\'s that did you brush your teeth?
Yeah, at your house before you go to bed.

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:54.999
I brush my teeth while going to bed. Okay,
that\'s a good, a good habit to have.

01:04:55.000 --> 01:04:59.999
Okay,

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.999
I never like to brush my teeth,
I wish that I could stop

01:05:05.000 --> 01:05:09.999
and have more time for candy
bar and drinking soda pop.

01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:14.999
But, soon my teeth would hurt so bad

01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:19.999
from all those cavities. Oh…

01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:24.999
I better learn some self control
so this won\'t happen to me.

01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:29.999
Self control is just control myself,

01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:34.999
listening to my heart,

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:39.999
doing what is smart. Self control,

01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:44.999
it\'s the very best way to go.
So I think that

01:05:45.000 --> 01:05:49.999
I\'ll control my self.

01:05:50.000 --> 01:05:54.999
There. Great song.

01:05:55.000 --> 01:05:59.999
[sil.]

01:06:00.000 --> 01:06:04.999
Several adults are volunteering their time

01:06:05.000 --> 01:06:09.999
to help organize activities
in sports for the youth.

01:06:10.000 --> 01:06:14.999
This also includes their traditional chants

01:06:15.000 --> 01:06:19.999
and dances as well as encouraging
the youth to embrace their language

01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:25.000
and protect it, so that it will continue
to thrive for generations to come.

01:07:55.000 --> 01:07:59.999
Me and my drum group, The Young Eagles.
We\'ve been drumming one year now.

01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:04.999
And every time I hear that powers

01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:10.000
I want to like get every galleon
just dance. Makes me want to move.

01:08:15.000 --> 01:08:19.999
It feels like the spirits are
helping me and they makes the,

01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:24.999
the good thing coming in
and the bad thing goes on.

01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:29.999
And you feel so happy just
smiling, singing and dancing.

01:08:30.000 --> 01:08:34.999
My mom told me this

01:08:35.000 --> 01:08:37.999
when you touch (inaudible)

01:08:38.000 --> 01:08:39.999
when you go like this it\'s like
you know need to take shower.

01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:44.999
It\'s like washing your
face with, with the sage

01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:49.999
and you go like this, and you
go like this to, to your body

01:08:50.000 --> 01:08:54.999
and your ears for the bad things you hear like
the bad words and like your eyes when you see

01:08:55.000 --> 01:08:59.999
like a kid getting bullied.

01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:04.999
It clears the things from
your head and your brain.

01:09:05.000 --> 01:09:09.999
And I learn a bunch of
things from my mom and dad.

01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:14.999
My dad took me to a river
that river fishing

01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:18.999
two hours away from our camp.
We go to (inaudible)

01:09:19.000 --> 01:09:20.000
.

01:09:20.001 --> 01:09:24.999
That\'s where we got 34 fish.

01:09:25.000 --> 01:09:33.000
[sil.]

01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:39.999
We hunt together, we make snares
together, we fish together.

01:09:40.000 --> 01:09:44.999
My dad\'s a very good hunter.

01:09:45.000 --> 01:09:53.000
[music]

01:10:25.000 --> 01:10:29.999
The delegation of six first nations have
been chosen to bring a strong message

01:10:30.000 --> 01:10:34.999
to the United Nations committee
on the rights of the child

01:10:35.000 --> 01:10:39.999
concerning the iniquity
and the damage it caused

01:10:40.000 --> 01:10:44.999
on first nations children and youth who
reside on reserves and in urban places.

01:10:45.000 --> 01:10:49.999
The press conference is given
before their departure for Geneva.

01:10:50.000 --> 01:10:54.999
The fight for Attawapiskat became the fight
for all First Nations children in Canada.

01:10:55.000 --> 01:10:59.999
Like Shannen, like my
friend Shannen would say,

01:11:00.000 --> 01:11:04.999
\"Everyone has the right to
safe and comfy schools.

01:11:05.000 --> 01:11:09.999
No one should ever be left out
because education is the key,

01:11:10.000 --> 01:11:14.999
it is the key to opening new
doors.\" As she would say,

01:11:15.000 --> 01:11:19.999
\"No child should ever have to walk
in their moccasins ever again.\"

01:11:20.000 --> 01:11:24.999
What would you consider a success of this meeting?
What do you, what do you do to make it happen?

01:11:25.000 --> 01:11:29.999
We are going to help formulate
questions all we asked you Canada

01:11:30.000 --> 01:11:34.999
when they attend the United Nations Convention on the rights of the
child. A success to me would be that our voices are considered

01:11:35.000 --> 01:11:39.999
in those formulations of those questions.

01:11:40.000 --> 01:11:44.999
We will be making a
difference in a massive way

01:11:45.000 --> 01:11:49.999
by just helping the United Nations recognize
that Canada has not lived up to its agreements.

01:11:50.000 --> 01:11:54.999
They are really just awesome young
people, and I know that our people

01:11:55.000 --> 01:11:59.999
are going to be well represented around the
world. And on Monday morning at 10 O\'clock

01:12:00.000 --> 01:12:04.999
they\'re going to walk through the doors of the
United Nations High Commission on Human Rights

01:12:05.000 --> 01:12:09.999
and start beginning to meet with the committee and telling the committee about
what it is to live in this country and get lost because of who you are.

01:12:10.000 --> 01:12:14.999
[sil.]

01:12:15.000 --> 01:12:20.000
[music]

01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:29.999
[music]

01:12:30.000 --> 01:12:34.999
I\'ve never imagined

01:12:35.000 --> 01:12:39.999
that I\'d be going to the United
Nations especially when she promised

01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:44.999
that she\'d be coming here, but I decided
I\'d follow through her promises.

01:12:45.000 --> 01:12:49.999
I\'m sure that she\'s fighting through us.

01:12:50.000 --> 01:12:58.000
[music]

01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:14.999
I\'ll be okay. I\'ve done so many times

01:13:15.000 --> 01:13:19.999
and we are just regular
people so I\'ll be okay.

01:13:20.000 --> 01:13:24.999
Look at the color compared to my river

01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:26.999
back at home (inaudible)

01:13:27.000 --> 01:13:29.999
brown in growth. Is it black?

01:13:30.000 --> 01:13:34.999
I don\'t know really like looking you
and then being able to like pray

01:13:35.000 --> 01:13:39.999
when have like a big visual of like some kind
of land mass or something like the water.

01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:44.999
Right, since your close to the home.

01:13:45.000 --> 01:13:49.999
[sil.]

01:13:50.000 --> 01:13:54.999
You look like smoking hot that\'s all I
have to say. Favorite color, there you go.

01:13:55.000 --> 01:13:59.999
Alright, ladies and gentlemen,
you have a job to do.

01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:04.999
Come and meet at the committee,
have fun, move your…

01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:09.999
Sit down. Snow mists describe
it that I feel so proud

01:14:10.000 --> 01:14:14.999
of what we\'ve done. We
caught their attention.

01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:19.999
It\'s so great to know
that someone else there

01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:24.999
is listening to us and
it\'s not ignoring us.

01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:29.999
But it was really amazing when,

01:14:30.000 --> 01:14:34.999
when everything was all wrapped up and
one of the community members said,

01:14:35.000 --> 01:14:39.999
\"Okay, we know what\'s going on
now, and this is not right,

01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:44.999
every… no child should ever have to beg for
equal rights. No child should ever have to walk

01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:49.999
in your moccasins again.\" Those were the
exact words that they\'ve said to us.

01:14:50.000 --> 01:14:54.999
To be very candid

01:14:55.000 --> 01:14:59.999
I didn\'t know what to expect when I came here,
but this wasn\'t what I expected. I do feel that

01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:04.999
I was heard but to drive
the point home, uh…

01:15:05.000 --> 01:15:09.999
this is a real solid issue that is
facing me today is facing the youth

01:15:10.000 --> 01:15:14.999
in my delegation today I don\'t
know if that was truly understood.

01:15:15.000 --> 01:15:19.999
However, speaking to the other
members of my delegation

01:15:20.000 --> 01:15:24.999
this really has helped us enforce the
idea that grass roots are what we need.

01:15:25.000 --> 01:15:29.999
We need to work from our community. Uh… I need
to go back to my community I need to tell them

01:15:30.000 --> 01:15:34.999
to speak out, to continue to do so because
that\'s where the change is going to happen.

01:15:35.000 --> 01:15:39.999
We\'re going to talk about it here,
but it\'s gonna happen at home.

01:15:40.000 --> 01:15:44.999
There you go. Okay.

01:15:45.000 --> 01:15:49.999
Oh, hello, Madeline Hi. Bonjour, Geneva.

01:15:50.000 --> 01:15:54.999
Where are the kids?

01:15:55.000 --> 01:15:59.999
I have a 100 kids in this
room right now. Oh, wow!

01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:04.999
[sil.]

01:16:05.000 --> 01:16:09.999
The children have questions for you so
I will ask them to come one by one.

01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:14.999
Hi. Hi. Please, they\'re gonna speak to you.
What have you learned there?

01:16:15.000 --> 01:16:19.999
I\'ve learned that all around the world there
are kids who are fighting for the right

01:16:20.000 --> 01:16:24.999
and even in countries that have money

01:16:25.000 --> 01:16:29.999
and seemed to be good.

01:16:30.000 --> 01:16:35.000
And what I\'ve learned as well as that
the children have the strongest voice.

01:16:40.000 --> 01:16:44.999
What can we do to the fight
for equal right to education?

01:16:45.000 --> 01:16:49.999
Well, I think what you guys are doing right now is
already a big help as it is, uh… by educating yourselves

01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:54.999
and being good supporters and uh…
standing alongside with us and…

01:16:55.000 --> 01:16:59.999
And for writing this book you got.
So thank you,

01:17:00.000 --> 01:17:04.999
you\'re big supporters. Well, I would like to say
that at our school we\'ve been very inspired

01:17:05.000 --> 01:17:09.999
by your voice. It\'s like every
day we\'re learning more about,

01:17:10.000 --> 01:17:14.999
about aboriginal culture, we are learning
about a side of Canada that has been hidden

01:17:15.000 --> 01:17:19.999
for us that have been enriched
our lives tremendously.

01:17:20.000 --> 01:17:24.999
So we would like to really thank you
because you have made us discover

01:17:25.000 --> 01:17:29.999
a Canada that is whole, more whole for us.

01:17:30.000 --> 01:17:34.999
Before you go I\'ll show you a
little bit around the room. Okay.

01:17:35.000 --> 01:17:39.999
Come. Hi,

01:17:40.000 --> 01:17:44.999
hi everybody.

01:17:45.000 --> 01:17:53.000
[sil.]

01:17:55.000 --> 01:17:59.999
Thank you very much for your time. And we want you to
know that next week we are all going Parliament Hill.

01:18:00.000 --> 01:18:04.999
Okay. And we will bring letters and ask
the government to have a big heart

01:18:05.000 --> 01:18:09.999
on all Canadian children. Thank
you very much. Thank you.

01:18:10.000 --> 01:18:11.000
Thank you (inaudible)

01:18:15.000 --> 01:18:19.999
Bye-bye. Bye.

01:18:20.000 --> 01:18:24.999
I can see you. Yeah, I can see you.

01:18:25.000 --> 01:18:29.999
Bye. Bye.

01:18:30.000 --> 01:18:38.000
[music]

01:19:00.000 --> 01:19:04.999
[sil.]

01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:09.999
The goal of Have a Heart Day is to show
solidarity with First Nations children in Canada

01:19:10.000 --> 01:19:14.999
and to demand for equity
for First Nations children

01:19:15.000 --> 01:19:19.999
so that each and every child in Canada
is to live fairly and can grow up happy.

01:19:20.000 --> 01:19:24.999
We\'re here to support

01:19:25.000 --> 01:19:29.999
and stand in solidarity with
the assembly of First Nations

01:19:30.000 --> 01:19:34.999
and the First Nations child and family caring
society and there were to hold Canada accountable

01:19:35.000 --> 01:19:39.999
through the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal

01:19:40.000 --> 01:19:44.999
for its current treatment to First Nations children.
Why should our aboriginal children have equal access

01:19:45.000 --> 01:19:49.999
to health and education? The answer
to that question is so obvious

01:19:50.000 --> 01:19:54.999
that I don\'t even understand why
we need to be raising this issue.

01:19:55.000 --> 01:19:59.999
Health and education is a
fundamental human right.

01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:04.999
The United Nations declaration
of human rights says so,

01:20:05.000 --> 01:20:09.999
so does our own Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms.

01:20:10.000 --> 01:20:14.999
And that charter is for all Canadians.
It does not say only adult Canadians,

01:20:15.000 --> 01:20:19.999
and it certainly doesn\'t make room for
exceptions based on aboriginal heritage.

01:20:20.000 --> 01:20:24.999
Why should aboriginal children have the
same access to health and education?

01:20:25.000 --> 01:20:29.999
As I said the answer\'s obvious. Thank you.

01:20:30.000 --> 01:20:34.999
My name is Evelyn.

01:20:35.000 --> 01:20:39.999
I write my own recipe that I think the government
should make to help First Nation children.

01:20:40.000 --> 01:20:44.999
Here is the recipe, 3
kilogram of clean water,

01:20:45.000 --> 01:20:49.999
2 cups of money, 48 new schools,

01:20:50.000 --> 01:20:54.999
20 teaspoons of houses, 500 smiles,
2 kilograms of improvement

01:20:55.000 --> 01:20:57.999
and bowl of rice of (inaudible)

01:20:58.000 --> 01:20:59.999
respect. Thank you.

01:21:00.000 --> 01:21:04.999
So, Prime Minister Stephen
Harper, have a heart.

01:21:05.000 --> 01:21:09.999
[sil.]

01:21:10.000 --> 01:21:14.999
You know what I don\'t think anyone who came here today
and saw the children reading those powerful letters

01:21:15.000 --> 01:21:19.999
could say that, uh… it is not going
to have them a bad prospect.

01:21:20.000 --> 01:21:24.999
Some people say that the measure of a country is
best judged by the way it treats its children,

01:21:25.000 --> 01:21:29.999
and these children here were just saying that
every child deserves to be treated properly,

01:21:30.000 --> 01:21:34.999
and the government of Canada needs to step up to the plate and
make sure that the dreams of First Nations Children matter.

01:21:35.000 --> 01:21:39.999
And we\'re going to turn this page in history
with First Nations in Canadian government

01:21:40.000 --> 01:21:44.999
from one of oppression and sadness and apologies to one of
hope and inspiration and a better country for all of us.

01:21:45.000 --> 01:21:49.999
Okay, now we\'re gonna sing a song which
is the song we wrote for Shannen

01:21:50.000 --> 01:21:54.999
and for all the young First Nation kids who
are fighting for the right to an education

01:21:55.000 --> 01:21:59.999
because they\'re our greatest resource, they are the
diamonds in the snow. Now who is singing with us.

01:22:00.000 --> 01:22:04.999
[music]

01:22:05.000 --> 01:22:09.999
You threw these diamonds, in the snow.

01:22:10.000 --> 01:22:14.999
You threw them away,

01:22:15.000 --> 01:22:19.999
you thought no one would know.
So what were you thinking,

01:22:20.000 --> 01:22:24.999
oh, didn\'t you know

01:22:25.000 --> 01:22:29.999
little diamonds, diamonds in the snow.

01:22:30.000 --> 01:22:34.999
You doing good. On a cold dark night,

01:22:35.000 --> 01:22:39.999
on a cold dark night

01:22:40.000 --> 01:22:44.999
there\'s a light shining in the sky.

01:22:45.000 --> 01:22:49.999
It\'s just a light, you might never know,

01:22:50.000 --> 01:22:54.999
a little light,

01:22:55.000 --> 01:22:59.999
light your way home.

01:23:00.000 --> 01:23:04.999
You threw these diamonds in the snow,

01:23:05.000 --> 01:23:09.999
you threw them away.

01:23:10.000 --> 01:23:14.999
You thought no one would know.

01:23:15.000 --> 01:23:19.999
So what were you thinking,
oh, didn\'t you know

01:23:20.000 --> 01:23:24.999
little diamonds,

01:23:25.000 --> 01:23:29.999
diamonds in the snow.

01:23:30.000 --> 01:23:32.999
Mr. Speaker did the great
honor today, (inaudible)

01:23:33.000 --> 01:23:34.999
Shannen\'s dream motion, uh…
representing the great people

01:23:35.000 --> 01:23:39.999
of Timmins in the James Bay region
where Shannen Koostachin was born.

01:23:40.000 --> 01:23:44.999
Mr. Speaker this is a historic moment in this Parliament,
and I would say a historic moment for Canada.

01:23:45.000 --> 01:23:49.999
This is the first motion that I\'ve
known that is been driven by children.

01:23:50.000 --> 01:23:54.999
The reason we\'re debating this issue is
because children across this country

01:23:55.000 --> 01:23:59.999
have recognized that their brothers and sisters
are being denied basic education rights.

01:24:00.000 --> 01:24:04.999
That this is an issue about
putting children first,

01:24:05.000 --> 01:24:09.999
and I cannot think of another instance where you
could have school children in New Brunswick,

01:24:10.000 --> 01:24:14.999
schoolchildren Nova Scotia, school children in
Ontario, school children across western Canada

01:24:15.000 --> 01:24:19.999
who could tell every member of this
parliament about what Shannen\'s dream means

01:24:20.000 --> 01:24:24.999
because they know this, they\'ve been living this because
they\'ve been inspired by the story of Shannen Koostachin.

01:24:25.000 --> 01:24:29.999
So this is a historic opportunity, I would say it\'s
also extremely important for us as parliamentarians

01:24:30.000 --> 01:24:34.999
for all the rock throwing that goes on in this
house and all the blame that has happened,

01:24:35.000 --> 01:24:39.999
and this is our job we fight with each
other, but there are many occasional moments

01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:44.999
when as a nation we are called to rise to
something greater. That moment for me came

01:24:45.000 --> 01:24:49.999
when we all came the ones who were members
in the last Parliament for the apology

01:24:50.000 --> 01:24:54.999
for what happened at the residential schools. And I remember
standing in this house for my historic day and thinking,

01:24:55.000 --> 01:24:59.999
\"Who is going to apologize to
this generation children?\"

01:25:00.000 --> 01:25:04.999
So here we are in this House of Commons, this is our
moment. I\'m calling upon all parliamentarians to say,

01:25:05.000 --> 01:25:09.999
\"This is our time, this is the way we
apologize to what has been going on,

01:25:10.000 --> 01:25:14.999
and this is the way we move
forward as a country.\"

01:25:15.000 --> 01:25:19.999
I\'d like to see the support of every member in this
house when we stand for Shannen\'s dream. Thank you.

01:25:20.000 --> 01:25:24.999
[sil.]

01:25:25.000 --> 01:25:29.999
Eleven days later Shannen\'s family

01:25:30.000 --> 01:25:34.999
travels to Ottawa to witness the
vote on the Shannen\'s dream motion.

01:25:35.000 --> 01:25:39.999
We have some really amazing
special guests who just arrived,

01:25:40.000 --> 01:25:44.999
Shannen\'s mom and dad, Shannen\'s
big sister and new baby.

01:25:45.000 --> 01:25:49.999
And I\'m so excited and then
we\'d like to speak to you.

01:25:50.000 --> 01:25:58.000
[sil.]

01:26:00.000 --> 01:26:04.999
Lady Evelyn, good morning. Good morning.

01:26:05.000 --> 01:26:09.999
I feel that good energy from all of
you so I want to thank you for that.

01:26:10.000 --> 01:26:14.999
At first we are here

01:26:15.000 --> 01:26:19.999
because, uh… we were told that
this is gonna be a special day

01:26:20.000 --> 01:26:24.999
for, uh… our late daughter
Shannen Koostachin,

01:26:25.000 --> 01:26:29.999
her dream to have an equal opportunity
to have a good education.

01:26:30.000 --> 01:26:34.999
They will vote on that today
at the House of Commons.

01:26:35.000 --> 01:26:39.999
And what I see in each one of you

01:26:40.000 --> 01:26:44.999
I see little Shannen, I see my
daughter in each one of you.

01:26:45.000 --> 01:26:49.999
Shannen was a leader and a true
leader doesn\'t produce followers.

01:26:50.000 --> 01:26:54.999
A true leader produces leaders like you.

01:26:55.000 --> 01:27:03.000
[sil.]

01:27:05.000 --> 01:27:09.999
You have made our healing
journey that much more bearable

01:27:10.000 --> 01:27:14.999
because as I speak with
you now there hauling

01:27:15.000 --> 01:27:19.999
the, uh… the gravel to, uh…
to build the foundation

01:27:20.000 --> 01:27:24.999
for the new school.

01:27:25.000 --> 01:27:29.999
[sil.]

01:27:30.000 --> 01:27:34.999
And it wouldn\'t have, have happened
if it weren\'t for your support.

01:27:35.000 --> 01:27:39.999
It would not have happened if it
weren\'t for your understanding

01:27:40.000 --> 01:27:44.999
of her dream. So from the
bottom of our hearts

01:27:45.000 --> 01:27:49.999
we want to really thank you for
your support, thank you, endless.

01:27:50.000 --> 01:27:54.999
[sil.]

01:27:55.000 --> 01:27:59.999
I just want to say thank you
so much for all your support

01:28:00.000 --> 01:28:04.999
and help, guys. I don\'t
think we would be able

01:28:05.000 --> 01:28:09.999
to have what\'s going on today
for… if it wasn\'t for you.

01:28:10.000 --> 01:28:14.999
And it\'s been a big change for me too last year,
because on November 4th I had my little girl here,

01:28:15.000 --> 01:28:19.999
and her name is Shannen.

01:28:20.000 --> 01:28:24.999
Thank you, thank you.

01:28:25.000 --> 01:28:33.000
[sil.]

01:28:35.000 --> 01:28:39.999
Her name is Shannen.

01:28:40.000 --> 01:28:44.999
[sil.]

01:28:45.000 --> 01:28:49.999
Hi. I\'ll meet you downstairs…

01:28:50.000 --> 01:28:54.999
At 7 pm this evening, members
of parliament convened

01:28:55.000 --> 01:28:59.999
to vote on the Shannen\'s dream motion.

01:29:00.000 --> 01:29:04.999
All those in favor the motion will
please rise. Mr. Allen Welling,

01:29:05.000 --> 01:29:06.000
Mr. Martin, (inaudible)

01:29:06.001 --> 01:29:13.999
. Ms. Chow(ph). Ms. Chow(ph).
Mr. (inaudible)

01:29:14.000 --> 01:29:19.999
.

01:29:20.000 --> 01:29:22.999
Mr. Julian. Mr. Julian. (inaudible)

01:29:23.000 --> 01:29:24.999
Mr. Angus. Mr. Angus.

01:29:25.000 --> 01:29:29.999
[sil.]

01:29:30.000 --> 01:29:34.999
All members of all parties voted yes.

01:29:35.000 --> 01:29:43.000
[sil.]

01:29:45.000 --> 01:29:49.999
Next Door people gathered to
celebrate this historic moment.

01:29:50.000 --> 01:29:55.000
[sil.]

01:30:15.000 --> 01:30:19.999
Thank you to all of you.

01:30:20.000 --> 01:30:24.999
Our motion passed tonight unanimously.

01:30:25.000 --> 01:30:26.999
So we have to (inaudible)

01:30:27.000 --> 01:30:30.000
.

01:30:45.000 --> 01:30:53.000
[sil.]

01:30:55.000 --> 01:31:03.000
Thank you.

01:31:20.000 --> 01:31:24.999
I was given a girl, a very special
girl with a special gift.

01:31:25.000 --> 01:31:29.999
I was told she had this gift
to move people with words,

01:31:30.000 --> 01:31:34.999
and I was honored to be her father.

01:31:35.000 --> 01:31:39.999
She believed in God, she believed
in people, that she believed God

01:31:40.000 --> 01:31:44.999
lived in every, in every one of us,
she believed she can change people.

01:31:45.000 --> 01:31:49.999
But she made that speech
here four years ago

01:31:50.000 --> 01:31:54.999
when she was told, when she was
denied that there would be no funding

01:31:55.000 --> 01:31:59.999
for Attawapiskat to get a new school.
She stood up to that, and she said,

01:32:00.000 --> 01:32:04.999
\"We\'re not going to give up.\" That made
her believe her out of me, as a father I,

01:32:05.000 --> 01:32:09.999
I always thought I was
be the teacher for her,

01:32:10.000 --> 01:32:14.999
but she taught me a lot of things. And
she started reaching out to people.

01:32:15.000 --> 01:32:19.999
She started reading out… reaching out to

01:32:20.000 --> 01:32:24.999
the young people. And when the
young people speak they have power

01:32:25.000 --> 01:32:29.999
because they are so innocent, they are
so strong that they have that power.

01:32:30.000 --> 01:32:34.999
I really feel that today dreams
can come true. Thank you.

01:32:35.000 --> 01:32:43.000
[sil.]

01:32:45.000 --> 01:32:53.000
[music]

01:32:55.000 --> 01:32:59.999
You guys all set? You know the song?

01:33:00.000 --> 01:33:04.999
You threw these diamonds,

01:33:05.000 --> 01:33:09.999
in the snow.

01:33:10.000 --> 01:33:14.999
You threw them away,
thought no one would know.

01:33:15.000 --> 01:33:19.999
So what were you thinking,

01:33:20.000 --> 01:33:24.999
oh didn\'t you know

01:33:25.000 --> 01:33:29.999
little diamonds, diamonds in the snow.

01:33:30.000 --> 01:33:34.999
Come on right up on the
stage, guys, don\'t be shy.

01:33:35.000 --> 01:33:39.999
A lonely field, on a cold dark night,

01:33:40.000 --> 01:33:44.999
there\'s a light shining in the sky.

01:33:45.000 --> 01:33:49.999
It\'s just a light, you might never know,

01:33:50.000 --> 01:33:54.999
a little light,

01:33:55.000 --> 01:33:59.999
light your way home.

01:34:00.000 --> 01:34:04.999
You threw these diamonds in the snow,

01:34:05.000 --> 01:34:09.999
you threw them away.

01:34:10.000 --> 01:34:14.999
You thought no one would know.
So what were you thinking,

01:34:15.000 --> 01:34:19.999
oh didn\'t you know

01:34:20.000 --> 01:34:24.999
little diamonds, diamonds in the snow.

01:34:25.000 --> 01:34:29.999
There was a child,

01:34:30.000 --> 01:34:34.999
she had a dream.

01:34:35.000 --> 01:34:39.999
She looked to you, and she looked to me.

01:34:40.000 --> 01:34:44.999
It\'s just a chance

01:34:45.000 --> 01:34:49.999
to make your world whole,

01:34:50.000 --> 01:34:54.999
she gave you diamonds,
diamonds in the snow.

01:34:55.000 --> 01:34:59.999
You threw these diamonds

01:35:00.000 --> 01:35:04.999
in the snow, because you judge your life,

01:35:05.000 --> 01:35:09.999
by what you can own.

01:35:10.000 --> 01:35:14.999
But they shine so bright,
brighter than you know,

01:35:15.000 --> 01:35:19.999
little diamonds,

01:35:20.000 --> 01:35:24.999
diamonds in the snow.

01:35:25.000 --> 01:35:29.999
You threw these diamonds, in the snow.

01:35:30.000 --> 01:35:34.999
You threw them away,

01:35:35.000 --> 01:35:39.999
thought no one would know.
So what were you thinking,

01:35:40.000 --> 01:35:44.999
oh didn\'t you know

01:35:45.000 --> 01:35:49.999
little diamonds, diamonds in the snow.

01:35:50.000 --> 01:35:54.999
It\'s just a chance

01:35:55.000 --> 01:35:59.999
to make your world whole.

01:36:00.000 --> 01:36:04.999
Touch these diamonds, diamonds in the snow.

01:36:05.000 --> 01:36:09.999
Give a big bow.

01:36:10.000 --> 01:36:18.000
[sil.]

01:36:20.000 --> 01:36:24.999
It will take at least two years

01:36:25.000 --> 01:36:29.999
for the construction of a
proper school in Attawapiskat.

01:36:30.000 --> 01:36:34.999
And there still remains many communities across
Canada whose children are attending schools

01:36:35.000 --> 01:36:39.999
that are in a state of disrepair.

01:36:40.000 --> 01:36:45.000
[music]

01:37:45.000 --> 01:37:50.000
[sil.]