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Homage to aboriginal rights activist

Shannen Koostachin Memorial Bursary honours the late defender of aboriginal rights
October 23, 2012
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By Scott McCulloch


The memory of Shannen Koostachin, the late aboriginal Canadian who fought passionately for the rights of native children, will live on, thanks to a new $500 entrance bursary.

The Shannen Koostachin Memorial Bursary was created by concerned staff in Concordia’s Institutional Relations and Secretary General office who were stirred by Koostachin’s plight.

“I was moved by Shannen’s story because the thought of aboriginal children in isolated communities not having a school is abhorrent,” says Andrea Renaud, an Institutional Relations project coordinator and Community Campaign volunteer who played a role in the award’s creation. “I hope native people and students will be inspired by her.”

Shannen Koostachin | Photo by First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada
Shannen Koostachin | Photo by First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada

The bursary is intended for new First Nations, Métis and Inuit students in bachelor’s degree programs. It complements more than a dozen awards that target native students.

Born in an isolated reserve on the James Bay coast, Koostachin was the third of six children. A resident of the infamous Attawapiskat First Nation, she was passionate about education. Yet she had never seen a real school, and instead attended classes in a makeshift portable structure.

Koostachin, who at 14 was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize and led the largest youth movement in Canadian history, mobilized her peers to tell Canadians about the harsh conditions at her local elementary school.
She enlisted the help of the United Nations to pressure Canadian Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl into funding the construction of a new school.

Koostachin met the minister in 2009 and secured funds to build her town a school. Yet in May 2010, she died in a car accident before she could see the fruit of her labour. She was 15.

Attawapiskat celebrated the ground breaking of its new elementary school in June, the significance of which is not lost on Renaud. “I am so happy, it almost brings me to tears,” she says. “Beyond the grave she is still a strong spirit.”

Degree-holding aboriginal Canadians earn 50 per cent more throughout their lives than those without, according to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

Currently, 159 aboriginal students are enrolled at Concordia.

Related links:
•    Community Campaign
•    Giving to Concordia
•    Financial Aid and Awards Office
•    Centre for Native Education
•    First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada

 



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