Thursday October 27th, 2016

We are the Shannen's Dream Team from Featherston Drive Public School. We are writing this letter in support of First Nations children. We want to encourage them to keep up their work that they are doing for Canada and fighting for their rights. Even though we were unfair and rather rude to them, they never gave up and are still doing a wonderful job protecting Canada. Aboriginal people over the years have fought hard for their rights and for justice. That is why we want you (First Nations children) to be treated fairly and have proper health care and also to have proper shelter and most importantly feel proud of your culture and get a good education. We also learned about Shannen Koostachin from Attawapiskat and how brave and courageous she was. Shannen died in a car accident. But the courage she showed inspired us to action. We hope to stop criticism against First Nation people. Our team thinks that you should start thinking about how and what we did wrong. It's amazing that they have lived here for almost ten thousand years ago. When they arrived Canada wasn't even called Canada it was called Turtle Island, and you have stayed here when all the changes happened. Your families and friends have cooperated with the early settlers (pioneers) and everybody else who arrived. We want you to realize the harm that the pioneers have against your rights and that they treated you like you weren't important to the world, just because you had a different type of living your life. We consider you as equal in building Canada. We are all children. We believe that it's unfair that you have to suffer living on territory that was once yours, without proper care. We believe that reserves should at least have no boundaries. No human being wants to feel crowded in such a large territory. We feel sad that your community is not stored with proper food and helpful resources, such as proper healthcare. We have learned about residential schools and the harm that it did to many children. As we look back we realize what huge mistakes we made and how it scarred Canadian history.

We can't make the same mistake twice. We think that no one should be left behind. We have been told so many times since we were little. We are the Shannen's dream team and we will keep on supporting First Nations children forever

Featherston Drive Public School
Ottawa, Ontario