What happened Attawapiskat school?
In her isolated community of Attawapiskat near the coast of James Bay, however, public pressure had closed the J.R. Nakogee Elementary School in 2000. A 1979 toxic diesel leak that had never been thoroughly cleaned had contaminated the school grounds.
Does Attawapiskat have a school?
Water damage closes Attawapiskat’s new elementary school The school was opened with much fanfare in 2014, putting an end to a 14-year period in which the community’s roughly 400 elementary-age students were being taught in portable classrooms.
What language do they speak in Attawapiskat?
the Swampy Cree language
Language. Almost all of the Aboriginal population of Attawapiskat speak the Swampy Cree language, one of the varieties of the Cree language, as their first language. Many elders understand very little English; they speak Cree and other Aboriginal languages.
Does Attawapiskat have a high school?
In 1991 the school was enlarged, and Vezina Secondary School opened its doors, in 1993 a new high school was built. From 1912 on, the Roman Catholic Mission in Attawapiskat kept a garden behind the buildings of the Mission.
What caused the Attawapiskat housing crisis?
A state of emergency was declared in July 2011 after a number of homes were contaminated by sewage. The deputy chief at the time said a lack of housing and overcrowding in the community compounded the problem.
Where is the Statue of Shannen Koostachin?
New Liskeard, Ontario
The bronze monument, located in New Liskeard, Ontario, honours the life of Shannen Koostachin, who died in a car crash in June 2010 not far from town. She was attending high school there because there wasn’t a high school in her isolated Cree community of Attawapiskat.
What is Attawapiskat known for?
Known as “People of the parting of the rocks” in the Swampy Cree language, Attawapiskat is home to about 2,000 people. Typical of the colonial practice of exploiting natural resources from Indigenous lands, resource extraction in Northern Ontario prospered thanks to Treaty 9, or the James Bay Treaty of 1905.
Does Attawapiskat have clean water?
In this case, Attawapiskat has never had safe drinking water, and instead of addressing this problem with long-term water infrastructure, Ottawa has opted to treat the water from a local lake by adding a large amount of chlorine.
What is Attawapiskat famous for?
Is Attawapiskat poor?
Attawapiskat, like many reserves, is suffering an acute housing shortage. Families are doubled up in the small homes that line the handful of streets making up this town.
What is wrong with the water in Attawapiskat?
In July, 2019, the Attawapiskat Band Council notified residents that our tap water had tested positive for potentially harmful levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) – byproducts of the disinfection process created when chlorine interacts with high levels of organic materials.
How do you get to Attawapiskat?
There is no direct connection from Toronto to Attawapiskat First Nation. However, you can take the car ferry to Billy Bishop Airport Ferry Terminal, take the walk to Billy Bishop Toronto City airport, fly to Fort Albany, then take the drive to Attawapiskat First Nation.
When was Nakogee Elementary School built?
Everybody in Attawapiskat was delighted when J. R. Nakogee Elementary School opened in 1976. Named after a respected elder, it was a large, sturdy, state-of-the-art building, a welcome symbol of progress and an infinite improvement on distant residential schools.
What happened to Jr Nakogee School?
After 20 years of successive environmental investigations and promises of a cleanup, the federal government finally closed J.R. Nakogee in 2000. Edwards went to kindergarten that year in a school made of portables. It should have been a temporary move while the old school was demolished, the site cleaned and a new school built.
Is Attawapiskat’s High School good?
Built in the early 1990s, Attawapiskat’s high school has always been in better condition than the elementary school, although it would seem small and stark to students and teachers in more modern provincial high schools in southern Canada.
Where in the world is Attawapiskat?
They live 500 kilometres north of Timmins, even farther north than their Mushkego Cree kinfolk in Moose Factory, Kashechewan and Fort Albany. Yet the kids would never describe their village as remote or isolated. Attawapiskat is located at the precise centre of their universe.