The newest member of the Justice League United doesn't have a name yet, but creator Jeff
Lemire stated that he was inspired by Shannen Koostachin. Lemire said the 15-year-old, who led fellow students to Parliament Hill to lobby for a proper school, isn't far from his thoughts in drawing up the new superhero.
Shannen was a young member of the Attawapiskat First Nation on the James Bay coast. For 10 years the community had been fighting to get a school. In November, 2007, when the government walked away on a commitment to build a grade school Shannen led a movement for “safe and comfy” schools and quality culturally based education for her under resourced reserve called the Attawapiskat School Campaign.
At the age of 14, in 2009 she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize. Koostachin and her older sister, Serena, moved hundreds of kilometres away from Attawapiskat to New Liskeard, Ontario to attend a non-native high school. She died on May 30, 2010 in a car accident.
NDP MP Charlie Angus, with whose family she lived while attending school, introduced the motion "Shannen's Dream" in the House of Commons.
It calls on Ottawa to close the gap between funding of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal education.
A new school bearing her name is scheduled to open in Attawapiskat next September.
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