Cindy Blackstock a First Nations activist and the Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. In 2007, she filed a complaint pursuant to the Canadian Human Rights Act claiming the Canadian government was racially discriminating against 163,000 First Nations children and their families by paying less for child welfare services on reserves. Finally, in 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal substantiated the discrimination claim and ordered the government to correct it.

Read ​​Shannen Koostachin: I Will Never Give Up 
by Cindy Blackstock​ in When We Are Bold: Women Who Turn Our Upsidedown World Right

---

Shannen Koostachin was a young activist from the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Canada. At 12 years old, Shannen launched a social media letter writing campaign demanding a new school because the one in her community sat next to a toxic waste dump. The campaign gained national attention, and inspired thousands of children across Canada to write letters to the prime minister demanding proper schools in First Nations communities. Shannen died in a car accident at the age of 15, but her campaign continues through the Shannen’s Dream Foundation. 

---