Hi-Ho Mistahey!

Inspired by the life of the late teen activist Shannen Koostachin, children and community members from Attawapiskat created Shannen's Dream, a national campaign to provide equitable access to education in safe and suitable schools for First Nations children. Hi-Ho Mistahey! follows the grassroots movement from northern Ontario to the United Nations in Geneva, where the children's voices calling for a new school were finally heard, prompting a response back home in Canada.

Fourteen-year-old Shannen Koostachin launched a campaign to build a suitable school for the children of the Cree community of Attawapiskat in 2008. Two years later, tragedy struck when Shannen was killed in a car accident. Her campaign became a national movement, bringing people from all walks of life together to make Shannen's Dream-the dream of fairness in education for First Nations children, in schools that are safe and welcoming-a reality. With the documentary Hi-Ho Mistahey!, Alanis Obomsawin brings together the voices of those who have taken Shannen's Dream across Canada and all the way to the United Nations in Geneva, in a larger-than-life adventure. In February 2012, a motion on education for First Nations children passed unanimously in the House of Commons. The voice of the children had been heard, and construction of a new school in Attawapiskat could finally begin.

The rights of First Nations children take centre stage in this monumental work, where generations of injustices endured by children living on reserves are exposed. Through passionate testimony and unwavering conviction, frontline childcare workers and experts, including Cindy Blackstock, take part in a decade-long court battle to ensure these children receive the same level of care as other Canadian children. Their case against Canada is a stark reminder of the disparities that persist in First Nations communities and the urgent need for justice to be served.