Students in Grades 3, 4 and 5 from the Ottawa area gathered on Parliament Hill Tuesday morning to call for better education in aboriginal communities.

Students in Grades 3, 4 and 5 from across Ottawa read letters, held placards and sang songs on Parliament Hill Tuesday morning to call for better education in aboriginal communities. (CBC)

They read letters and sang songs after visiting the Supreme Court of Canada Monday to listen in on an aboriginal human rights case. For some of them, the two trips were the culmination of weeks of study about conditions on reserves.

Political events such as the trip to Parliament Hill are more often associated with older high school and university students, but organizer Sylvia Smith said her students believe that "what's right is right."

"This rises above politics," said Smith, who teaches at Elizabeth Wyn Wood Alternative School in Nepean. "This is an issue of fairness. This is an issue of what's just and what's right."

Mikhaila Joseph attends Lady Evelyn Alternative School.

Parents supportive, teacher says

"It's important to us because we think it's unfair how they're treated differently just because they live somewhere else and they have a different race than us," she said while visiting the Supreme Court Monday.

Ya-elle Atinokov is in Grade 4 and said her school is a proper one with enough teachers for everyone.

"We're going to sing songs and read out our letters that we wrote, and tell the government we want proper education," Atinokov said.

Lady Evelyn teacher Annie Atnikov said parents have been very supportive.

"I don't know that it's a political statement," Atnikov said. "What we're teaching them is that we are a democracy, we are the government. This is about racism. This is about everybody having the same rights."