Ubalblog

[  Mood: Sick ]
[  Currently: Watching My son play with my mother ]
Alan Rock, the president of the University of Ottawa was on the CBC yesterday discussing a new program that will offer free tuition to the children of Canadian military personnel killed in the line of duty.

I love this idea. My husband and I have already started drafting a letter to our alma mater, Carleton University, asking them to participate in this program.

But why stop there? I think all post-secondary institutions should do this. Colleges, Universities, Apprenticeship programs. If your parent was in the military and made the ultimate sacrifice, you should get a free pass to post-secondary. You’ve already given up enough.

We ask the men and women of the Canadian military to do superhuman things on a regular basis, and they do it. They have jumped out of planes into raging blizzards to save us. We have sent them around the world to fight for us. They are routinely asked to sacrifice time with their families in order to save the day. And they do so willingly and with pride. So when one of them pays the price of this with their lives, we owe them and their families.

This measure is the least we can do.

In fact, I think this program should be extended to the children of police, fire and ambulance workers who are killed in the line of duty. Again, for the reasons above.

But small steps first. Get my alma mater on board, then the rest of the institutions in Ottawa, then Ontario, then Canada.

Who’s with me?