Letter to the Editor of the Sudbury Star

We're No. One!

Sir/Madam,

I am quite surprised that you chose not to report on the Stats Canada report released yesterday stating Ontario's tuition fees are now the highest in the country. We also boast the lowest faculty to student ratio.

On the same day that this report was released the Laurentian University Senate voted overwhelming in support to endorse the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario campaign to 'Drop Fees for a Poverty-Free Ontario', making them the only University to do so. In addition, Sudbury city council was the first municipality in Ontario to endorse the campaign and have been followed by the municipal councils of Markstay-Warren, St. Charles, Northeastern Manitoulin & the Islands, Iroquois Falls and Hearst. This stands as a testament to how the rising cost of education disproportionately affects the north.

On November the fifth Laurentian Students will congregate at the Great Hall cul-de-sac on campus at 14h00 to join other students, workers and concerned citizens at Bell Park at 14h30 where they will collectively stage a march to raise awareness of the growing in accessibility of post-secondary education to working families.

With 70% of new jobs requiring some form of post-secondary education, and with record unemployment in Northern Ontario and with 1.3 million Ontarians currently living in poverty we need an education system that is accessible to all.

Kindly,
Rafiq Rahemtulla