To Doug Ford,
Your recent cuts to OSAP and university funding, as well as your decision to increase the maximum number of students per teacher has affected countless students and families across Canada–including myself. Coming from a family of little fortune, and pursuing secondary studies I have had to rely heavily on OSAP funding to make ends meet in my day to day life. Between bills and other payments, I have had to develop impeccable saving and budgeting skills so as to be able to afford groceries and my leisure coffee before class. However with the recent happenings, I have had to cut down on practically everything, living a simple and minimalist lifestyle. Moreover, I was forced to work more than 40 hours per week during my summer vacation, all so that I could save up for bills throughout the school year in the hope that my OSAP wouldn’t be spread too thin. During the summertime, I worked at the GAP Factory and at an East Side Marios; my typical daily routine consisted of working from 4 am to 2pm at the GAP Factory before proceeding to East Side Marios to work from 4 pm till 10 pm. In effect, I starved myself of life in due of responsibility and obligation.
With the start of the school year, I have been on the search for not 1, but 2 jobs to fit my already-tight school schedule. This is all done while attempting to multitask, finding a balance between studying and working, as well as a few hours of freedom. At this point however, my free time may only be my nightly sleep. Thenceforth the cuts have taken a hefty toll on my mental and physical health; I have been marked ill for months on-end with aches and pains that cannot be silenced with medication, and with mental bruises of pure undiluted exhaustion that sleep has quit attempting to wash away. My predicament residing in the land of terrible and tiresome doesn’t compare to that of others. I know people who have had no other choice but to quit their studies, for their lack of financial support has so profoundly affected their ability to pursue school. Others have had to take online courses so as to work full time in order to fund their schooling. The list goes on, and refuses to relent. Alas, Doug Ford, the reason behind my letter is to shed some light on the casualties of your decisions. The bills you’ve passed, and laws you’ve made have taken a toll on each and every single student, teacher and citizen–you haven’t hurt just a nation but rather the souls, bodies, hearts, and minds of every single person that comprises the populace of Canada. And I ask you, had you not been so fortunate or your children set up with funds in their names, and if you or your family had to walk the steps that we the students are painfully walking, would you have been content? Would you have been silent in the uprising roar of protests? Doug Ford you have brought a storm cloud of debt, stress and everlasting worry over the heads of students nation-wide and we have been left with no option but to spread ourselves thin into bone-deep exhaustion.
Sincerely,
Susan Mokh