Students and activists fight for sane tuition
Province | by Stephen Whitworth and Darrol Hofmeister
On Wednesday Nov. 2, a small but feisty band of Saskatchewan students, activists and forward-thinkers marched from Victoria Park in Saskatchewan’s capital city to the provincial legislature to call for universal free post-secondary education. While the demand — part of the Canadian Federation of Student’s annual Day Of Action — likely seems absurd to many in this conservative-leaning province, other countries, including Germany, Norway and Sweden, provide forms of free higher education and reap the benefits in an engaged and educated citizenry. Remember, Americans laugh at Canadians for our health care system. When we mock the idea of free universal education, we risk looking just as backwards in the eyes of other nations. Just sayin’.
PHOTOS: 1. Protestors — many if not most of them Indigenous — arrive at the legislature on Wednesday afternoon. 2. Earlier, activists assembled in Victoria Park. 3. Indigenous drummers lead the march 4. John A. MacDonald offers unexpected support. 5. First Nations University’s Heather O’Watch fires up the crowd.
