Students across Ontario rally for free and accessible education

A rally was held at many college and university campuses across Ontario Wednesday, including at the University of Windsor, where students demanded free, accessible, and publicly funded education for all students, both domestic and international. 

Kayla Weiler, Fieldworker, Canadian Federation Of Students-Ontario says Ontario students pay some of the highest tution fees in the country.

"On average it's $10,000 a year and for international students it's five times more on average. So when we look at universities, like the University of Windsor, only 24 per cent of its total funding comes from the government, and yet this is a public university, so where is the public funding?."

She says when looking at the countries around the world who offer free education, Canada is an outlier.

"Canada can afford to offer free education. This is a really wealthy country, we do highly value public healthcare and other public services so why not public colleges and universities as well?."

Weiler says they're hoping to build up the student movement.

"All of the countries around the world that have free education had a strong student movement to fight for it. And so we know that  when we're united with the student movement we're able to do really big things. Also we're trying to get a response from the government. You know the government is responsible for funding education but simply haven't over the past couple decades."

The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario is the oldest and largest student organization in Ontario, representing over 350,000 college and university students in every region of the province.