As a single mother of two who is both Black and Indigenous, I understand deeply how education can transform lives. I have faced adversity from a very young age. I have spent most of my life fighting just to survive.

I lost a parent at four years old. Before I was old enough to understand grief, I understood loss. Before I understood stability, I understood struggle. I have battled mental health challenges for as long as I can remember, carrying pain quietly while trying to build a future from very little.

At sixteen years old, I began working to support myself. While other teenagers were focused on school events and friendships, I was focused on paying bills and staying afloat. I learned early that nothing would be handed to me.

When I became a mother, everything changed. Survival was no longer enough. My children look at me with hope in their eyes. They trust me to build a life where they feel safe, secure, and proud of where they come from. I refuse to let them inherit the same cycles of hardship.

That is why I chose to pursue becoming a social worker — to advocate for families like mine, to stand in rooms where decisions are made, and to create change for those who are too often unheard. Education is not just a career goal for me. It is my pathway to healing, stability, and generational change.

But right now, that pathway feels like it is being blocked.

Tuition in Ontario averages over $7,200 per year — and that does not include books, childcare, transportation, and basic living expenses. As a single-income household supporting two children, every dollar is already stretched thin. Groceries. Rent. Clothing. School supplies. There is no extra cushion.

With OSAP shifting more toward loans and reducing grants, students like me are being told to take on overwhelming debt just to access an education. I am willing to work hard — I always have — but I should not have to choose between feeding my children and pursuing the education that will allow me to provide them a better life.

For Black and Indigenous families, these barriers cut even deeper. We already face systemic inequities that limit opportunity. When education becomes financially unreachable, it reinforces those inequalities and tells our children that their dreams come with a higher price tag.

We do not want our children to grow up believing that higher education is only for families with money. I want them to see their mother walk across a stage, degree in hand, knowing that resilience and determination were enough — not wealth.

Education should not be a privilege. It should not be reserved for those born into financial security. It should be a right — accessible, affordable, and protected.

I call upon the Ministry of Colleges and Universities and the Ontario government to:

-Increase non-repayable OSAP grants
-Reduce and cap tuition fees
-Ensure equitable access to post-secondary education for low-income, Black, Indigenous, and ALL STUDENTS
I am not asking for charity. I am asking for opportunity. I am asking for fairness. I am asking for a system that sees students like me not as financial risks — but as investments in a stronger, more equitable Ontario.

My children are watching. So are countless other families walking this same difficult road.

Please stand with us. Sign this petition. Help make education a bridge — not a barrier.

This petition is meant to bring awareness for the negative impacts of this change that affects already disadvantaged, vulnerable populations and is being advocated upon by Jahtavia Vass & Kayla Irvin. 

Equity should be an integrated framework when it comes to accessing education in this province.