A Durham resident wants to provide an alternative to a military career for high school students.
Frank Barningham came to yesterday’s Bluewater District School Board meeting to voice his displeasure of the Board allowing posters offering career opportunities in the Canadian Armed Forces to students.
Barningham suggests he and others like him be given the same opportunity to address students about the downside of war and violence.
He is willing to provide students information on humanitarian and peace projects as a career option.
Barningham says one student tried to get James Loney — a Canadian peace activist who was a hostage in Iraq in 2005 — to come and speak at a school but was refused.
He says there are parents and military veterans who also feel that war is not a solution.
Barningham says he understands that students need to choose a career path once they finish high school and that the Armed Forces is one option.
But he says it would be better served if the Armed Forces can offer something else other than war.
Currently Bluewater along with the Bruce Grey Catholic School Board and the Grey and Simcoe Foresters are offering a Militia Co-op Program where students can earn credits toward their Ontario Secondary School Diploma.
