Early Years
At age 16, while attending St. Pius X high school in Ottawa, Rick Chiarelli formed the Ontario Students Alliance for Fair Funding (OSAFF) to fight for the equality that was promised in the Constitution. At this time, Ontario’s separate schools were funded only to grade 10. Beyond this, a high school student was required to pay substantial tuition fees.
Rick Chiarelli began to speak at hundreds of schools and the Ontario Students Alliance for Fair Funding (OSAFF) quickly grew to over 70,000 members across Ontario.
OSAFF launched a legal challenge against the Provincial Government’s treatment of separate schools and convinced Ian Scott, a prominent Canadian lawyer, to represent them in court. The action was timed to coincide with the visit to the Premier by Pope John Paul II. The court imposed deadlines on the Province to file its full defense to the action. As a result, Premier Bill Davis announced a change in the Province’s century old policy and granted full funding to separate schools. The case was unanimously won by OSAFF 9-0 at the Supreme Court of Canada.
During OSAFF’s legal challenge, Rick Chiarelli ran for school trustee of the school board and won. This resulted in Rick Chiarelli becoming the youngest ever elected.
Read more about this topic: Rick Chiarelli
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