Vialette Jasmine, is overcome with emotion while listening to Lynn Squires speak about the father she lost in 1999. Eleven students were awarded Canada Company scholarships at a ceremony on Aug 16 2013. Established in 2007, the scholarship is awarded to children of Canadian Forces members who died while on active duty (or reserve).Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
A Sanskrit tattoo reminds Sheralynn Kennedy to savour every minute with her loved ones. It reads 6,007. That's the number of days Ms. Kennedy spent with her mother before a tragic car accident ended her mother's life.
Ms. Kennedy's mother died five years ago. Her stepfather, Master Corporal Tim Wilson, died in Afghanistan on March 5, 2006.
While she spent less time with him than with her mother, Ms. Kennedy values every memory she has of her stepdad.
"For me, I would tell every child everywhere, whether your parents are serving or not, I would say treasure moments," she said. "Because not only did my stepdad die, but two years later, my mom died."
Ms. Kennedy was one of 11 children of fallen members of the Canadian Forces to receive scholarships for the coming academic year from The Canada Company Scholarship Fund.
It has provided almost a quarter of a million dollars in scholarships across Canada since 2007.
Moving on without one parent is trying, but without both, finding your way, much less figuring out how to pay for university, is challenging. That's where the Canada Company came in and became a part of Ms. Kennedy's new family. Their Scholarship Fund is helping her, and many more children who have lost a parent while the parent was on military duty, pay for school through an annual $4,000 award.
This year is the fourth year Ms. Kennedy has received the scholarship that she puts towards her doctorate of psychology, with a focus on child development, at the University of Winnipeg.
Ms. Kennedy pointed out that Canada Company offers her a new community during her speech at a scholarship acceptance ceremony in Toronto on Friday.
"Here we've formed friendships with people who truly understand how isolating it can be to lose a parent in such a tragic way," she said.
Ms. Kennedy was joined on stage to speak about her experience with Canada Company by first-time scholarship recipient Lynn Squires.
Ms. Squires lost her father, Sergeant Hedley Jerry Squires, in 1999 when she was just seven. The decorated army man died while serving in Bosnia and received the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal and the NATO Medal for Kosovo, to name only two of his honours.
One of his daughters, Lynn, was referred to as a scholarship alum despite having already finished her undergrad in science with a focus on biological science at MacEwan University in Edmonton. When she and her sister found out about the fund, she received a retroactive scholarship for her four-year undergrad that, along with other scholarships, helped her graduate debt-free last fall. She is now putting the remainder of the funds towards medical school at the University of Alberta.
In her speech, Ms. Squires was thankful, telling the audience of Canada`s top military men including Commander of the Armed Forces Lieutenant-General Marquis Hainse and Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, she worked full-time through the summers and up to three part-time jobs during school to reduce the burden on her mother.
"Coming from a single-parent home, as I'm sure many of you can understand," she said, "money is never something you take for granted."
The one sentiment that all the children of the fallen shared was that they remember and are proud of their parent's service.
"I was quite young when my dad lost his life in 1999," she said. "But I can still remember how proud I was that he was a part of the Canadian military – out there protecting the innocent and being the common superhero that my seven-year-old self envisioned."
For some, the wounds are still fresh.
Francis David and Marisa Paul lost their father, Captain Frank Paul, in 2010 while he was in Ottawa on leave from his duties as a paramedic at Kandahar air field in Afghanistan. The Newfoundlander became ill and died suddenly of a stroke at the age of 53.
His son, who is using this scholarship funds to pay for film school, said he's learned a lot from coming together with his new-found brothers and sisters at Canada Company.
"The only thing that helps is time," he said.