A very subdued Premier Doug Ford told reporters he wants to honour the 57 Canadians who lost their lives in last week's plane crash in Iran.
"They were smart, gifted, people who had a bright future ahead of them," said Ford. "Everyone of them had a degree, a contribution that they were giving back to society."
The Ontario government has proposed the creation of 57 new scholarships worth $10,000 each, one for each Canadian victim of the doomed flight.
"It was absolutely heartbreaking," said Ford of his meeting Tuesday with five of the families who lost loved ones. "And listening to the stories back home, when they're talking to their relatives -- and the pain that they're going through. People are hurting."
The flight was carrying 34 students and teachers from 15 post-secondary schools in Ontario including the University of Windsor, Western University in London, and Lambton College in Sarnia.
The scholarships will be awarded based on academic merit and financial need. Thirty-four of them will be to schools that lost students, while the rest will be awarded in a competitive process to any eligible school in the province. The Ministry of Colleges and Universities hopes to award the scholarships for the 2020-2021 academic school year.
Ford said the families of the victims would have some say in how the scholarships are awarded.
Iran has admitted a missile was fired at the passenger jet just after it took off from the airport in Tehran on January 8. However, it is not yet known how big a role Canadian officials will play in the investigation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has blamed the incident on the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, but Ford would not, and instead blamed the repressive regime in Iran.
He referred again to his meeting on Tuesday with the families.
"What I heard from them, is this Iranian regime shot down that plane," he said. "Innocent lives got shot down by a ruthless, careless, Iranian regime."
He also expressed support for the thousands of protesters in Iran who are angry their government first lied about the cause of the crash.
Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Phillippe Champagne is hosting a meeting in London, England of countries seeking compensation for their citizens who lost loved ones in the crash. Officials from Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan, and the United Kingdom are attending the meeting of the International Co-ordination and Response Group.
