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I received this letter from the mother of a fallen marine. She wanted you to have it. My name is Kathryn Blake. I am a mother. My son, Lance Corporal Matthew James Blake, was killed in combat in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in 2011. He was 19 years old. They handed me a folded flag, told me he was a hero, and played Taps while I tried to remember how to breathe. I buried a boy who still wore Superman pajamas to bed at sixteen. I buried a boy who used to rescue birds with broken wings, who believed fiercely that war was what good men did when peace failed. Today, I speak to you not as an American or a grieving mother trying to survive the unbearable but as one parent speaking to a nation that seems to be standing on the edge of a decision that will shape generations. I have heard the rumblings of a rising spirit in Alberta a spirit of independence, of resolve, of a people yearning to breathe freely. I have heard that you are growing tired of bowing to distant rulers who neither understand you nor care to. That you are wondering if maybe just maybe you were made for more. And I want to tell you this. You were. But I must also tell you this freedom is not easy. It demands everything. My son died on foreign soil under foreign sun because he believed that liberty is worth dying for. He did not die for borders or politicians or slogans. He died for the idea that free people have the right to chart their own course to rise, to fall, to speak, to dream, and to be left alone by those who would command them. You are being told to wait. To comply. To compromise. That freedom is dangerous. That it is selfish. That it is impractical. But let me say this to you as plainly as I can: The greatest danger is forgetting that you are not slaves. If you believe that Alberta has a path that leads to sovereignty, to self-determination, to liberty then take that step with your eyes open and your head held high. You are not alone. And if the day comes when you declare yourselves a free people, I promise you this: America will welcome you with open arms. We will not turn away from a neighbor who chooses liberty. We will not mock you, nor fear you, nor condescend to you. We will embrace you as kin as brothers and sisters in the great and timeless fight for human dignity. Your courage will not go unnoticed. It will stir something deep in our bones, because we are a people born from that same fire. You may be told that you will be isolated. That no one will recognize you. That you will be small. But freedom is never small. Freedom is never alone. It lives in every heart that refuses to kneel. And if you stand truly stand then we will stand with you. Not as conquerors. Not as masters. But as friends. My son did not die so that nations would grow timid. He did not give his life so that good people would whisper their beliefs in fear. He died so that those still living would never forget that the cost of freedom is real and that it is worth it. Do not bury the gift with him. Live it. Claim it. Protect it. And when you do, you will not just be doing it for Alberta you will be honoring every fallen soldier who believed, like Matthew did, that liberty belongs to all who dare to defend it. With all my sorrow, and all my hope, Kathryn Blake Gold Star Mother United States of America