Together We Are The Difference

I am now back at home (Halifax) from the conference I have been attending this week for the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA).

From my earlier posts it is evident that the conference was made of two parts: lobbying and our annual general meeting. We ended our lobby sessions with Members of Parliament, Senators, and staff on Thursday. The meetings all proved to be effective and are sure to gain momentum to further enhance the post secondary education system in Canada.

Below is a list of all the people whom I had the opportunity to meet with over the past week (please note that CASA was able to secure meetings with over 160 government officials and with the leaders of all national political parties):

- Mr. Wayne Marston (NDP)

- Dr. Carolyn Bennett (L)

- Ms. Anita Neville (L)

- Mr. Bill Siksay (NDP)

- Mr. Alan Tonks (L)

- Senator Terry Mercer (L)

- Dr. Michael Ignatieff (L)

- Senator James Cowan (L)

- Senator Leo Housakos (C)

CASA was also able to secure a meeting with Elections Canada for all of the student unions across the country which encountered voting issues for students in the fall federal election. This meeting was a great opportunity to gain insight from Elections Canada and to also further explain the obstacles which students faced and how we can work to overcome them in the future. An additional meeting has been discussed for several student unions and Elections Canada to address some of the communications issues which were faced.

On Friday and Saturday CASA held its Annual General Meeting. The agenda included National Director presentations and the election. Congratulations to Arati Sharma who has been selected as our new National Director (it should also be noted she is the first female ND for CASA). On Saturday presentation sessions were held to review our board and regional coordinator structure, constitution presentation, budget presentation, and our closing plenary. The presentation went well and allowed for delegates across the country to gain a better understanding of where the organization is moving to and to have their voices heard in those decisions.

Overall this conference has been a highlight of my term as President for the DSU and also a highlight as my time as a university student. The DSU has been part of CASA since 1995 and we want to make the future of post secondary education and the country better. We know that working together will get us there and we continue to enlighten ourselves on the obstacles our students face. Throughout the past week I have had the opportunity to learn more about the struggles of students across the country and I trust that the leaders around the CASA table (and future member schools as well) will continue to be a strong and respected voice and partner throughout Canada.

Tomorrow morning (Monday March 30th) I will be on Breakfast Television here on the East Coast discussing the conference and the issues that Canadian students are currently facing - I hope you will tune in!

CASA Gains Momentum

It was just announced in the debrief session of the second day of the CASA Lobby Conference that we have secured meetings with the leaders of all the major political parties in Canada. This is a first in the history of CASA Lobby Conferences and we are very proud of this achievement.

Additionally today I had 4 lobby meetings with Ms. Anita Neville (Liberal), Bill Siksay (NDP), Alan Tonks (Liberal), and Senator Terry Mercer (Liberal). All of the meetings went very well and myself and my meeting mates were able to covey the key advocacy points contained in CASA's Lobby Document.

As well CASA's National Director had several media interviews today relating to CASA's Lobby Conference and the areas which we are advocating for a positive change for the post secondary education system in Canada.

Overall today was a great success and I feel that myself and the other CASA delegates have been doing a wonderful job advocating on behalf of all Canadian students. Tomorrow is another day of lobbying to government officials and I have also been placed in a meeting with Elections Canada to discuss the voting issues our students had in the fall federal election.

Lobbying Ottawa - Day 1

Today was the first day of the lobbying section of the CASA conference that I mentioned I was currently involved in in my post yesterday.

All of the CASA delegates that are attending the conference had meetings set up throughout the morning and afternoon with Members of Parliament and staff members. I had a meeting this morning with Mr. Wayne Marston (NDP) and this afternoon I had a meeting with Dr. Carolyn Bennett (Lib). The two meetings were very different but overall I think that myself and the other delegates in the meeting with me got all the necessary advocacy points across.

I also attended Question Period today.

Right now we are just going over the experiences that the delegates had today and ways to build on them for the rest of the week.

Tonight we have the CASA Alumni dinner which is always a great time to touch base with delegates and all the alumni in the area.

Bringing You Up To Date

It has been a long time (March 9) since my last post and I do apologize for not posting since then. During the past two weeks a lot has taken place and I will now do my best to bring things back up to speed.

DSU AGM

On March 11th the DSU held an annual General Meeting. Approximately 210 Dalhousie students came to the meeting. A variety of items were on the agenda which included year-to-date reports from the executives, constitutionals amendments, and motions from Dalhousie students. To see online versions of the prepared constitutional amendments and the motions please click here.

The agenda was not able to be completed in the 4 hours of the meeting on March 11th so a subsequent meeting was created and is being held on Wednesday April 1, 2009 in the McInnes Room of the Student Union Building. For more information on the meeting please click here.

DSU Elections

Dalhousie students completed voting for executive, senate, and board of governor candidates on Thursday March 19th and the results were announced that night in the Grawood. I am proud to announce that we have a strong incoming executive and I look forward to seeing their goals and priorities develop. For the list of successful candidates please click here.

CASA Conference

I am currently on a conference for the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. This conference is a combination of two of the annual conferences: Lobby and Annual General Meeting. Today we are in sessions reviewing policies that have been developed throughout the months since the Policy and Strategy Conference. Tomorrow through Thursday the CASA delegates (which I am one of) have meetings set up with government officials (MPs and staff) to discuss our policies and stances that we are advocating for. I plan to write several blogs throughout the week reflecting the meetings that I am attending along with a post which will summarize what takes place at the AGM next weekend.

This post covers all the main items which have occurred over the past two weeks - if you have any questions about any of them or any other areas please contact me at dsupres@dal.ca.