Have you ever considered how change comes about? Before a change is made, there is planning and before planning, comes an udnerstanding of what needs to be put into the action to make a situation better. Advocating is the processs of research, promotion, lobbying and direct action to make a change that will better the community as a whole. Being an advocate means standing up for what you believe in, as well as what is best for your community, and lobbying for that belief to become reality.
The Advocacy Department
Together, the VPEA, Advocacy Coordinator and Research & Policy Coordinator work to engage, inform and lobby for students on issues that affect post-secondary education, and the life of the modern student.
VPEA
The VPEA is the representative to provincial and federal lobby groups on behalf of the Brock University student body.
Advocacy Coordinator
The Advocacy coordinator has more of a face presence in the hallways as they put on many campaigns to either inform students on upcoming issues/changes, or, collect feedback on students’ opinions of these issues.
Research & Policy Coordinators
The research and policy coordinators assist in the creation of policy options to the Municipal. Ontario and federal governments on behalf of OUSA and CASA. The research and policy coordinators are responsible for conducting all research as directed by the VPEA as well as researching information necessary to the campaigns conducted by the advocacy coordinator.
The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, also known as OUSA, was established in 1995 and has been an undergraduate lobby group for the past 20 years. It represents 140,000 students from 8 different Ontario Universities (Brock University, the University of Western Ontario, Laurier University, McMaster University, University of Waterloo, Trent University Oshawa Campus, Laurentian University and Queens University). Member universities pay $3.04 per student for every year. OUSA is a student driven organization, this means that students direct the activities of the organization such as messages to the government, research and policy, strategic direction, and all other programs and deliverables. One of OUSA’s most important goals is to provide educated policy options to government through responsive research and policy on the issues that affect students the most. Some of OUSA’s major successes include:
- Tuition Freeze (2006)
- $6.2 Billion for Higher Education (2008)
- $500 Distance Grant (2009)
- $150 Textbook Grant (2009)
- $615 Million in student aid, credit transfers, growth and infrastructure (2010)
- 30% off tuition grant (2011)
- New Tuition Framework (2013)
- $365 million of tax credits repurposed into grants for low-income students (2016)
Working with OUSA allows each campus and its students the opportunity to be heard and represented to decision makers in the post-secondary education system.
The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) is similar to OUSA in that it is an association of student unions created to promote student interests to the government; however, CASA is a lobby and research organization working at the federal level. BUSU became a full member of CASA in 2001, and the organization has now grown to represent over 300,000 students. CASA represents 26 full-member student unions from coast to coast, and 1 associate member. CASA prides itself on thorough and comprehensive research on educational issues so as to influence national educational policy. CASA also routinely develops government and committee submissions on post-secondary issues.
The Vice President of External Affairs for BUSU is the representative to CASA. Unlike OUSA, CASA is too big for each member representative to sit on a Steering Committee, so the organization has a Board of Directors, which is elected every June/July. For the last two years and counting, the VPEA of BUSU has been elected to the Board, which attests to the hard work for which we are known.
BUSU has been a heavy-hitter in CASA, just as in OUSA, having initiated committee work and policy development, as well as significant lobbying efforts with MPs that have helped to increase CASA’s prestige on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Since its creation, CASA has many notable achievements:
- Creation of Student Loan Interest Tax Credit – 17% tax relief for payments on federal and provincial loans
- Interest relief deferral period on student loans increased from 30 to 54 months
- Tax relief for part-time students (for the first time, p/t students can claim partial tax credit)
- RRSP withdrawal made tax-free for lifelong learning
- Changes to taxation policy exempting up to $3000 in scholarship money
- Education tax credit increased several times
- Increased Canada Study Grant for Students with Disabilities from $5 000 to $8 000
- Obtained legal right to work off-campus for international students everywhere in the country
- Secured over $4 Billion in transfers to provinces to make PSE more affordable
- Extended Canada Access Grant to all four years of study for students from low-income families
- Eliminated tax on all scholarships, fellowships and bursaries
- Textbook tax credit of $65/month ($20/mth for part time students)
- Expanded eligibility for Canada Student Loans & reduction of expected parental contribution
- Inclusion of education as a fair-dealing exemption under new copyright legislation
CASA meets 3 times a year to discuss policy and research/lobby priorities with all member schools. The location of these conferences varies as they rotate around the country on a regular basis.
Contact Us!
Are you interested in learning more about what we do? Have a comment on our hallway campaigns? Send us a message & let us know what’s on your mind!
