Carleton University students used markers to make change at a sign-making event this month for an OSAP cut walkout the committee is coordinating at the Ottawa courthouse early this week.
The Student Mobilization Committee, a coalition advocating for student issues and free education, organized the event ahead of Tuesday’s protest.
Ottawa committee organizer, Luca Piomelli said the sign-making event is one of the committee’s efforts to drum up student engagement.
“We need a functional student movement,” Piomelli, a fourth-year history and political science student at the University of Ottawa, said.
“If a bigger group comes to this walkout, people will see and understand that students are heeding the call because these OSAP cuts are extremely detrimental,” he said.
Ellen Rakita, a third-year history student and a volunteer with the mobilization committee, said events like this help students get more politically involved by raising awareness.
“Our education is being taken away … and that’s really scary,” they said. “The more aware we are of this stuff happening, the more we can resist it.”
“(These cuts) make life more complicated,” Rakita added. “I’m going to have to adjust all my plans around these ridiculous changes.”
The Ontario government’s decision, they said, heightens barriers for underserved students.
Solar MacGillivray, a third-year psychology student, said the event was a space to build solidarity.
“It’s really important that we are all fighting against this as a team because it affects a lot of different students from a lot of different backgrounds,” they said.
They added the province should be “moving in the opposite direction” from its proposed cuts, making education more accessible rather than slashing financial aid.
Rakita said overturning the OSAP changes would only be “the beginning, not the end” of improving access to education.
“Universities and education are a public good that needs to be preserved,” Piomelli said. “Our job is to fight for it.”
Featured image by Zayn Daureeawoo/the Charlatan
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