After Ashley Courchene’s legal battle to be reinstated to the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) executive concluded in his favour in an Ontario court last month, he said there’s a mutual understanding among those in CUSA that it’s time to co-operate.
“Everybody’s here to work towards the best interests of students,” Courchene said. “As long as everybody remembers that, I think we’ll be good moving forward.”
Courchene said he is getting himself settled into his role as vice-president (student services) and has “full intentions” to uphold the platform points he ran on, including advocating for lower tuition, improving access to CUSA’s service centres, and hiring more students to work at them.
Working to remove the word “Aboriginal” from the Carleton campus is also a goal for Courchene.
“I think it’s an outmoded term now, a little outdated, and a lot of Indigenous students don’t like it,” he said.
Fahd Alhattab, CUSA’s president for a second term, said he is excited for the year ahead.
“I think we have a wonderful team, a great set of skills around the table,” he said.
As the CUSA executive has been meeting to plan for the upcoming year, Alhattab said Courchene, who took office later than the other executives, is being involved in decision-making and “things are going really well.”
Both Courchene and Alhattab said the CUSA council and executive are acting professionally.
“It’s been very healthy,” Alhattab said.
“We have to just remind ourselves that we’re there for one ultimate reason and it’s to serve students,” he added, mentioning there is a great sense of unity between the executive and council due to this common goal.
Alhattab, however, said he was surprised by the result of Courchene’s court case, calling it “a poor application of the law.”
He said the judge’s ruling in the case could be dangerous as it could set precedent for a court battle after every future election.
Sean Smith, former CUSA vice-president (student life), said Courchene fought an uphill battle to reclaim elected office.
“It’s an amazing story of an underdog being able to be victorious, and it really brought to light some of the issues around the student elections that happen at Carleton,” Smith said.
“I’m totally optimistic that CUSA’s going to have a great council moving forward,” Smith said. “I’m very impressed with the diversity of council and how outspoken some of the councillors are about things they believe in.”
Charissa Feres, a newly elected arts and social sciences councillor, said they felt “drained and frustrated” after the first meeting of the new CUSA council this past March, and added some things councillors brought up were “not listened to or voted down.”
“I really hope that going forward in the next school year that our executives can really get over whatever happened last year with the election . . . and really work on moving forward and working together and collaborating,” they said.
The motion to enact a student referendum to remove Alhattab from office did not pass at the March meeting. Feres said students had the opportunity to voice their concerns, but it was also a “toxic environment” where people were being personally attacked.
Alhattab said he doesn’t think this failed motion affects him.
“I feel very confident that the student body has given me a mandate, and [they] do trust me, and do believe that I am the best candidate,” he said.
“Disagreement and conflict are a positive thing,” Alhattab said. “In a team environment, conflict is the journey to truth.”
With respect to conflict, Courchene said disagreements are inevitable, but “it doesn’t have to be a war all the time.”
