The 2021 Rideau River Residence Association election will be taking place online on March 22 to 23. Students will elect three executives, including a vice-president (administration).
The Charlatan spoke with all four candidates running in this year’s election for the vice-president (administration) position.
Davin Caratao, independent
Previous experience
Caratao said he served as student council president in high school and was a student trustee for the Halton Catholic District School Board.
“Being a student trustee, I really learned about what makes organizations tick,” Caratao said.
Caratao is currently a Lennox and Addington building representative for RRRA and serves as chair of the constitution and policy review committee.
As chair of the committee, Caratao said he works closely with current executives and spearheaded an effort to introduce independent candidates in the election.
He also led campaigns to update the RRRA impeachment process and change building representative allocation, which ultimately failed to pass council.
Caratao is also the council clerk for the Carleton Academic Student Government, involved in the Carleton UN Society, and a member of the Carleton Law Society’s MOOT team.
“Voters can see out of all the candidates, I’m probably the most experienced running for this position,” Caratao said.
Reasons for running
Looking at the RRRA constitution, Caratao said he realized there were “a lot of problems with it, top to bottom.”
“A residence association is supposed to be here for the betterment of students and the betterment of our community,” Caratao said. “We can’t do that if it’s built upon an unstable foundation.”
Caratao said he wants to overhaul RRRA’s governance system so the association can focus on issues that matter to students.
Slate or independent
Caratao said he was approached to join a couple slates but turned them down.
“I believe that slates are not always the best way in which voters can participate in the democratic process,” Caratao said, adding that he wants to run on his own merits and let voters make the decision themselves.
Campaign goals
Caratao said he wants to improve the RRRA scholarship and bursary programs, which he says haven’t been funded in years.
“I think [that’s] a damn shame,” he said. “We should be giving out scholarships to the most exceptional contributors to the residence community.”
The bursary program would help support students who find residence to be a significant financial burden, Caratao said.
He said he has released a draft budget to show how he would pay for the program.
Caratao also said he wants to introduce constitutional reform, including “anti-nepotism” policies for council and executives to make sure hiring is fair and councillors disclose conflicts of interests before votes.
Other reforms Caratao said he wants to pursue include permanently allowing independent candidates in elections and perhaps phasing out slates entirely. Caratao said slates make campaigning less about the issues and more of a popularity contest.
Caratao said he wants to push Housing and Residence Life Services to offer free menstrual products to students.
Final pitch
Caratao said he has the most comprehensive plan of any candidate and can make his ideas a reality.
“I’ve had a long passion in student government and making our institutions work,” Caratao said. “I believe I have the experience it takes to help change RRRA for the better.”
Julienne Espiritu
Previous experience
Espiritu is currently a RRRA councillor and sits on the food services and COVID-19 committees. Espiritu said she served as vice president of her high school’s student council and participated in the Toronto District School Board’s leadership team.
Espiritu said she’s also done volunteer work in Toronto.
“I’ve been able to interact with a diverse group of people,” she said. “I’ve been able to change my perspectives on a lot of things and learn as I go with a lot of problems I’ve faced.”
Reasons for running
Espiritu said she wants to make the residence experience better for students, especially after how difficult this year has been.
“This past year has been very difficult for a lot of us,” she said. “I kind of just wanted to leave campus a better place than I found it.”
Slate or independent
Espiritu said forcing students to run in slates diminishes the accessibility of elections.
“Just because the fact that independents don’t have a teammate doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have an ability to run,” Espiritu said.
Campaign goals
Espiritu said her primary goals are to take care of Carleton’s campus and the people in it. She said she wants to add compost stations to every floor in residence and start a community garden.
“It would be an excellent opportunity to provide fresh produce to the Caf and be able to build relationships with one another,” Espiritu said.
The compost stations are especially important because the Caf is takeout-only now and may continue to be in the fall semester, Espiritu said. Adding the stations would help limit waste in residence.
Espiritu said she also wants to focus on mental health and make campus more affordable. She wants to extend counselling hours to the weekends and evenings, and establish a text line for people who don’t feel comfortable talking one-on-one with counsellors.
Another one of Espiritu’s goals is to provide free feminine hygiene products to students in residence, along with education on safe sex.
“Our school deems condoms essential, toilet paper essential,” Espiritu said. “Women don’t really choose to have periods. We don’t choose to live without menstrual products.”
Final pitch
Espiritu said she wants to work for students in residence.
“I want to celebrate [campus diversity],” Espiritu said. “I’ve always been passionate about giving back to my community.”
Mira Gillis
Previous experience
Gillis said she was prime minister and a student senator on her high school student council, which she said gives her leadership experience. In that position, Gillis said she started “Tampon Tuesday” to give feminine hygiene products to local women’s shelters in Windsor, Ont.
Gillis is currently a RRRA councillor and sits on the COVID-19 committee and constitution and policy review committee.
Gillis said she is a student ambassador for the Student Life Network, an organization that helps give scholarships to high school and university students. She also works as vice-president (external) for the World Vision Ottawa Youth Council.
Reasons for running
Gillis said she is always trying to help people.
“It’s just part of my moral code,” Gillis said. “I’m trying to look for the best in other people and improve situations so that we can all have a better experience.”
On RRRA council, she said she saw this position as an opportunity to have a positive impact on the Carleton residence community.
Slate or independent
Gillis said she was considering running for president first but ultimately decided to run with Gialina Jiang and Sami Islam with the Advance slate.
She said when she and Jiang first approached Islam with the idea to form a slate, he said it “wouldn’t be good for [Jiang and Gillis]” if he ran with them because of his failed candidacy for vice-president (student issues) as part of the Students First slate for the Carleton University Students’ Association.
“After bugging him a few more times, we were able to convince him to run as our president,” she said. “I genuinely couldn’t have asked for a better support system and team, and I am so happy with the ideas we’re bringing to the table.”
Campaign goals
Gillis said she wants to provide free feminine hygiene products to students in residence.
“They’ve literally been giving out free condoms in residence, yet something that is a necessity for … people who experience menstruation, they don’t get a choice in that matter,” Gillis said.
She also said she wants to introduce residence student focus groups to find out what students would like to see from RRRA.
She said Advance has a COVID-19 plan and a non-COVID-19 plan, so her executive team is prepared for whatever comes their way next year, “even at the drop of [a] hat.”
Gillis said both plans focus on student safety and fulfilling the slate’s promises, no matter what residence looks like.
Final pitch
Gillis said her slate’s policies focus on the issues that affect students.
“I’ve been through it all,” Gillis said. “Myself and my team bring such a diverse perspective of experience and ideas, and we truly want the best for the residence students.”
Sama Russel
Previous experience
Russel said she is the first-year representative for the Student International Business Association.
“Working with other students and collaborating with them has helped me develop a lot of new skills,” Russel said. “Whether that be my communication skills, my collaboration skills or teamwork skills, I think I definitely enhanced them and can bring them with me to the position.”
As a summer camp counsellor in her hometown and a first-year student, Russel also said she has had to be adaptable on the spot.
“I can speak from a lot of my own experience and relate to other students and hopefully come up with a lot of solutions,” she said.
Reasons for running
Russel said she first decided to run as a way of getting more involved, and that she thinks building community and including everyone is important.
“I find that there’s obviously a gap this year with everything being online,” she said. “I’m hoping to change that next year if it is the same way.”
Russel said she didn’t even know what RRRA was until two weeks ago, and she wants to tap into the unrealized potential of the association.
Slate or independent
Russel said the Renew slate is “really like-minded” and shares the same morals and goals.
“I love to collaborate and work with others,” she said. “When people put their minds together, we can achieve a lot.”
Campaign goals
One of Russel’s primary goals is to provide first-year students with more accessible on- and off-campus resources.
She said she also wants to provide students with a Ravens resource kit, including a safety alarm and key chain to make sure students feel safe. She said she wants to provide all students with a disposable camera to take pictures and “capture those first-year memories.”
Russel also said she wants to “establish RRRA for first-year students.”
“Another goal of mine is to hold meetings,” she said. “Something that’ll put our name out there and encourage students to come and ask us questions … in relation to residence and the RRRA council.”
Russel said she wants to have proportional RRRA representatives for each building to make sure all students have equal say in council.
She also said she wants to make campus more sustainable and collaborate with climate action groups, such as Climate Action Carleton, to do so.
Final pitch
Russel said she wants to be approachable and help improve the experience of residence students.
“I genuinely am here to listen to your ideas and your suggestions,” Russel said. “We are really wanting to do everything we can to make it fun, inclusive, impactful and awesome.”
