The Rideau River Residence Association’s all-candidates debate, held virtually March 18, focused on issues of mental health, sustainability and the organization’s budget.
The debate, hosted by the Charlatan news editor Mark Colley, was the first in RRRA’s history to include independent candidates after the association instituted temporary electoral reform earlier this year.
Two slates—Renew and Advance—debated along with three independent candidates for the positions of president, vice-president (administration) and vice-president (programming).
Presidential candidates
Independent Greg Dance, Mikaela Baumann of Renew and Sami Islam of Advance debated each other as presidential candidates.
The RRRA budget, which failed to pass on time for two years in a row prior to this year, was a major topic of debate.
Dance said the reason the budget had failed to pass on time in the past was that there had not been enough RRRA councillors to meet a quorum to approve the budget.
He said he would advertise open positions on council with pamphlets provided to each student in residence to address this problem.
“I’m going to make sure that the budget gets done in a timely manner,” Dance said. “Within the first one or two meetings, as the bylaws allow.”
Baumann said Renew would provide students bi-monthly budget reports and accept student feedback on spending. She also said her slate would contribute some of their executive pay to achieve its goals.
“What we are going to do as a team is reallocate some of our executive compensation to programs that matter to you,” Baumann said. “We don’t want those to get left behind.”
Islam said Advance was also comitted to contributing a combined $10,000 from their summer executive benefits to accomplish their goals.
Mental health support was another important topic in the debate.
While Dance said he would institute training for all residence fellows in mental health first aid, Islam said it would be “too big of a liability for [Housing and Residence Life Services] to have that onus on [residence fellows].”
Residence fellows are currently trained in safeTALK, a suicide prevention training that “prepares participants to identify and engage people with thoughts of suicide,” according to the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Baumann said mental health resources already exist on campus and she wants to make them more accessible to students.
“There are many resources on campus,” she said. “They’re just not made visible and in a central place.”
On promoting safe drug policy on residence, Baumann said she would ensure Naloxone kits—used to treat opioid overdoses—are in every residence building, and Dance said he would make Naloxone training available to all students.
Islam said he was committed to making Naloxone training mandatory for residence fellows, and to opening a residence supervision room for intoxicated students to be supervised in a safe environment.
Vice-president (administration) candidates
Sama Russel of Renew and Mira Gillis of Advance debated independent candidates Davin Caratao and Julienne Espiritu.
Because RRRA failed to form committees on time last year and historically lacks enough councillors to meet quorum, candidates discussed solutions to the problem, including communication with councillors and residence student participation.
Russel said she supports proportional voting representatives to “create a more inclusive environment for residence students” and eliminate the unfair advantage more populated buildings hold.
Caratao said he would fix the quorum system and change representative allocation to be proportional to building population.
“Our quorum is 18 members and we only have 24 councillors on RRRA,” Caratao said. “We need a three-quarters vote to get anything passed.”
Caratao, a RRRA building representative and chair of the constitution and policy review committee, brought forward a motion to change the allocation of building representatives to a February RRRA council meeting. The motion failed to pass.
Espiritu said she supported proportional voting representatives.
The candidates also discussed electoral reform.
Caratao, Gillis and Esipritu all committed to changing RRRA’s campaign policy to permanently allow independent candidates.
“While other Carleton student governments allow independent candidates on a regular basis, so should RRRA,” Espiritu said. “I will ensure that there will always be a place for students to run independently.”
Caratao said he wanted to have an independent hiring board hire the RRRA elections chief electoral officer and deputy electoral officers.
The candidates also spoke about encouraging sustainable practices on campus.
Espiritu said she would add compost stations on every floor in residence.
“This compost can be contributed to a garden that I think should be established in the residence community,” Espiritu said, adding that a garden could contribute produce to the Caf or donate surplus food to local organizations.
Espiritu also said she planned to advocate for a bike-sharing program on campus.
Caratao said he was also committed to ensuring proper compost and recycling receptacles are available on every residence foor. He also said he would implement a $12,000 plan for scholarships, bursaries, and financial aid for students.
Russel said she would partner with climate groups at Carleton to promote sustainability on campus. She also said she would provide residence students with mental and sexual health resource kits, as well as safety alarm keychains to give students a sense of security.
Gillis said she wanted to create focus groups so RRRA can act on feedback from students on residence. She added she is committed to making menstrual products available for free on campus.
“[Menstrual products] aren’t a luxury,” Gillis said. “They’re a necessity.”
Vice-president (programming) candidates
With the future of the COVID-19 pandemic uncertain, Bijoy Arora of Renew debated Gialina Jiang of Advance on how they would program events in the coming year.
Jiang said she has prepared two separate plans, one for pandemic restrictions and one for a scenario without restrictions, to ensure RRRA can offer programming in either situation.
“If COVID restrictions were lifted halfway through the year, we would have events rolling out immediately,” she said.
Arora said his experience planning events both before and after the pandemic as a residence fellow and small business owner prepared him to host events both in person and virtually, if elected as a RRRA executive.
He also said he wants to promote safe spaces for marginalized groups on campus and launch a creative hub for students to develop their creative skills.
“[By] developing a creative hub for entrepreneurs to develop skills through workshops and networking opportunities with professionals, students will truly gain from residence,” Arora said.
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Voting for RRRA executive positions will take place March 22 to 23. All students living in residence are eligible to vote via their Carleton email.
