Student groups in Ottawa attended a meeting on March 7 to form a coalition organized by the Canadian Federation of Students for discussing next steps in opposing recent changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) and to tuition fees in the province.
The coalition included representatives from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), Graduate Students’ Association, Ontario Public Interest Research Group, Carleton University Students’ Association, Carleton’s teaching assistant union CUPE 4600, the Association of Professors at the University of Ottawa, campus radio station CKCU and the Leveller.
Jensen Williams, a campaign manager for the CFS, said she brought this coalition together because he thinks there’s been a lot of organizing within different communities affected by the changes.
Discussions during the coalition meeting mostly revolved around the effects of the Student Choice Initiative, a new policy which allows students to opt out of paying ancillary fees deemed “non-essential” by the province.
“Carleton offers women and trans centres, services for Indigenous and international students and all kind of things like that,” Williams said. “The government has no say in deciding what services are essential for students because they didn’t consult students on these issues and they’re not students themselves.”
Many student-run groups—including the groups present at the meeting and the Charlatan—are funded by ancillary fees that students pay alongside their tuition.
“There’s a reason why student unions, or clubs on campus, or service centres are the only ones they are removing,” Mehdi Bouchentouf, a member of the Carleton Debate Club, said. “There’s a reason for that and ultimately it is because it’s to their benefit.”
Brad Evoy, the volunteer, outreach and programming coordinator for OPIRG, said the overall system of campus life is now directly under threat by this initiative that students are being sold a false choice with how this initiative is being put together.
“Now that civil society on campus has been weakened, what’s coming next is the question that I think people really need to consider: What is the Ford government weakening our ability to dissent and weakening our ability to organize for?”
Anne-Marie of the APUO said this coalition will make a big statement “in denouncing these attacks that Doug Ford and his government have imposed on campuses across the province.”
The CFS is planning a province-wide student walkout on March 20 as part of further action protesting the Ontario government’s OSAP and tuition policy changes.
Image by Michael Edgar
