Fighting for Students on Parliament Hill

Fighting for Students on Parliament Hill

Last week, UNB Student Union President, Richard Du and Vice President Advocacy, Simal Qureshi attended the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations’ (CASA) Advocacy Week Conference in Ottawa, Ontario, where they represented UNB students.

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) is a union comprised of 23 student governments across Canada, representing over 250,000 students. With this joint voice on the national level, CASA is able to speak and advocate on behalf of Canadian students to the federal government. Recent CASA successes in 2018 include $10 million invested to expand financial support to Métis students and $5.5 million invested to address gender-based violence on post-secondary campuses.

At the conference, Richard and Simal, along with 70+ other student leaders met with over 150 Canadian Members of Parliament (MP’s), Senators, Ministers, and key government stakeholders. They discussed six key advocacy points at these meetings, focusing on areas such as international student barriers, sexual assault legislation, experiential/work-integrated learning programs, and additional funding for student-led research.

Overall, the conference was a huge success. CASA’s advocacy strategy is effective and robust, allowing many key politicians on Parliament Hill to be exposed to the same student issues. Additionally, this was a great opportunity for Richard and Simal to meet other student leaders, learn about what is working on their campuses, and share ideas on how to better advance the student movement.

If you would like more information on CASA and/or their Advocacy Week conference, please do not hesitate to reach out to President, Richard Du at president@unbsu.ca or Vice President Advocacy, Simal Qureshi at advocacy@unbsu.ca.