SRA meeting on Jan. 29 involved discussions on the role of the Ombuds Office, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance and the MSU rejoining CASA.
he Student Representative Assembly meeting 22M took place on Jan. 29 in Gilmour Hall. In this meeting, the assembly covered the accessibility and services of the Ombuds Office, the initiatives being pushed by the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance and a motion for the McMaster Students Union to have observer status on the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.
University Ombuds Carolyn Brendon and Assistant Ombuds Meghan Rego attended the SRA meeting and spoke on the role of the Ombuds Office and the services it offers to McMaster University students.
The Ombuds Office representatives as a part of an outreach initiative to help the university better understand the role of the office within the community.
The Ombuds Office is located at MUSC 210 and offers free and confidential counseling to all members of the McMaster community. Brendan explained that the mandate of the Ombuds details three key principles by which their practices abide by — independence, impartiality and confidentiality.
The Ombuds Office operates outside of the academic and administrative hierarchy and strives for minimal institutional impediments. They also abide by standard confidentiality principles, in which all information discussed is confidential unless there is an imminent risk of harm.
The Ombuds Office operates outside of the academic and administrative hierarchy and strives for minimal institutional impediments. They also abide by standard confidentiality principles, in which all information discussed is confidential unless there is an imminent risk of harm.
The Ombuds Office deals with academic and non-academic issues, including student financial matters, behavioral and professional codes of conduct, employment and any other student-related issues and concerns.
OUSA President Jessica Look and executive director Malika Dhanani also spoke at the SRA meeting about their organization. OUSA is a collaboration of student governments across the province that advocates for affordable, accessible, accountable and high quality post-secondary education.
Some of the core functions of OUSA include developing informed substantive policy papers, lobbying the provincial government to enact changes and representing the student perspective on the provincial level.
Some of the core functions of OUSA include developing informed substantive policy papers, lobbying the provincial government to enact changes and representing the student perspective on the provincial level.
Look and Dhanani detailed how they aim to uplift the student voice through their blog, where student contributors outside of OUSA are free to submit pieces on policy issues they are passionate about. Additionally, OUSA offers summer student internships.
Following the discussion on OUSA’s initiatives and role representing the MSU, the meeting transitioned to other matters, including a discussion around seeking observership with CASA.
The motion to discuss and vote on CASA observership was moved by MSU President Simranjeet Singh and seconded by Vice President (Education) Elizabeth Wong. Singh shared that CASA is currently the largest body that does advocacy work for student unions at the federal level.
The MSU is currently part of a separate federal advocacy organization, the Undergraduates of Canadian Research-Intensive Universities. Singh explained that with UCRU, the MSU was able to meet with 20 Members of Parliament during lobbying week, while members of CASA were able to meet with 156. The MSU was a member of CASA in the past but left in 2017 due to issues with their management of affairs.
Singh and Wong are proposing CASA observership, a two-year process in which the MSU would attend meetings and try out a CASA membership. Observership would allow the MSU to make an informed decision about whether shifting to CASA involvement would be beneficial.
Singh and Wong are proposing CASA observership, a two-year process in which the MSU would attend meetings and try out a CASA membership. Observership would allow the MSU to make an informed decision about whether shifting to CASA involvement would be beneficial.
Observership can be revoked at any point with no consequence and the MSU would remain with UCRU throughout the observership. Following some discussion, the motion was passed with 26 in favour, zero opposed and two abstaining.
Every year, Canadian postsecondary students are eligible for tuition, education and textbook credits that cost billions of dollars in funding. But, as it turns out, students from low-income households are least likely to benefit from the credits during school despite needing the money the most.
A recent study, conducted through the C.D. Howe Institute, found that tax credits “disproportionately” benefit students from well-off families in a given tax year. Most students from lower-income households benefit from the non-refundable credits only after they finish school and start earning enough taxable income.
Christine Neill, an associate professor of economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., authored the study. She found that the tax credit savings amount to about $2,000 per year for the average Canadian undergraduate student.
“For youth from relatively high income families, a couple thousand dollars per year may not change their decision to go to university or college, but it might change those from low-income families. The problem is, they tend to get the money later,” Neill said.
In 2012, households with family incomes below $30,000 used only 7 per cent of education credits transferred to parents in 2012, but made up about half of tax filers.
Households with an income above $80,000 used about 42 per cent of education credits transferred to parents but made up just 10 per cent of tax filers.
Neill recommended that simply making the credits refundable would vastly improve the program. Students not earning enough taxable income would then get a cheque in the mail for what they couldn’t claim on their taxes, instead of having to carry the credits forward.
The same recommendation has been made in the past by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) and the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA).
According to Neill’s study, undergraduate students in British Columbia save the least from the tax credits, followed by students in Ontario and Newfoundland. Students in Alberta save the most out of all the provinces, but by a small margin.
A 2010 study found that college students save a larger proportion of their tuition from the credits than university students. However, college students end up with a smaller dollar value from the credits because their tuition is, on average, lower.
Last year, the federal government spent $1.6 billion on tuition, education and textbook tax credits — more than the $0.7 billion it spent on the Canada Student Loan Program.
Tuition and education credits were first introduced in 1961, and the option to “carry forward” unclaimed amounts was introduced in 1997.
“Before the carry-forward was introduced, kids from low income families may never have been able to claim the credits — after 1997, the program became more expensive but it became better,” Neill said.
In 2006, a textbook credit was added, raising questions from the academic community on the efficacy of the program.
Whether to stimulate enrolment in postsecondary education or to distribute wealth to students from lower-income families, the purpose of the tax credits hasn’t been clearly articulated.
Neill argues that the credits currently fail on both efficiency and equity principles. She also made a point that the credits aren’t well-advertised on university and college web pages that display tuition fee information.
“One major issue is that many people don’t know about [the credits], and they don’t know before going through postsecondary education,” Neill said. “If you don’t know something exists, how would it affect your behaviour?”
Infographic by Ben Barrett-Forrest / Multimedia Editor
With its close proximity to the Six Nations of Grand River, Canada’s largest population of First Nations, and an independent ISP with a sizeable number of First Nations students, McMaster should be considered an accessible campus for Aboriginal students.
But is our student population aware of the issues that Aboriginal students experience in accessing their education?
At the Feb. 6 SRA meeting, Huzaifa Saeed, MSU VP (Education), introduced a new position paper that the MSU has drafted on Aboriginal Students. The paper proposed a set of 12 recommendations that primarily urged the provincial and federal governments to increase their funding allocation and remove the barriers to education that indigenous students face.
Saeed prepared the position paper in consultation with the Indigenous Studies Program and using data from focus groups held through OUSA, the MSU’s provincial lobbying body.
“In the MSU, there is a tendency to forget about groups within the larger student body. And according to OUSA and CASA, certain underrepresented groups, such as Aboriginal Students, need to have their issues better addressed.”
In light of the recent Idle No More rallies, Saeed felt that the educational challenges facing indigenous students have been relatively underrepresented in the mainstream media.
The paper also emphasized how, historically, educational institutions have not acknowledged the legitimacy of Indigenous knowledge and systemically discriminated and alienated Aboriginal students. Another recommendation proposed providing more resources to Aboriginal student services to help to improve student transition and experience.
The paper outlines how federal funding, through the Post-Secondary Student Support Program, has been capped at an annual two per cent increase since 1996.
Jennie Anderson, Aboriginal Recruitment and Retention Officer at McMaster, described how the federal cap on funding presented a problem for Aboriginal students because it does not accurately reflect the growing Aboriginal youth population, and it is not set to inflation.
Federal funding is distributed to Aboriginal students from their band councils in their respective communities. However, because the funding comes from a set amount, Aboriginal students will experience increasing difficulty accessing funds for post-secondary studies.
“Communities face tough decisions in priority sequencing. While we already work with students to find alternate means of funding, this will only increase [as funds continue to dwindle relative to the population],” said Anderson.
Brandon Meawasige, a third-year Communications and Indigenous Studies student of Ojibway, heritage explained how in his first year he studied at Laurier Brantford, he struggled to complete all the necessary paperwork because the university process was overly complex.
“At Mac, I filled out one form, sent it in and it was processed right away by Student Accounts and Cashiers. I didn’t need to qualify how I was Aboriginal or have a back-and-forth conversation with my band council to prove my status, like I had to at Laurier.”
The Indigenous Studies Program is currently housed in the basement of Hamilton Hall, but unlike other programs, its student services is just another part of their program but does not have separate employees or independent funding.
The program will soon be receiving an enhanced office space in the new Wilson Building, and program staff have been enthusiastic to promote the introduction of a full four-year Bachelors in Indigenous Studies.
Tara Campbell, Program Administrator, remarked upon the positive impact of the new MSU position paper.
“It was the first time in a few years that we were approached by the MSU, and I was pleasantly surprised by the knowledge [of Indigenous issues] that came up. This is a mutually beneficial relationship, and we hope for more allies like the MSU so it isn’t always just us knocking on doors.”
Saeed also re-iterated the importance of strengthening the relationship between the MSU and Aboriginal students and creating more awareness among the student body of educational disparities.
“The MSU should have a repository on all significant PSE issues to build for future years to detail our stance. I hope my successor will vote for CASA to continue lobbying on behalf of Aboriginal issues.”
Sarah Jayne King, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, was at McMaster on Sept. 19 to support student activism on the campus.
King gathered in the location where the Occupy McMaster movement has begun to re-establish their headquarters in the Student Centre. She was on campus to support the Occupy students but moreover to promote student activism on campus.
King came to campus specifically to attend the Education Town Hall this past Wednesday. The town hall meetings were taking place on campuses across Ontario in order to address student issues surrounding tuition fee increases and quality of education. The goal of the town halls is to seek student feedback to be submitted directly to the provincial government.
”There’s a movement across Ontario to seek more student input on the issues that are affecting students, especially as the government is in the process of making significant changes to our education systems… and has not been doing a lot to hear from students directly about what they actually think about these changes.”
Although McMaster is a member of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), not CFS, King stated her interest in working with students across the province, regardless of their student union’s affiliation, to address their concerns about current issues in education.
“The reality is… students need to be represented, to voice their opinion when it comes to education issues [or] to other campaigns and movements going on. I’m happy to help where there’s that appetite… and I know that it exists on a lot of campuses.”
King also noted the upcoming Ontario Student Activist Assembly at University of Toronto (St. George Campus) on October 12 and 13. The province-wide assembly aims to bring together hundreds of students to share experiences and engage in issue-based workshops to strengthen student activism in Ontario.
“Students are really worried that these changes [to our education systems] are ways to cut costs. All the while the government has been increasing tuition fees for the past seven years and we have nothing to show for it in terms of quality [of education].”
