Blog

For the past 18 years, April has marked the Partners in Higher Education Dinner (PiHED) and as your humble host, we were delighted to be joined by so many guests this year. The event celebrated the hard work of our students, educators, sector partners, and elected officials in the higher education sector this year. We are so grateful to The Honourable Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security for providing opening remarks and to Iyobosa, Faith Ogunkoya, Manager of Black Student Success Centre at McMaster University for providing an insightful keynote. We also recognized Eddy Avila as our Honoured Alumni Award recipient and Sebastien Corrie as our Excellence in Student Advocacy Award recipient, given in honour of Stephanie Ye-Mowe.

Happy Spring!!! I know the weather hasn’t been showing it, at least not everyday, but I hope you’re all enjoying the longer days and warmer weather where we can find it. 

We started off March with our Spring General Assembly!! A huge thank you to the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association for hosting us and keeping us very well fed all weekend. You can read more about our guest speakers and everything else we got up to here. After 4 productive days, we passed two new policy stances:

1. A Comprehensive Access Strategy 
2. Tech-enabled Learning

From March 6th to 9th, OUSA hosted our spring General Assembly (GA) at University of Waterloo! Spring GA was bittersweet for many of our Steering Committee members as it marked the last time they led their delegation. 

65 students came together, dissected policy, offered feedback, and engaged in critical discussion to approve two of the following OUSA’s policy papers.

1. A Comprehensive Access Strategy 
2. Tech-enabled Learning

Hi all, 

Long time no chat, and I really mean it this time! Happy new year, new semester, and happy Black History Month! 

OUSA’s had a busy start, and we’ve got an even busier couple weeks ahead of us. We started the year by submitting our recommendations for this budget cycle, highlighting pressing student concerns related to sector sustainability, student financial aid, mental health, and gender-based and sexual violence.

I wish I could say that the title of this blog is dramatic, but quite frankly, it’s not. 

We all occupy intersecting identities and carry a variety of lived experiences. Consequently, we rely on the provincial government to support our needs in these identities. For example, if you are a driver, you’re likely visiting Service Ontario every once in a while. If you or a loved one has made a hospital visit to address a medical concern, then you’ve interacted with Ontario’s healthcare system. If you’re a student, you might be an OSAP recipient. If you have a disability, you could be on ODSP. If you’re both an OSAP and ODSP recipient, then your levels of funding are affected by one another. 

Access to safe, affordable housing is a core necessity for student success, yet in communities across Ontario, this basic need remains out of reach for far too many. Whether in large urban centres like Toronto, mid-sized cities like Kingston, or smaller college towns, students face similar challenges: limited housing options, rising rents, and insufficient oversight to ensure safe and habitable conditions. While some students have the financial cushion to weather these pressures—benefiting from family support or personal savings—far too many others struggle to keep up, working extra hours or taking on larger debt loads just to secure a roof over their heads.

Happy election season Ontario! On February 27th, voters across the province are heading to the polls to choose who they want to represent their needs at Queen’s Park. Who makes up a large part of the composition of these voters? You - students! 

OUSA is thrilled to offer one internship this summer for undergraduate students at our member schools! We are hiring for the position of:

1. 1. Advocacy and Communications Intern

Please visit the attached links above for more information on the internships.

Internship is open to students at our member schools who are represented by our participating student associations; these include:

1. Queen's University - Alma Mater Society (AMS)
2. Brock University - Brock University Students' Union (BUSU)
3. University of Waterloo - Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA)
4. McMaster University - McMaster Students Union (MSU)
5. Laurentian University - Students' General Association (SGA)
6. Trent University Durham GTA - Trent Durham Student Association (TDSA)
7. Western University - University Students' Council (USC)
8. Wilfrid Laurier University - Wilfrid Laurier University Students' Union (Laurier SU)
9. Ontario Tech University- Ontario Tech Student Union (OTSU)

Hello everyone! 

November has been quite packed, so let's get right into it: 

We started off the month with the release of the Ontario government's fall economic statement, Building Ontario for You. As stated in OUSA’s initial response, we saw a continued lack of commitment to better fund post-secondary education or student financial aid, both of which remain top of mind for Ontario’s students at the moment. 

Later in the month, Malika attended a panel discussion featuring Minister Bethlenfalvy with the Canadian Club Toronto. The session was a great opportunity to learn more about the government’s priorities in various sectors and better understand their approach to investments. We also had the opportunity to meet with the Association of Municipalities Ontario. We got to learn more about their areas of focus and chat about potential opportunities for collaboration at any intersecting points of our respective upcoming work.  

From October 24th to 27th, OUSA hosted our fall General Assembly (GA) at Brock University! Like clockwork, we host this conference twice a year but this round was particularly special because it was our 60th GA in the history of the organization. That’s 60 times that students have come together, dissected policy, offered feedback, and engaged in critical discussion to approve OUSA’s policy papers.

To commemorate this milestone, OUSA had a couple of socials for delegates to partake and enjoy; but first and foremost, they were tasked with reviewing the three following papers:

1. Student Financial Aid, 
2. Environmental Sustainability, and
3. Responding to the Blue Ribbon Panel Report (a new addition to our library!)