Miscellaneous

Every year, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) publishes "Habitats: Students in their Municipalities," a platform where undergraduate students from our nine member institutions can showcase their successes and challenges in their communities. It comprises a series of student-written case studies and articles focusing on municipal-level topics. For this special edition, OUSA has collaborated with Rural and Ready, a student-led non-profit organization, to recognize and highlight the distinct experiences of rural and northern students and to improve the affordability, accessibility, accountability, and quality of post-secondary education in the province.

Student leaders representing over 150,000 undergraduate students from across Ontario attended OUSA’s annual Student Advocacy Conference from November 14th to 17th, 2022. Delegates met with 31 MPPs from four political parties to discuss the future of post-secondary education in Ontario and advance OUSA’s advocacy priorities. Over four days (and then some!), the student leaders discussed OUSA’s 4 priorities for the year: affordability, gender-based and sexual violence, rural and northern students, and sector sustainability.

Each year, students from OUSA’s member institutions highlight the successes and challenges they face in their municipalities in Habitats: Students in their Municipalities. Habitats is a series of case studies on municipal-level topics and issues affecting undergraduate students across the province.

For a fifth year, student advocacy organizations across Canada have collaborated to release Shared Perspectives, a joint publication providing region-specific analysis on an important student issue. This year’s publication focuses on the changing landscape of student financial aid and highlights the disparities among various jurisdictional programs that consequently make post-secondary education increasingly unaffordable and inaccessible. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the pressing need for programs that best support students’ ability to finance their education, and contributors provide critical commentary on how to enhance their respective region’s financial aid systems.

At OUSA’s Spring 2021 General Assembly in March, the authorship team working on OUSA’s Indigenous Students policy paper presented a Report to the General Assembly on the Status of the Indigenous Students Policy Paper. Our team includes:

Emily DuBois Brooks. Indigenous Undergraduate Student representing Wilfrid Laurier University. Proudly Indigenous. Proud Mom.

Connor Lafortune. Anishinaabek nini. Indigenous Undergraduate Student representing Laurentian University. Indigenous Student Circle representative. Okikendawt, Dokis First Nation.

Page Chartrand. Anishnaabekwe. Indigenous Undergraduate Student representing Laurentian University. Indigenous Student Circle representative. N'Swakmok/Sudbury.

Alyssa Trick. Indigenous Undergraduate Student representing Laurentian University. Indigenous Students Circle Senate Representative. National Ambassador of Hope for We Matter. Mixed Anishinaabekwe descending from Alderville First Nation.

and

Julia Pereira, Vice President of University Affairs of Wilfrid Laurier University Students' Union, OUSA President.

Malek Abou-Rabia, Vice President Education of Laurentian University’s Students’ General Association, OUSA Steering Committee Member.

Student leaders representing over 150,000 undergraduate students from across Ontario attended OUSA’s annual Student Advocacy Conference from November 15th to 19th, 2021. Delegates met with 46 MPPs from four political parties and sector stakeholders to discuss the future of post-secondary education in Ontario and advance OUSA’s advocacy priorities. Over five days, the student leaders discussed OUSA’s 5 priorities for the year: affordability, gender-based and sexual violence prevention and response, racial equity, and sector sustainability, and students with disabilities.

Each year, students from OUSA’s member institutions highlight the successes and challenges they face in their municipalities in Habitats: Students in their Municipalities. Habitats is a series of case studies on municipal-level topics and issues affecting undergraduate students across the province. 

Articles in this year’s edition of Habitats explore persistent and ubiquitous concerns around housing – including those related to quality, affordability, and availability – and access to community resources to address food insecurity and mental health. Others offer insights into opportunities that have been borne out of the global pandemic, exploring questions about what it means to live in one’s community and how students can play an important and critical role in our pandemic response and recovery efforts. 

Ontario’s post-secondary institutions are integral parts of their respective municipalities, and collaboration and coordination between universities and their local municipalities is an important aspect of facilitating a mutually beneficial relationship. A healthy, productive environment born out of collaboration and coordination allows both students and municipalities to thrive by fostering an environment of trust, growth, respect, and community.

Ten student organizations across Canada have released Shared Perspectives: A Joint Publication on Supporting Students During and After COVID-19.  This year's publication looks at how governments, institutions, and higher-education stakeholders can better support students and recent graduates as Canada responds to and recovers from COVID-19. Post-secondary students share their perspectives on issues facing the sector, including student mental health, quality of online learning, student financial aid, and support for marginalized students.

Student leaders representing over 150,000 undergraduate students from across Ontario attended OUSA’s annual Student Advocacy Conference from November 16th to the 19th. Delegates attended virtual meetings with over 50 MPPs from four political parties and sector stakeholders to discuss the future of post-secondary education in Ontario and advance OUSA’s advocacy priorities. Over five days, the student leaders discussed student financial aid, quality of education, racial equity, and student mental health. 

The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) is proud to release the most recent edition of Habitats: Students in their Municipalities. Each year, students from OUSA’s member institutions highlight the successes and challenges they face in their municipalities through a series of case studies on municipal-level topics and issues affecting undergraduate students across the province. This year, despite the exceptional circumstances of a global pandemic, our contributors have once again demonstrated the dichotomy of students in their municipalities, simultaneously sharing in community-wide challenges with a unique and often overlooked perspective.