The Martlet

This year’s UVic Student Society election ballot will ask students if they are willing to provide more funding to UVic’s advocacy groups via student fees.

Each of UVic’s five advocacy groups serves the interests of a group that has traditionally been marginalized. Four groups – the Native Students Union (NSU), the Students of Colour Collective (SOCC), UVic Pride and the Women’s Collective – came together for one question, which proposes raising each group’s base funding to $2 per student. The total increase would mean $4.55 per semester for full-time students if the referendum is successful.

One group, Access UVic, is working independently on the second question, seeking to bring their base funding up to $3.50 per student, at a cost of $2 per semester for full-time students.

The Martlet talked to the groups to find out who they are and how extra funding could help them.

Native Students Union

The NSU represents Indigenous UVic students, though members also come from outside the campus community. Located in the basement of the Student Union Building (SUB), NSU provides students with space and support. They host a meal program and put on advocacy and social events, including the Stolen Sisters’ memorial march on Feb. 14.

“Our main goal is to provide a community on campus for the students,” said Alexa Brosseau, the NSU’s resource co-ordinator.

Judging by the NSU’s listserve, Brosseau estimates the NSU has approximately 500 members, 50 to 100 of which use the NSU office and resources on a regular basis.

Currently, the NSU receives $1 per semester from each full-time student’s UVSS fees. The money goes toward maintaining NSU’s office and putting on programs and events, such as feasts, which they hold about three times a year in a traditional big house.

“[The feasts] gather elders in the community, all the different bands in the community and students,” said Brosseau. “It’s something that a lot of students need, especially those who are away from home and are used to [the feasts].”

If the referendum is successful, the NSU will put the extra money toward enhancing current services and hiring a paid co-ordinator so they no longer have to rely entirely on volunteers to run the program.

“Right now I don’t think we’re able to service students like we could,” said Brosseau. “We don’t have a steady person that can maintain all the ties with the community and all the offices on campus and make sure things are running smoothly.”

Students of Colour Collective

The SOCC represent students of colour at UVic, but their work is not confined to issues of race.

Luam Kidane, SOCC co-ordinator, said that in addition to working toward the creation and expansion of academic, social and political spaces for people of colour on campus, SOCC also works against oppression based on race, gender, class ability, nationality and language.

The $0.50 SOCC currently receives from each full-time student’s UVSS fees each semester goes toward providing students with resources and support and organizing and supporting events, including workshops and panel discussions.

Workshop topics range from art as creative resistance to anti-racism and anti-oppressive facilitation tools.

In the past, SOCC has also published a zine called PULSE, though they haven’t been able to for about three years.

Kidane says about 20 people are involved with planning, organizing and running SOCC, which is located in the SUB basement.

“Our membership and the people we represent, however, far exceed this number,” noted Kidane.

Should the referendum pass, the extra $1.50 SOCC would receive will go toward hiring a full-time co-ordinator. The money would also support holding more frequent workshops and lecture series, increasing the number of publications they produce and continuing the services they already provide.

Kidane said that the money would also allow SOCC to “embark on community and university-based research projects centered on issues of, among other things, race, gender, class ability, nationality and language.”

UVic Pride

UVic Pride is the only queer organization for all of Victoria, according to Pride Co-ordinator Cora Babey.

“As much as our primary [focus] is campus, we are a huge resource to the community,” said Babey.

Pride consists of 40-50 active members, estimates Babey. They put on social events, organize discussion groups and work with counseling services to provide peer support. Their office, located across from the Resource Centre in the SUB, also houses a wealth of resources, including books and DVDs.

“Our main concern is advocating for students on campus who are exploring sexuality or having troubles with discrimination,” said Babey.

Currently Pride receives $0.50 per semester from each full-time student’s UVSS fees. This money goes toward putting on events and providing volunteers with training to make the Pride office more accessible to new people.

“We’re sort of taking a big leap from how [Pride] was managed for the last two years,” said Babey. “But with that energy, we’re starting to run out of the current budget.”

The extra $1.50 Pride will receive if the referendum is successful will help the group host next year’s Canadian Universities Queer Services Conference, where pride groups from across the country will come together at UVic to brainstorm. The money will also support providing more counseling training, help Pride’s efforts to ensure queer issues are represented on campus and enhance the interaction between Pride and UVic’s other advocacy groups.

The Women’s Collective

As the main organizing body for the SUB’s Women’s Centre, the Women’s Collective deals with the day-to-day operation of the centre.

The collective organizes events and volunteers, and produces the feminist anti-racist zine, thirdspace. Currently, they are working to organize Loudspeaker, an arts festival which will celebrate International Women’s Day. The collective also works to help women who require support.

Aproximately three quarters of UVic’s population are women. Sinead Charbonneau, communications outreach co-ordinator at the Women’s Centre, estimates that 15 members of the Women’s Collective attend meetings regularly.

Currently, the Women’s Collective receives $1.45 per full-time student per semester. The extra $0.55 they would receive if the referendum is successful would be used to increase the number of workshops and anti-oppressive events they currently put on, as well as support a current dialogue concerned with creating an anti-oppressive space and the renegotiation of the Women’s Centre’s women-only policy.

“We feel that to properly engage with this issue it would be effective to have a small-scale research project,” said Charbonneau. “We would be examining how different campuses and community groups across Canada have dealt with going from a women-only space to a women-and-trans space or a gender inclusive space.”

The extra money would also give the collective the ability to reassess requests that they have received for funding.

“I think the $2 will definitely put the Women’s Collective in a better place to deal with larger issues of gender emancipation on campus and across Victoria,” said Charbonneau.

Access UVic

Access helps self-identified disabled students get accommodations and gives advice on having their needs met. They provide sign language classes to all students, speak about the disability movement and organize events.

“Access is run by disabled students for disabled students. We provide advocacy services to disabled students on campus,” said Kyla Berry, Access UVic’s president. “We’re the voice of the disability movement on campus.”

Rose Mariana Robb, Access’ executive director, estimates that Access represents more than 1,000 students at UVic. She says that Access currently has just over 100 members, with a a core group of approximately 20 who are “very involved with the planning and organization.”

In September, Access collected over 3,000 signatures from students to get their referendum question on the ballot. Currently, Access receives $1.50 from each full-time student’s UVSS fees each semester.

“We use the money for the sign language classes,” said Berry. “We also need to have interpreters to support our deaf community involvement … we’d like to see more of that. We’d like to have an interpreter at every event, just to show that we’re inclusive.”

If Access’ referendum is successful, their funding will be increased by $2, up to $3.50 per full-time student per semester. Berry said that the increase is necessary to keep Access going in the future.

“The goal is to keep [Access] sustainable once the founders move on,” she said. “We want the advocacy centre to be a sustainable, lasting legacy.”

The $2 increase would, in part, go toward hiring a paid, part-time co-ordinator as substitute to the current executive director position. Berry said that the honorarium the executive director currently receives is not enough for the amount of work put in.

“We would preferentially hire a person with a disability and that may require an interpreter or special equipment to help them do their job,” Berry said.

Berry said that Access is asking for more money than the other advocacy groups because it costs more to run.

“Everything for disabled people is more expensive,” she said. “There’s no way around it.”