Liam McGarry remembers the time he skipped an assignment to pick up a bursary cheque that had been mailed home, three hours away from his student residence near Waterloo University. There had been a rent bill to pay.
Delegates attending a national forum in Ottawa to end sexual violence on college and university campuses have recommended that student voices must be present in all discussions of their school’s sexual assault policy-making. The two-day forum, organized by the Canadian Federation of Students, invited student council members from Canada’s post-secondary institutions to share their experiences regarding sexual violence on campus.
Staceyann Chin remembered how she was violated. "(He) pushes me against and wall and slides his hand all the way up in my dress. I'm so shocked that I can't move my mouth to say anything," recalled Chin, reciting from her memoir, The Other Side of Paradise. Because she was a child at the time, Chin said, her accusation was never taken seriously.
Just two weeks after Ontario's government announced a three-year strategy to combat sexual violence, post-secondary students and activists are gathering in Ottawa for a national forum Thursday and Friday.
The head of a national post-secondary student organization says Ontario’s plans for online learning won’t improve learning or save the system money. In February, a leaked report to the Ontario government indicated the province was considering the benefits of converting a third of university and college courses to the online realm. The leaked report, called, “3x3,” outlines plans to strengthen the post-secondary education system by providing easy to access online courses for students.