Canadian Alliance of Student Associations

Infobox Canadian Student Association
name = Canadian Alliance of Student Associations


motto =
established = 1995
institution =
president = Zach Churchill
location = Ottawa, Ontario
members =
affiliated = 23 (300,000 students) [ [http://www.casa.ca/index.php/member-associations.html "CASA Members" Retrieved on September 4th, 2008] ]
homepage = http://www.casa.ca
The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) was formed in 1995, as an alliance by several post-secondary institutions' students' unions who had withdrawn from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) in a dispute over its policies and organizational structure and previously unaffiliated students' unions. Today CASA boasts of a membership of 23 student associations representing over 300,000 students. [ [http://www.casa.ca/index.php/About-CASA/what-is-casa.html Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (n.d.). "What is CASA?." Retrieved on July 21, 2008] ]

History

CASA's origins can be traced to the first "Winds of Change" conference hosted by the University of Alberta in 1990. In what would become an annual meeting, student leaders from across the country were invited to come together to discuss challenges facing post-secondary education students in Canada.

In 1993 the federal government announced that all of Canada's social programs would be reviewed with sweeping and significant changes likely to come which prompted several student unions not affiliated with the CFS to try to organize efforts to lobby the federal government on education issues.

In 1994, as the result of a conference held at Carleton University, a number of student leaders decided to form a new Canadian post-secondary student organization. The foundations for the new organization were laid down, and the framework for a constitution was built upon it.

In 2008, CASA accepted its first member organization to consist entirely of graduate students, namely, the University of Waterloo Graduate Student Association. [ [http://www.casa.ca/news.asp?ID=107] ]

Founding principles

The Association set down a number of founding principles:
*First, CASA would be member-driven in that the members of the Association would set the organization's policy agenda and define its goals.
*Second, CASA would focus on issues specific to post-secondary education, establishing a strong orientation toward policy development rather than social development.
*Third, CASA would ensure that membership within the alliance would not unfairly burden member associations. Joining CASA would be made easy through clear and flexible by-laws. Membership fees would be capped and kept to the lowest possible level.
*Lastly, CASA would focus its attention on those challenges facing post- secondary education students within federal jurisdiction only. Provincial advocacy would be best left to member associations. In effect, CASA established principles and practices that would promote a strong, grassroots, pragmatic alliance focusing exclusively on the problems facing post- secondary education students in Canada.

As opposed to the CFS which combined lobbying with extra-parliamentary pressure such as rallies, CASA's efforts were focussed on lobbying through meetings with government officials, with extra-parliamentary actions such as petitions, postcard campaigns, and other forms of activism being seen as less important. As well, while CFS is active on a wide range of issues including poverty, housing, international human rights and anti-war activism, CASA sees these issues as outside the realm of student issues.

Attempted reform

In 2001, the University of Alberta Students' Union and the Students' Society of McGill University held a second "Winds of Change" Conference which resulted in a document titled "The Winds are Changing Again." This document was meant to be a platform for reforming CASA and fixing what a number of members saw as its stagnation.

The Students' Society of McGill University's Legislative Council voted unanimously to leave CASA on November 3rd, 2005 after CASA failed to implement the recommendations of the Winds are Changing Again document. [ [http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=4406 The McGill Daily ] ] This was followed on January 23 2006 with the vote by the University of Saskatchewan Students' Union to leave CASA. [ [http://www.ussu.ca/pdfs/usc/minutes/uscmin01-26-06.pdf] Dead link|date=August 2008]

External links

* [http://www.casa.ca Canadian Alliance of Student Associations]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20050404041459/http://www.umanitoba.ca/manitoban/20050209/article.php?section=features&article=01 Alliance vs Federation] "The Manitoban" student newspaper examines the pros and cons of CASA and the CFS.
* [http://www.thevarsity.ca/news/2002/01/25/News/Mi.Casa.Ain8217t.Su.Casa-332925.shtml Mi CASA ain't su CASA] 2002 article from "The Varsity" on CASA's troubles.

References