Special Information for Students

by Apathy is Boring Intern Patrick Burkhard — July 19, 2007

    Being a student, whether in college or university, is a fun, booze-filled and often life changing and enlightening time.  It normally involves leaving the nest for the first time, saying goodbye to mom’s cooking (well until Thanksgiving that is) and learning to live and deal on your own.  This experience also normally coincides with the time when people start being politically curious, conscious and involved, the time when people start to form and test their opinions. 
    Campuses are also normally filled with tons of various student groups and movements, and causes which are often thrust into the faces of new students, making it hard not to interact with all these new “politics” at every step.  At the same time, being away from home can be a little confusing, especially when it comes to an election, leaving many students asking “where do I vote??”.  This section will aim to answer some of those questions and give some pointers for students while they are at university.

On Elections

•    Federal Voting:  In terms of a federal election, one has the choice to vote in your home riding or the riding you are residing in at the time.  It really depends on where you are registered and where you choose as your residence.  You may automatically be registered in one riding, but by contacting Elections Canada, you can change this.  If you still are voting in your home riding, you can get a special ballot from Elections Canada.  The same goes when you are oversees.  Please allow six days minimum however for this special advance ballot.  Plan ahead! 

•    Provincial Voting:  Well it gets a bit complicated here, as each province has its own elections rules.  Please consult the section on Provincial Election laws and follow the link to the correct provincial website for exact details on procedure.  However, the deal is basically the same as in the federal case – special ballot advance voting!  If you are a student in a visiting province, you may also be entitled to vote in the provincial elections of the visiting province as some provinces only require you to have residence for 6 months in a province to be eligible to vote. 

•    Municipal Voting:  As in the case concerning provinces, please contact your municipality for details.     

On Student Governments

    One of the reasons most commonly cited for youth apathy is dissatisfaction or dislocation from the existing political system, especially from federal or provincial politics.  What has been happening more and more is that young people are being active, but just outside the conventional political means such as party politics.  The alternatives often include NGOs, community organizations, and more often then not student groups and organizations.  Being on a campus, there are sure to exist a TON of organizations, geared from gay and lesbian rights, to a Muslim students association, to anti-capitalist groups or even a chapter of the Conservative Party of Canada.  Here are some tips for getting involved in student government:

•    Check your official school agenda as most contain a list of all student organizations and where/how to contact them.

•    Orientation/frosh weeks (start of fall and winter semesters) are times when schools come alive.  Organizations will often set up booths in communal or popular school areas trying to recruit people.  If there is a group fair, go check it out and shop around for something that appeals to you.

•    Most political parties will have student chapters which are often far removed from larger party associations – not a bad intro to party politics as it also gives you some street cred if you ever decide to join the “adult” party.

•    Whatever you are studying probably has its own association, so ask your faculty about its own student government and run for a position.  Example: Sociology will probably have the Sociology Student Association.  That’s how I got started!

•    Every school has one master association, normally called the “insert name here” Student Association or Union.  These normally form the focus of major school elections and the president of the student union is also basically a full time job.  At my university, the student union had a budget of millions of dollars as well.  This is basically the highest level of student government.

•    See those people protesting over there – go ask them why!  That is a great way to see what is going on around campus as well as to pick up on issues.  Ask people why they believe what they do and what they are trying to accomplish.  Most protestors are friendly (unless they are protesting AGAINST you…if that is the case, run!)

On Not Being a Leader

    So you are new to a school, and probably the town as well.  The only friends you have made so far are your rez roommate, whatever is growing in the fridge in the floor kitchen and the guy who puked outside your door last night.  You might be feeling a little nervous and jumping into the organizational or political fray may seem like a mountain of a task.  Guess what though, not everyone in an organization or in organizing has to be an “A type” outgoing personality.  If everyone in an organization is a leader, first of all nothing would ever get done and everyone would just be arguing all the time.  Here are a number of other (often overlooked) roles people play in organizations:

•    Time-Keeper:  Associations and organizations involve meetings.  Someone needs to be there to write down what is covered at these meetings and who takes on what tasks.  That is what the time-keeper does (takes the ‘minutes’ from meetings and makes everyone aware of what they are responsible for).  This is a very important role, because without them, who would remember what you said at a meeting 8 months ago?

•    Process Geek:  This person is basically the second in command as they tend take the back seat to the leader/head of an organization and assist them in their functions.  Main roles here are ensuring that the group is staying on task, as well as ensuring meetings follow an agenda (a good leader should be following an agenda for the meeting).  This person is also key in playing the referee when strong personalities (those pesky A types again) are butting heads.

•    Agenda Setter:  This person is often responsible for setting weekly agendas for meetings as well as acting in a support function for others involved in the association.  No, this does not mean getting coffee for everyone, but it does mean making sure any organizational work is done, because from experience, leaders and visionaries are not always as good at implementing what they talk about when it comes time to put it into action.  There are idea people in the world and action people.  Or you can be both…whatever – you get the point here. 

So that is all folks.  Good luck, be brave and get involved.  A great way to make friends and have fun!