BU students agree to help pay for ­indigenous student ­support, if needed

At the beginning of the 2017-18 school year Bishop’s University created a new position in the Indigenous Student Support and Community Liaison Officer. Funded though the assistance of a government grant, the position was meant to help incorporate indigenous culture and teaching into the fabric of the university by providing support to students from indigenous communities, cultural activities to build awareness and opportunities for exchange, and a liaison between the school and different indigenous communities in Quebec. As the year comes to a close and students prepare for exams, Stine Linden-Andersen, Bishop’s Dean of Student Affairs, says that the position and the person occupying it, Melissa Poirier, have proven to be an invaluable part of the Bishop’s Community. Looking to next year, however, the university was facing a question in the fact that the grant funding the new job was about to expire. The dean told The Record that there are currently several grant applications under consideration, but faced with the possibility that the position might not get its funding, the school asked its student body for one of two possible increases to their student fees. In the first scenario, fees would go up by 82 cents per credit to cover the basic salary of the coordinator. In scenario two, that increase would be $1.17 per credit and would also provide for some expenses. Last Sunday night the general assembly of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) voted in favour of the second option. Morgan Gagnon, the outgoing President of the SRC said that the assembly endorsed the new fee unanimously, recognizing the importance of the Indigenous Student Support and Community Liaison Officer, but not without some concerns. “I would say that our GA unanimously recognizes the importance of this (fee) insofar as it funds the ISSCLO and is absolutely crucial to our university’s movement towards reconciliation, but there was significant frustration with the very tight timeline we were given to survey students, as well as a general feeling that this funding is a basic need for our indigenous students as well as for reconciliation, and as such should come from the university.” See full story in the Thursday, April 12th edition of The Record.