The First Nations Day of Action: Why we should support it

Thursday June 28, 2pm
Grad Centre Room 108 (board room), UVIC.

Come join the GSS for tea and coffee and an informal round table discussion with:

Chiinuuks, an MA student in Indigenous Governance who is from the Nuchalnuth First Nation

Glen Coulthard, a Dene activist and PhD student in political theory at the University of Victoria who teaches courses in the Indigenous Governance Programs and the Department of Political Science.

What is the day of action?
National Chief Phil Fontaine issued an invitation to all canadians to join a peaceful First Nations Day of Action to improve the lives of First Nations people. Information on June 29th activities and the campaign can be found at http://afn.ca. Chief Fontaine also discussed many of the issues faced by First Nations in this short YouTube statement about the Day of Action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skV_UB32fxA

For more information about this event, contact Stacy at gssmgr@uvic.ca

Deans presentation on expanding grad enrolment

Recent funding from the BC government will mean a rapid expansion in graduate student enrollment, starting in September 2007 and continuing to 2010. This link is to Dean Aaron Devor's presentation at a recent Town Hall meeting to explain the new funding and possible impacts at UVic.
While pleased to finally have a BC graduate scholarship, the GSS is concerned about the impact of resources such as office space and supervisory time with this jump in enrollment.

Grad student rep needed for UVSS constituency group council

The GSS is seeking a graduate student representative to sit on the UVSS advocacy council.

Every graduate student contributes to the UVSS constituency groups budget, and as such graduate students have a seat on the Advocacy Council, which recommends budget allocations to constituency groups, and supports the groups working effectively. You can view the terms of reference for this council below.

If you are interested, please send a brief statement of interest, along with your full name, degree program, and contact information to gssmgr@uvic.ca.

[From UVSS POLICY]

PART B: ADVOCACY COUNCIL

1. Type

a. Standing, open committee of the UVSS BoD with closed membership.

2. Purpose

a. Act as the primary liaison between constituency organisations, NSU and the BoD.

3. Duties

a. Serve as a forum for constituency organisations to work collectively on common issues on campus and in the community such as but not limited to, homophobia, sexism, racism, anti-semitism, classism, colonialism, ableism and ageism.

b. Allocate funds from the constituency control account to constituency organisations subject to approval by the BoD

c. Facilitate the reactivation of inactive advocacy council member organizations

4. Membership

a. The Chairperson - ex officio and chair of the committee

b. One Director elected by the BoD

c. One GSS member elected by the GSS

d. Resource Coordinator(s) – ex officio and non voting

e. One representative from each Constituency Group, as per UVSS bylaws selected by their respective organization and ratified by the BoD

f. One representative selected by the NSU and ratified by the BoD

5. Quorum

a. Shall be a majority of voting members and the chair and not less than three (3) voting members.

6. Meetings

a. Shall meet at least once a semester at date set by the chair of the committee or upon the call of the BoD.

7. Term of Office

a. Shall be from the date of appointment until the end of the current board year (ie April 30).