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<\/a>However, Turcotte is unsure of how the empty campuses will affect voter turnout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be the first fully remote election with nobody on campus, so that will be interesting to see how that impacts voter participation and the ability for candidates to gain awareness,\u201d he says. \u201cSince everybody is maintaining some degree of social isolation, I\u2019m hoping that students will actually have more time to read through the information and participate in this process, and that voter turnout actually increases, but there\u2019s still some unknowns in relation to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The election will also have a referendum question which proposes to increase the student society fee by $1 a month. Turcotte says this is to cover increased expenses relating to funding services such as the WalkSafer program, the new Ombudsperson (which the CCSS and Camosun College both fund), and other advocacy expenses that have been growing steadily under the same budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been seeking to fund those services internally, trying to make that work up until now,\u201d he says. \u201cPassing that referendum will allow us to maintain even current services slightly better than what we would without it.\u201d<\/p>\n
CCSS external executive Fillette Umulisa believes students should care about voting because the role of CCSS\u2019 elected leaders is to fight for the rights of those very students.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they should care because as a student union, we are the ones that look out for the interests of every student here at Camosun College, so I think it\u2019s important that people get to choose the people that are going to make the decisions that are going to affect them,\u201d she says. \u201cStudents are going to have life on campus and you need somebody that you can hold accountable to be able to represent you when you cannot represent yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Umulisa says that one of the primary strengths of the CCSS is that its members know what it\u2019s like to be students.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would not want to imagine a world where [student societies] did not exist, a world in which there\u2019s nobody to advocate for people if they need things,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s students who run the student unions; they know how to act and how to do it because they\u2019re facing the same issues every student is facing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turcotte believes that student societies have a large impact on the student experience through advocacy work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main purpose of a student society is to advocate for students and to make the experience as good as possible for our members,\u201d he says, \u201cso we try to do that both by advocating with the institution and the governments, but also by providing those services or trying to get the college to provide those services for students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turcotte believes that voting is important for students, because it allows them to have a say in where their money is spent.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudent societies are responsible for most of the auxiliary fees that students pay; that\u2019s why students are essential in terms of providing good governance to those organizations,\u201d he says. \u201cThat requires students picking their leaders, to help ensure that those funds are allocated in an accountable manner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turcotte says that without student societies, campus life for students would be devoid of so many of the little things that improve students\u2019 quality of experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would come to class but they wouldn\u2019t have help if they got into difficulty,\u201d he says. \u201cLike, if you need a grade appeal, or some advice, or you want to go to the dentist, or have someone walk with you to the bus stop after hours, all those sorts of things\u2014you can see evidence of the student society\u2019s existence all over campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turcotte says that working for CCSS has been rewarding because he can witness personal growth in students who are involved with the student society.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, watching students developing governance experience is redeeming, in a sense,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve seen many of them grow a lot personally as they gain that experience and participate in those processes, represent students at meetings at meetings in various parts of the country, or with MPs and MLAs; it means a lot to me to watch young people have those growth opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Umulisa loves that through her work with the CCSS she\u2019s been given the opportunity to provide for a community that has given so much to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been entrusted with an opportunity to stand out and represent my fellow students; for me it is a great way to show that I\u2019m giving back to the community. I love the Camosun community, it\u2019s important, and it\u2019s been really good for me that I want every other student\u2019s experience to be the same,\u201d she says. \u201cOn top of that, there\u2019s a sense of belonging when you\u2019re part of a bigger group, [you] get that sense of saying, wow, my voice was part of this movement. There\u2019s always that feeling I\u2019m actually doing something, and that something is benefitting more people than just myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Umulisa urges students to think of the elections not as a series of adversarial competitions, but as a team committed to student prosperity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think coming into the election students should know that regardless of who they vote for, even though we run as individuals, when the results come out and the new board is set, we all work closely because we all have one thing in mind: to be responsible and accountable to the people that voted for us,\u201d she says. \u201cSo [students] should cast their vote, because whomever they\u2019re going to vote for is going to stand out and represent them to the best of their abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n