ACRES Levy Question History – How Did We Get Here?

The Aboriginal Counselling Resource Elder Service (ACRES) student levy referendum
question arose from discussions at the March 20, 2008 meeting of the Aboriginal Affairs
Committee (AAC) of the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. Two members of the
AAC, Professor Georges Sioui of the Aboriginal Studies Program and Chad Kicknosway
of the Aboriginal Law Students Association (ALSA) raised the fact that there is no
dedicated Elder counselling service for students on campus. Professor Sioui noted that
many Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students have expressed to him their desire to seek
out advice and counselling support from Elders. Committee members agreed that
securing funding for an ACRES would be very difficult.

Michael Brown, a Common Law Students Society representative on the AAC noted that
perhaps funding for ACRES could be obtained by getting approval from students to
support a $1 per semester levy for the creation and maintenance of an ACRES on
campus. Brown stated that he had recently been elected as the Common Law Faculty
Director on the Board of Administration of the Student Federation of the University of
Ottawa (SFUO-BOA). The SFUO-BOA is the body that determines which referendum
questions are posed to students in the Student Elections. Brown stated that he would be
willing to act as a “sponsor” in regards to seeking approval from the SFUO-BOA to have
an ACRES levy question posed to students in the 2009 Student Elections.

Over the summer and early autumn, Professor Sioui and Michael Brown corresponded
and eventually a draft levy question was crafted. Brown first raised the levy question as
an “information point” at the September 14, 2008 meeting of the SFUO-BOA. Brown
then attended the September 22, SFUO-BOA Policy and By-laws Committee meeting and
after some minor revisions, a bilingual referendum question was approved to go to the
SFUO-BOA for consideration. Brown then presented the initiative for comment to the
ALSA on September 23, 2008. Dennis Stark, the President of ALSA was very supportive
of the initiative, as were ALSA members in attendance. Brown also corresponded with
Chad Kicknosway, who serves on the Executive of the University of Ottawa Aboriginal
Students Association (UOASA). Chad Kicknosway expressed support for the initiative
as well.

At the October 5, 2008 SFUO-BOA meeting, the levy question was presented to the
SFUO-BOA for comment. Dennis Stark, President of ALSA, attended the meeting and
responded to the many questions of the SFUO-BOA directors. The final decision on the
fate of the ACRES levy question was tabled until the November 30, 2008 SFUO-BOA
meeting. Dennis Stark also attended this meeting and once again, responded to questions
from the SFUO-BOA directors. Ultimately, the SFUO-BOA voted in favour of having
the question included in Student Elections of 2009. Dennis Stark and Danika Brisson
serve as the official representatives of the ACRES Levy Question “Yes” Campaign.