No Consultation, No Consent: An Update on Bill 33
March 29th, 2021
As Bill 33 continues to move quickly through the procedural steps to becoming law, the Provincial Government has not consulted the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association yet. The UWSA has not consented to the proposed overreach of power to take control of our student fees and our tuition rates.
“This bill has added extra stress for those students that would be negatively affected by this legislation. These students deserve and have the right to be heard regarding this bill. The negative impact could see many students that rely on the services provided through the UWSA be a huge factor if they can further their education or not,” says Jonathan Henderson, UWSA Vice-President of External Affairs. “Especially through the pandemic, there are already uncertainties in many of our futures, especially those that have been placed in even harder situations due to this pandemic. For the Minister to ignore us is unacceptable.”
The UWSA questions the vagueness of the Bill and calls on Minister Ewasko, who oversees post-secondary education in Manitoba, to provide clearer language that excludes student union fees from being affected.
The UWSA strongly opposes the Bill’s current wording that gives the government new and absolute power over student fees.
“There has been no willingness from the Minister to meet and hear from students and their concerns. The lack of effort, the dismissal of Student leader’s voice and the Minister’s decision to delegate communication to his office staff is disappointing,” says Shawna Péloquin, UWSA President. “We want meaningful consultation, and we will not stay silent when the Minister chose to call us pawns.”
We call on the Minister to Scrap Bill 33. Without consultation, there is no consent. We call on the Minister to establish meaningful dialogue and consultation with student unions and include them at the start of any process when setting directions and priorities for post-secondary education.
Get involved by signing up to speak when the bill goes to committee hearings and sign this petition at cfsmb.ca/bill33.
