Keele minutes for Feb 21st

The minutes for our meeting on tuesday, February 21st can be downloaded as a PDF file from the website.

Also, small fixes have been made to the design so that it is now (somewhat) compatible with Internet Explorer 6, and fully compatible with Netscape 7, and Firefox 1.0+.

Glendon minutes for Feb 20th

Originally prepared by Kamal Farmaly of the Glendon Committee. Posted here with permission.

- Selection of executive members has been rescheduled for next meeting due to
members request. Reasons:
a. Committee members want to know more about the responsibilities of each position
b. Committee members who are interested to join the executive committee were not present at this meeting
c. The division of some positions to one coordinator and co-coordinator to split the responsibilities
d. More then one member were interested to be in the take responsibility e. The new executive positions will be as follows:
1. President
2. 2 Vice Presidents:
I. Academic
II. Social and Cultural
3. Treasurer
4. Media and Communication Coordinator
5. 2 Academic Coordinators
6. 2 Social and Cultural Coordinators
7. Overseeing Committee (Mme. Louise Lewin and Pro. Barutciski)

f. Mme. Lewin’s office will help us to be a liaison between WUSC Ottawa and our committee, when we need help
g. We will have a Rotating Secretary and Facilitator for every meeting and a
template will be provided for the secretary to ease the process of taking notes during the meeting. At the meantime I would like to request everyone who can help to send me a model of template that you could think then we will compile them together and make it one.

- Selection (ranking) of refugee student will be done by the executive committee. All executive members have to attend a training session organized by WUSC Ottawa at Glendon in March.
- We don’t have documents and applications of refugee students, once we receive them will communicate with the committee.
- We have to have a French version of the Website for Glendon.
- It should be posted to My Glendon website
- The project have to be publicized at the YLife and ProTem ( Media and Communication Coordinator will help us doing all publicity).
- The next WUSC symposium will be held in Glendon.
- We will invite Housing Services manager Mr. Vinesh Saxeena in our next meeting to promote our project
- We will also participate in Friends of Glendon meeting (Mme. Lewin will inform me about the date and time of the meeting)
- I will send you the new constitution with the break down of responsibilities. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback. Our next meeting is on Monday March 6th, at 7PM. I would like to know your opinion on posting the name of those members who are interested in executive positions, please let me know if you agree and if I see that you feel comfortable with it then I will post name in front of positions in my next email.

Thanks for your participation once again and I will see you on March 6th, at 7 pm.

Regards,

Kamal Farmaly

Update: Website Changes

*edit* Internet Explorer users will notice some (Internet Explorer-specific) errors. This is due to how it interprets cascading style sheets. We're trying to work around it. In the meantime, we suggest you use the fast, safer, and better "Firefox" (www.mozilla.com)

Our previous website was a little cumbersome to update, and did not emphasize Glendon's role in the future of the World University Service of Canada organization at York University. Changes in our new website include:

- Increased exposure for Glendon & Keele
- To visualize the close ties we share
- A clean, refreshing feel
- Community Help bulletin
- Automated listserv subscription
- Online feedback form
- Sponsored Student Profile(s)
- Updated executive list
- Prominent International Seminar section
- FAQ (in process)

We hope you will take a moment to visit our website:

Click Here

Please provide us with your comments, suggestions, ideas, or complaints. Thank you for your continued interest in our local committees.

- Kevin
Communications
Keele committee
York University

FYI: Refugee Statistics for 2005

(Provided by the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University)

Immigration and Refugee Board Statistics for 2005
Decisions of Refugee Protection Division

27,212 refugee claims were finalized
12,061 (44%) were positive
11,846 (44%) were negative
1,634 (6%) were declared abandoned
1,671 (6%) withdrew or were otherwise resolved

The number of claims finalized went down significantly from recent years: 27,212, compared to 40,408 in 2004, 42,477 in 2003, and 32,466 in 2002.

The number of claims pending at the end of the year continued to decline: 20,552 at 31 December 2005, compared to 27,290 at the end of 2004, 41,575 at the end of 2003, and 52,761 at the end of 2002. If the IRB continues at the same rate of finalization, it will take just over 9 months to finalize all the claims pending at the end of 2005.

20,786 claims claims were referred to the Board in 2005, continuing the recent decline: 25,750 in 2004, 31,937 in 2003, 39,498 in 2002, 44,038 in 2001.

The acceptance rate has risen slightly after several years of decline. For several years it stood at about 47%, then it dropped to 42% in 2003 and further down to 40% in 2004. In 2005, it rose to 44%. The percentage of abandoned and withdrawn has also dropped: from a combined total of 16% in 2003, to 13% in 2004 and 12% in 2005. The percentage of negative decisions has gone down slightly compared to 2004: 44% in 2005, compared to 47% in 2004 (it was 42% in 2003). In 2005, claims decided at a hearing had a 50% chance of being accepted (as they did in 2003), whereas in 2004, there was only a 45% chance of being accepted.

Regional acceptance rates (as a percentage of total claims finalized) for 2005 were as follows:

Montréal: 44% (in 2004: 41%; in 2003: 42%, in 2002: 43%)
Ottawa/Atlantic: 66% (in 2004: 53%; in 2003: 50%, in 2002: 51%)
Toronto: 46% (in 2004: 40%; in 2003: 43%, in 2002: 50%)
Calgary: 30% (in 2004: 27%; in 2003: 35%, in 2002: 48%)
Vancouver: 27% (in 2004: 24%; in 2003: 28%, in 2002: 30%)

Vancouver continued to have a high abandonment rate of 14% (17%, in 2004, 15% in 2003, 18% in 2002, 21% in 2001). Toronto’s abandonment rate fell from 11% in 2002 and 2003 to 7% in 2004 and remained at 7% in 2005 (other regions: Montreal, 4%; Calgary, 5%, Ottawa/Atlantic, 2%).

End of statistic report.

Ontario Science Centre

Founders College Student Council (FCSC) holds regular social events to engage students in the college and on campus. On friday the 3rd they organized a visit to the BodyWorlds2 exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre. Our sponsored student, who lives in Founders Residence, participated in the event.

The exhibit was...disturbing, to say the least. There are both positive and negative reasons why you should eat a meal before you go. The entire exhibit took about an hour and a half to complete; from a fetus to camel organs. Good yummy stuff.

Anatomy lovers would shriek with delight. Mm..sagittal slice of the torso.

We could not take photographs inside the exhibit, but we took two outside with some of the students who attended:

Photo One
Photo Two

Glendon Committee Meeting

The Glendon Committee had their first official meeting last friday, January 3rd at the Glendon Campus. The following minutes were forwarded by Kamal Farmaly of the Glendon Committee. Please take a moment to read.

-- Forwarded Message:

Hello everyone,

First of all I would like to thank every one of you who attended the meeting and I thank you for your continuous support to Glendon WUSC project. Sorry for my long email, but as it was the first meeting it is really important that you take 3 minutes and read it please till the end thank you. Our meeting on Friday was, I would call it, ‘the official’ beginning of WUSC project in Glendon collage.

The following people were at the meeting:

Mme. Louise Lewin (Glendon Vice principal)

Professor Michael Barutciski (International Studies Department)

Carl (President of York WUSC Committee)

Kamal Farmaly

Tammy Maclean ( Rights and Democracy at Glendon)

John Wires (Rights and Democracy at Glendon)

Emilie Lavoie

Karolina Wilczynska

Here are the minutes of the meeting.
In our meeting we have established WUSC committee at Glendon with the collaboration of York WUSC committee. York Committee will contribute $ 23, 000 to the Glendon WUSC to sponsor the first francophone student at Glendon for 2006/2007. WUSC Committee at York is also committed to help and support us financially with the surplus of their levy in the coming years.

Short term objectives:

To select executive members and to share responsibilities.

To write the bylaws (constitution) of Glendon WUSC committee

To open a bank account

To contact Lynn Leblanc to send dossiers of potential WUSC candidates for selection to Glendon WUSC Committee.

To set up a date for training of all executive members by WUSC

Long term objectives:

To inform Glendon students about WUSC project and to work toward a referendum in future for a levy at Glendon to sponsor the project.

To work with the International Studies department to get more student support

To find out other funding alternatives Exp: fund raising events / providing on campus summer job for student (this option will be discussed further) / contacting different organizations for financial support / Glendon bookstore / Friends of Glendon / Cafeteria and Housing at Glendon /

Glendon WUSC documents will be collected at Mme. Lewin office

We have been informed by Carl (President of WUSC at York) that being an associated committee of York WUSC, we will be entitled for a subsidy for the events related to WUSC project through York Student Federation. Mme. Lewin has applied for $ 250 start-up funding offered by WUSC. We have the following positions available; if you are interested to volunteer with this noble cause please write to me about your preference. If we have more than one person interested in these positions then we will vote on it during our next meeting. The available positions are:

1. Vice President
2. Treasurer
3. Social and Cultural Coordinator
4. Academic coordinator

The function and responsibilities of these positions will be decided in our next meeting after drafting our bylaws.

The next meeting to select our executive members and to review our bylaws is
setup for February 20th, 2006 at 6 PM at York Hall Room # C 202 in Glendon College, please confirm your participation. Please let me know if February 20th is not convenient for you and give me you availability I will see if we could
change the date.

Regards,
Kamal Farmaly

Workshop with Lynne and Tania

On tuesday, January 31st, Lynne LeBlanc from Ottawa and Tania Haas made a presentation on the Student Refugee Program on the third floor of York Lanes at 3:00 pm.

A representative from Glendon, a past McGill University committee member, and Michele Millard from the Centre of Refugee Studies were also present. The topics discussed at the workshop included:

1. WUSC roles & their importance

WUSC Ottawa works in conjunction with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Overseas partners, Local Committees, and the Sponsored Student. From beginning to end, the sponsorship program goes through more than eighteen phases. The Local Committees are WUSC's strongest asset; many roles are fulfilled by the them.

WUSC is one of 93 private sponsors with the Canadian government, and is one of the only non-religion based organizations that provide advanced English training.

WUSC currently has three main partners overseas: Malawi, Kenya, and Thailand. The Canadian government recognizes WUSC as an important aspect of its international image. The selection process for sponsored students is stringent and lengthy.

WUSC can only sponsor up to their quota, which in the past has been capped at fifty. In the year 2006/2007, there will be 69 possible selection candidates.

2. Financial budget of the RSP

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has decided to cut funding for WUSC, and WUSC has had to rely on an interim funding model. CIDA had provided for 20% of WUSC's expenses, while the other 80% came from the local committees. The new 20% currently comes from CIC, WUSC institutional funds, private donors, individuals, etc.

In 2006/2007, the cost of sponsoring a student costs $20,000. WUSC is actively seeking a solid funding partner, but if unable, the SRP may be in danger as soon as 2008.

3. Various local committee topics

The York local committee should arrange a meeting with Michele Millard, the co-ordinator for the Centre of Refugee Studies to plan future collaboration. Communication with CRS should increase, and they are key tot he long-term sustainability of the program.

How do we make CRS a permanent part of the local committee?

What other types of support can we ask from our institution?

An idea was to approach York University Alumni for funds. The local committees should decide on three priorities as targets from now until May 2007.

4. Glendon Committee

The WUSC Glendon Committee & the York local committee should increase communication and share resources. WUSC Glendon will be an integral part of WUSC at York University, so it is important to develop a strong bond between the two committees.

We have proposed to hold the 2006/2007 Regional Symposium on the Glendon Campus. An evaluation has yet to be arranged.

--

Important Dates:
- IASFM Conference at York University, June 2006
- Dossiers to arrive in February 2006
- Negotiations from February - March
- Immigration form submissions due in April
- World Refugee Day - June 20th

--

Notes:
- There is a file sharing & exchange forum online between the local committees known as "smartgroups"
- WUSC Ottawa regularly sends out e-mails called "Communicase"
- $5000 is needed to cover the overseas administration costs for the SRP

Please provide comments.

Photo Gallery

Photographs for the Symposium and Multicultural Week can be found at the following links:

Symposium Photos

Multicultural Week Photos

We hope to take more photographs in the near future.

Multicultural Week

York is U hosted the annual Multicultural Week in York Lanes this week. Cultural groups could only table on the first two days, but we were able to spread the word about our local committee during that time.

Some quick facts:
- We handed out more than 70 pamphlets
- 41 people signed up for the listserv
- 5 faculty members promised to post up the pamphlets in their office
- Popular handouts included: The WUSC International Seminar and Improving Girls' Education.
- At least 100 people were informed of WUSC
- 3 faculty members were involved with WUSC at some point in their lives
- Most students who were aware of WUSC were also aware of AIESEC
- Not a single person knew that they were paying 3 cents per credit in support of our cause
- We still have a lot of promotional material left

It was a success; our goal was to increase awareness and to reach out to the student body. Thanks to York is U for letting us have a table.

Regional Symposium

This year's regional symposium was held on January 27th to the 29th. Representatives from various committees in Ontario were present. The symposium took place at the Univeristy of Toronto, organized by their colleges. It provided an opportunity for committees to network and exchange ideas.

Information sessions on topics such as the Millenium Development Goals, Refugee Camps, International Youth Internships, WUSC Internships, CECI, and so on. There was also a session by Paul Davidson the executive director of WUSC, and Adrian Bradbury the co-founder of GuluWalk.

Key points:
- The Millenium Development Goals were decided on in the year 2000 when 189 nations came together to set specific goals to make the world a better place. All these goals are supposed to be met by the year 2015. They include:

1. Eradicate hunger & poverty.
2. Universal primary education.
3. Gender equality; woman empowerment.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Global partnership for development.

A copy of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) and their descriptions can be obtained from the committee. Please see our contact information.

Can we afford to remain indifferent?

- Raise awareness
- Change your lifestyle
- Volunteer
- Support fair trade
- Keep informed
- Organize campaigns
- Partner with other bodies
- Think critically about local & global issues

We are not the leaders of tomorrow; we are the leaders of today.

- In the Fall of 2006 there will be internships to Vietnam. They estimate that there will be twenty positions open.
- Approach the international office, the deans of faculty on your campus for funding
- WUSC is affiliated with more than 83 Colleges and Universities.

- Tania Haas is an intern with WUSC that works in our region. We were strongly encouraged to arrange for a meeting and discuss financial strategies.

- All the speakers at the symposium would be good for potential speakers at York University in the future.