Students challenge government on global aid

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This article was published 29/12/2010 (5370 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Almost 100 students recently challenged the Canadian government to give more money to global aid.

The call-to-action was part of Canadian Mennonite University’s annual Pearson Challenge, which has run each fall since 2005. The initiative encourages students to serve as role models for the community by making personal contributions to international development assistance.

“This year, [the challenge] seems to have really taken off,” said Erin Weaver, CMU’s vice-president of student relations on student council. “We raised more money and had more student participation than ever before.”

Weaver noted that the challenge is rooted in Canadian political history. In 1969, then-Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson promised the international community that Canada would contribute 0.7% of its Gross Domestic Product to foreign aid.

“Forty-one year later, Canada is barely meeting half of that commitment each year,” she added.  

Weaver, 21, who headed up this year’s challenge, said the 2010 initiative involved 92 students at the Tuxedo-based university, who each donated 0.7% of his or her respective tuition costs to go toward education in the African nation of Uganda.

Weaver said the students raised $4,278 this year, compared to $2,600 in 2009. CMUSC will add to that sum, making the final total close to the original goal of $7,500, which represents 0.7% of total tuition paid for one academic year.

The money will be donated to the university’s event partner  — Global Family’s Hope Never Runs Dry program. The Mennonite Central Committee AIDS prevention outreach program helps children of AIDS-affected families in the Kamuli district of central Uganda attend school.

“We exceeded expectations. The fact that we, as an institution, almost met Pearson’s recommendation is amazing,” Weaver said. “We challenged our students to be generous because we are blessed with our lives and our education.

“I would also love to see other schools get involved, particularly our Christian rivals, Providence College in Otterburne, Man., as well as the universities and colleges in Winnipeg,” she added, noting that Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario is “starting up an event inspired by CMU’s Pearson Challenge.”

Along with their pledges, students recently sent  letters to both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia MP Steven Fletcher — who is also Minister of State for Democratic Reform in Ottawa — calling for action from the government regarding development assistance.

“Pearson Challenge is not just about raising money for a good cause,” Weaver said.

“It’s about sending a challenge to the Canadian government to fulfill its  promise and to show Canada that this level of generosity is possible, even for university students.”  

CMU student Kate Polle, 20, thinks the Canadian government “needs to be doing more to help overseas.”

“They ought to be listening to us and it’s our responsibility to speak up. This is activism,” Polle said, noting she gave 0.7% of her tuition to the cause.

“We’re supposed to be a democracy, but it doesn’t show sometimes. It’s up to us to remind the government they should be listening to us.”

simon.fuller@canstarnews.com