News

 

 

NDP Secures Summer Job Program
for Students, Communities in Need

~Concerns remain over seairiched criteria in repackaged program

Nicole Burton, OP News Editor

 

Cais non-profit groups and
small local businesses who rely on
federal funding to provide summer
jobs for students are now able to apply
for 2007 funding, says NDP education
advocate Denise Savoie.

“This Conservative government
unfairly kept students and community
employers waiting to hear about
summer jobs funding,” said Denise
Savoie (Victoria), the NDP Post-

Secondary Education and Skills
Training Advocate. “At last they have
listened to the NDP’s calls to ensure that
students and employers in greatest need
will have priority.”

Savoie accredits this gain for
students and low-income earners
mainly to grassroots efforts launched
in response to federal cuts made by the
Conservative government towards social
assistance.

Two months behind schedule, the
re-branded “Canada Summer Jobs”
released its call for applications from
potential employers on Friday. The
Service Canada web site has online
application forms, which are due in less
than four weeks, on March 30.

Savoie and other advocates for
students’ rights have argued persistently
that the cuts must not negatively impact
the non-profit organizations, community
groups, and small local businesses that
provide the overwhelming majority of
student jobs through the program.

According to government sources,
only $11 million of the anticipated $55
million will be cut from the program, all
of which will be from subsidies to large
corporate employers.

Nevertheless, some non-profit

employers have expressed concern that
new, restricted criteria such as certifying
that the summer jobs would not be
created without federal funding could
serve to exclude them from this year’s
funding.

“Creating new, unduly burdensome
criteria and unreasonably tight
deadlines are tactics we have seen used
against women’s and literacy groups,”
said Savoie, “Exacting accountability
without showing any accountability
in return has become a Conservative
hallmark, and it reveals a profound
disrespect for the time, effort and work
of the non-profit sector.”

 

Olympian Opportunities Lead to
Mexican Education A

Douglas College Media Release

S mall businesses preparing
for opportunities to support the 2010
Olympics will benefit from Douglas
College’s new partnerships in Mexico.

Three new academic agreements,
recently signed by the college, will
see the study of international customer
service become a major focus in the
upcoming year.

“Mexican international business
and tourism students are exceedingly
interested in what Vancouver is doing to
prepare for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
As an international port and tourist
destination, Vancouver is seen as a
desirable, relevant, and prosperous
place to learn about business,” says
Blaine Jensen, Douglas College’s Vice
President of Educational Services.

“These studies will not only bring
students to Vancouver, but will attract
faculty from Canada, USA, and Mexico
to study how customer services can be
improved for Vancouver businesses and
their international visitors,”

Douglas College’s award-
winning track record in international
partnerships and expertise in business
and customized training programs

4

says Jensen.

helped cement the agreements. The
partnerships with Colegio Nacional
de Educacion Profesional Tecnica
(CONALEP Sonora), Centor de
Estudios Superiores del Estado de
Sonora (CESUES) and Universidad
Kino A.C. will connect Douglas College
to over 45,000
students from the
North Mexican
state of Sonora.
“T was
overwhelmed
with the response.
During my
time in Mexico
I spoke with
representatives
from at least ten
public and private
universities.
By the end of
the visit, I had
six institutions
express direct
interest in doing
business with
Douglas College.
Time and again
students kept
asking, ‘How soon

can we come?’”

Students could begin arriving soon.
The agreement with CESUES has
opened discussion for up to 40 students
to travel to New Westminster this
summer for five weeks of advanced
English-language training combined

 

 

greements

with instruction on tourism and
international business. Interaction with
local businesses will be a focus for the
students. Other Mexican institutions in
Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Leon
are also seeking Douglas College
partnerships.