The DSU Presents the Tree of Need to Support the Broadway Youth Resource Centre With the college community's generosity we can make it a Tree of Love Darryl Flasch and Yasmin Irani The Douglas Students’ Union is sponsoring a Tree of Need for the Broadway Youth Resource Centre (BYRC), and we need the assistance of the Douglas College community to make it into a “Tree of Love,” with donations in the form of gifts and non-perishable food items. The BYRC opened its doors in 1999 and is located at the corner of Broadway and Fraser, which is consid- ered to be the second highest crime corner in Greater Vancouver, second only to Main and Hastings. The BYRC provides various services, including a youth drop-in centre, an alternate school, counseling, and a health clinic for youth at risk aged 12 to 24, many of whom have small children of their own. Its clientele include youth at risk of being involved in the sex trade, substance abuse, criminal activity, and dropping out of school. Many factors place youth at- risk, including poverty, abuse, neglect, transience, and homelessness; systemic barriers of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation; family and community variables, including parental substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence, high crime rates, and social disorgan- ization; personal characteristics of mental and physical disabilities, learning disabilities, low intelligence, poor temperament, and poor anger management. The donations required are items such as toys, 'T- shirts, gift certificates, children’s clothes, chocolates, candy, and the basics such as socks, gloves, and hats. Here is how the project works: you take a tag off the tree in the students’ union offices, purchase the item(s) listed on the tag, wrap the new gift and bring it back to the students’ union office with the tag attached and place under the tree. The gifts will be given to the youth at their Christmas party on December 22, 2005. Both of the DSU Trees of Need are located on- campus, in Room 200 of the Students’ Union Building at the New Westminster Campus, and in room B1050 at the David Lam Campus. For more information, please call 604.527.5110, or 604.777.6257. Protesters Call for Reinvestment of $4 Billion in Education McGill students make up half of protest that greeted Martin in Montreal Rishi Hargovan, The McGill Daily (McGill University) MONTREAL (CUP)—To coincide with the Quebec wing of the federal Liberal Party’s convention this past Sunday, students kicked off a campaign aimed at pres- suring the federal government to increase its post sec- ondary education funding by $4 billion. La Coalition Régionale des étudiants de Montréal (CREM) protested outside the convention as Prime Minister Paul Martin delivered the keynote address to delegates. Guillaume Lavoie, VP International and Federal Affairs for la Fédération Etudiante Universitaire du Québec, explained that in 1993, then-Finance Minister, Paul Martin changed the post-secondary education funding formula, which resulted in approximately $4 billion being cut from post-secondary education. “In past [election] campaigns, Paul Martin has said that he would increase funding levels to $7 billion. They currently stand at $3.5 billion. You do the math. We’re calling on him to keep his promise,” said Lavoie. Rachel Abs, a first-year history student lamented the disconnect between the federal government’s budget surplus and its current contribution to post-secondary education. “There’s a huge surplus and yet education is horrify- ingly under-funded,” said Abs. “Students need to be present everywhere [Martin] goes to remind him about education.” Inside the convention, delegates adopted a motion supporting the demonstrators’ demands. The motion, which was introduced by the President of the Quebec wing of Young Liberals of Canada, Brigitte Legault, specifically called for the re-investment of $4 billion in the form of a separate dedicated transfer to provinces. The motion also called for a return to the 1992 post-secondary funding formula and a withdrawal of taxes on student bursaries and on all research bursaries and grants. Billed as a street party, Sunday’s demonstration drew around 40 students to the front of the Hyatt Hotel on Ste. Catherine Street. Demonstrators carried placards and got passers-by to fill out postcards addressed to Martin to articulate students’ demands. Three SSMU executives-VP External Aaron Donny- Clark, President Adam Conter, and VP University Affairs Max Reed-were present. According to Donny- Clark, SSMU’s mobilization effort and the 15 to 20 McGill students present at the demonstration signalled SSMU’s commitment to the broader student movement. _ “SSMU is taking its own proper part in the cam- paign, revitalizing its role in provincial politics,’ he said. “We’re going to keep doing everything we can to get students more involved. We’re not going to stop until we win.” However, Donny-Clark admitted the turnout was low. He attributed that to the event’s Sunday morning time and a need for further mobilizing, “We would like to have had more people. Students may need more information relating the transfer to tuition,” Donny-Clark said. Martin’s speech was highly partisan and mentioned post-secondary education only in passing. Martin spent most of his time criticizing Conservative leader Stephen Harper and the Bloc Québécois.