Vote YES! for QPIRG

General >> Vote YES! for QPIRG - click here for more info

Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 01:54 AM

Check out our mandate, our working groups and our recent events...

Click on the title above for more information about why you should vote YES! Find testimonials from students and community members on what QPIRG has meant for them, a list of all the student and community groups that started out with us, some financial soundbites about QPIRG, and more...

The Question

Do you agree to raise the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at Concordia’s fee levy to $0.31 per credit, thereby continuing to support the increased demand for the services of QPIRG, the birthplace of the People's Potato, Sustainable Concordia Project, le Frigo Vert and Right to Move, home to 15 active working groups, and the provider of valuable student resources and programming. This increase would represent a $0.01 increase for Arts & Science, Fine Arts and Independent students, a $0.11 increase for Engineering and Computer Science Students, and $0.31 for John Molson School of Business students, thereby equalizing the levy paid by ALL undergrad students. The fee would continue to be fully refundable and collected in accordance with the university tuition billing and refund policy, starting September 2007.

Why you should vote yes...

Don't forget to check out our mandate page, our working groups page and recent events in the news section...

Statistics and Finances

- In the 25 years of QPIRG’s existence we have only seen an increase in our funding twice – in 1989 and in 1998. It has been almost 10 years since QPIRG has seen a fee levy increase.

- Over the last 3 years alone, QPIRG Concordia hired over 15 students into new job positions
through workstudy and summer grants. Over a quarter of these students have gone on to retain long-term employment in a career building capacity as they achieve their goals of continuing to work in the non-profit, social justice sector.

- Over the last 3 years alone, the total number of student-driven working groups funded annually by QPIRG has risen by 50%

- Over the last 2 years alone, increasing enrolment has led to only a 6% increase in QPIRG income, while QPIRG:

- Increased its programming budget by 21%, geared toward educational events for students and community members through workshops, speakers' series, film series, and maintaining an alternative on-campus library for radical research and an online database.

- Expanded its volunteer budget available to all students by increasing funds available to working groups (44%)

- Increased its internal co-sponsorship fund for student-working group events and initiatives by 17%

- Created new budget initiatives specifically for our student volunteers and campus programming, such as alternative Orientation

- Created new budget initiatives to enhance our organizational capacity, such as programming to appreciate and reward our student volunteers

- Created an accessibility fund to make childcare, transportation, ASL resources available to any event hosted by a campus social justice group.

- Operated, staffed, and maintained a large **free** organizing space open to all students working on social justice initiatives with 4 meeting areas, and a large group assembly capacity of approximately 50 people. This space also offers photocopying and printing at the rate of 0.04 per page, and over 4 free computers well equipped with high speed internet, multiple desktop publishing applications, and microsoft office. QPIRG has absorbed the rising cost of these operations in the last three years alone including:
--> 53% for rent in a physically accessible space
--> 16% for telecommunications
--> 14% for staffing costs
--> 4% for electricity

- Created new funds altogether for monthly IT & Network support and upgrades.

Testimonials from QPIRGers:

“Since my arrival in Montreal in September 2005, QPIRG has been absolutely indispensable in allowing me to gain access to the greater Montreal community as a student. QPIRG is a tremendous resource for Concordia students, offering them the support and capacity to create exciting projects that enhance both Concordia and Montreal’s broader communities at once. The links I've gained through QPIRG have certainly shaped my life here, and the work that they do is vital to maintaining democratic space on campus from which to support grassroots organizing”.
– M. L.
Concordia Undergraduate Student

“My first contact with the university based Public Research Interest Groups (PIRG) was in 1988 as a university student in Ottawa. I continued being in contact with Concordia QPIRG both as a student in the early nineties and have continued to do so as a community member who is still a dedicated volunteer some 20 years later. PIRGs have a strong tradition in North American Universities for student organizing, community networking and providing a practical, relevant approach to learning. It is here where we apply what we learn in many of our courses towards the betterment of both student lives and to the lives of those in the community who live among us. It is a vital supplement to education. For many of us, it provided the basis for learning how to do independent research, work in teams, search for resources in the community that can help students’ lives and vice versa. As a volunteer, it helped me develop skills, in a safe environment that I could call my own, that I would later use both in my professional career and in my continued volunteer work. It also provided an invaluable resource for students who did not actively participate but who were in need of support and/or information during, what is for many, an extremely trying time.
“In a world that has become increasingly corporate, where public space, for independent voice and action, is being constantly compromised, it is vital for us to maintain that space which has already been gained through student struggle. The appropriation of education by students should not be taken for granted. It was a highly contentious and hard struggle – more so for some than for others. For those of us who honour the history of student unions and student-appropriated space, QPIRG’s role should not be compromised.
– P. C.
QPIRG Concordia Working Group Member (Re-Con)

"This is my first year as a Concordia student, and I have benefited greatly from my involvement with QPIRG Concordia. This is such an active and creative space, with lots of exciting projects. I quickly became involved in this energetic organization that provides a vital link between dynamic student movements and the greater Montreal community. I was encouraged to join the board, and my experience as a board member of QPIRG Concordia has helped me to develop skills sought by many employers in today's job market. “
– J. B.
QPIRG Concordia Board Member

"I'm a community organizer. I moved to Montreal in 2000 and QPIRG has been a place that I could find a sense of community and have a space with which I could continue to fight the social injustices that affect me and the communities to which I belong.
“It is a unique space that must be preserved and expanded. It is very rare that we find spaces with a true commitment to anti-oppression. True, there are many groups out there, but most view marginalized peoples as charity or as victims needing help. QPIRG's work addresses the root causes of social inequity and in doing so treats marginalized people with dignity and respect, empowering them to be part of the struggle for social change.
“As a person who has experienced poverty, QPIRG provided a place where I could come to use the resources without feeling shame. As a woman of colour, QPIRG provided a space where I could make links between students and my community. While working at the South Asian Women's Community Centre coordinating a youth program, QPIRG was a bridge between our organization and Concordia students. As a person with a disability, QPIRG has always provided accessibility and removed the barriers that would keep me from doing social justice work, making accommodations so that I could come to the organization, and making me feel like I could still be part of a social justice movement. As a queer person, I felt that it has been a safe space to be out without having to face homophobia. “
– H. M.
QPIRG Concordia member
Community Organizer

"As an undergraduate student in Fine Arts, I have been extremely lucky to be a part of CounterShot, which is one of QPIRG’s working groups. CounterShot is a resource and skills exchange for artists from queer and trans communities, and gets an annual budget through QPIRG that we’ve used to buy supplies, give and attend workshops outside of school, and rent equipment and spaces for our projects for over 3 years. In the past, QPIRG has also helped CounterShot out by writing summer grants for us. Some of our student volunteers got paid to coordinate a free summer course in sound production. With QPIRG’s help, CounterShot has enriched my student life here during my Fine Arts degree, helping me link up with other people who are trying to create art that is socially and politically useful and transformative, and get peer feedback and support for our projects. “
– Anonymous
QPIRG Concordia Working Group Member (Countershot)

“As a business graduate who wanted to apply my skills to a solid organization that gives back to the student community, I was really happy to join the board at QPIRG last year. We fill the gap in the services and events that students need to ensure a well-rounded education, helping people develop an anti-oppression analysis that can and should be applied in every discipline. “
– C. C.
QPIRG Concordia Board Member

“I was a graduate student at Concordia. I was a board member at QPIRG-Concordia from 2003 to 2005. QPIRG Concordia enriched my studies at Concordia by offering an avenue to couple my academic pursuits with my social justice aspirations.
“During my time on the board of QPIRG, I learned many valuable skills - from supervising staff to financial management of a non-profit organization, from event organizing to administration. I have been able to transfer all the important skills and ideas that I learned at QPIRG at my two current positions as External Coordinator of QPIRG McGill as well Sessional Instructor at McGill."
– I. V.
Sessional Instructor
McGill Centre of the Research and Teaching on Women

“I am a student who has been involved with PIRGs in general for 5 years, and with QPIRG since starting at Concordia. QPIRG is a fabulous space for students to learn new skills, or get a chance to practice the ones they study in class. Working with various PIRG projects has deepened my analysis and insight into the more theoretical work I have done academically, but also given me a chance to see aspects of those abstract concepts in practice. As a resource for students, QPIRG is invaluable. “
– Z. M.
QPIRG Concordia Board Member

“In my three years of study I have found QPIRG Concordia to be a helpful and accessible space. I have been able to use the space for a reading group I started with a small group of individuals, and the staff has continually provided us, as students, with a great venue for our discussions and meetings. QPIRG has also helped me to make connections with progressive community groups, such as Open Door Books, who I have volunteered with for over a year. Moving to a new place and starting school can be difficult, and organizations like QPIRG can be great places for students to make important links with the larger Montreal community. For all this and more, I believe QPIRG to be a necessary and exceptional campus organization, and I fully support a fee levy increase funded by the student body of which I am a part.”
– J. E.,
3rd Year Political Science student
QPIRG Concordia Working Group Member (Open Door Books)

“As a Concordia undergraduate student and a member of a QPIRG Concordia working group, I would like to attest to the importance of the existence of QPIRG Concordia. As a student in Women's Studies at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, I am daily subject to an influx of sometimes mind-boggling theoretical knowledge. While I am fortunate to be in a position, as a university student, to gain knowledge from the information to which I am granted access, it can seem somewhat intangible. QPIRG Concordia, as an on-campus organization, recognizes this reality of university life and provides an outlet for those students who are compelled to put into action their learning. QPIRG Concordia allows such students to leave Concordia with roots in community as well as a blossoming knowledge that they have already begun to apply directly to their lives.
QPIRG Concordia was especially integral to me upon my arrival as a new student at Concordia this September. Knowing I wanted to get involved, but not knowing quite how to do it, I looked to the on-campus organization that reached out to unsure but determined students like myself. Through QPIRG, I became familiar and involved with several different exciting organizations, and got involved as an active collective member in one of these groups. This group, Q-team, a working group of QPIRG Concordia is one that relates directly to my major as well as to my extracurricular interests. Without QPIRG Concordia, I strongly believe that I would feel much more confused about my goals with regards to my education, and would miss out on my grounding in the city that I feel so firmly now.”
– K. S.
Undergraduate Student (Women's Studies major)
QPIRG Concordia Working Group Member (Q-team)

QPIRG Concordia is the birthplace of such student and community initiatives as...

- Right to Move: bicycle repair coop
- Political Prisoner Calendar: (internationally distributed, in 7th year)
- Popular Film Series: (evolved into Cinema Politica) – political film series
- Urgence Manif: provide first-aid and training for rallies and demonstrations
- Open Door Books: have sent thousands of books to prisoners
- Blood Sisters: formerly a feminist organization that focused on womens health, has evolved into El Corazon, a feminist art storefront
- Un Juste Cafe: introduced fair trade coffee to Concordia
- Santropol Roulant: now a successful independent organization, intergenerational meals on wheels program linking students with homebound people across the island.
- Concordia Recycling and Composting Committee: successfully started Concordia’s recycling program
- Vegan Lunch program: a campus program initiating ideas of food sharing, food security and student directed programs – evolved into The People’s potato
- Project Take Root: became Le Frigo Vert
- Action Rebut: citizen’s action group on environmental waste management
- ASEED: became Equiterre, Montreal’s foremost environmental and fair trade organization.
Solidarity Across Borders: Montreal-based network engaged in the struggle for justice and dignity of immigrants and refugees.