A Gay–Straight Alliance, Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) or Queer–Straight Alliance (QSA) is a student-led or community-based organisation, found in middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. These are primarily in the United States and Canada. Gay–straight alliance is intended to provide a safe and supportive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and all (LGBTQ+) sometimes being referred to as "alphabet soup", children, teenagers, and youth as well as their cisgender heterosexual allies. In middle schools and high schools, GSAs are overseen by a responsible teacher. The first GSAs were established in the 1980s. Scientific studies show that GSAs have positive academic, health, and social impacts on schoolchildren of a minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Numerous judicial decisions in United States federal and state court jurisdictions have upheld the establishment of GSAs in schools, and the right to use that name for them.
A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizational activities, representation, and academic support of the membership.
The Alma Mater Society of Queen's University, otherwise known as the AMS, is the central undergraduate student association at Queen's University at Kingston in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest organization of its kind in Canada. Its roots lie in the old Dialectic Society, which created the AMS in 1858. The society seeks to represent and facilitate the student experience, whether it is through a multitude of clubs, services, governance or volunteer opportunities.
Egale Canada is an advocacy organization founded in 1986 by Les McAfee to advance equality for Canadian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their families, across Canada.
A student council is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research organizations around the world. These councils exist in most public and private K-12 school systems in different countries. Many universities, both private and public, have a student council as an apex body of all their students' organisations. Student councils often serve to engage students in learning about democracy and leadership, as originally espoused by John Dewey in Democracy and Education (1917).
The University of Lethbridge Students' Union (ULSU) is a non-profit organization representing interests of undergraduate students studying at the University of Lethbridge.
The Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia Vancouver, otherwise referred to as the Alma Mater Society or the AMS, is the student society of UBC Vancouver and represents more than 58,000 undergraduate and graduate students at UBC's Vancouver campus and their affiliated colleges. The AMS also operates student services, businesses, resource groups and clubs. The AMS is a non-profit organization that exists to advocate for student viewpoints and ensure the needs of students are met by the University Administration and the Provincial and Federal governments. The Alma Mater Society is composed of a number of constituency organizations for undergraduate students, and works closely with the Graduate Student Society of UBC.
The New Brunswick Student Alliance is a student driven organization that advocates for more than 12,000 post-secondary students across New Brunswick.
The Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations (ANSSA) was the largest post-secondary student advocacy group in Nova Scotia, Canada and the largest student organization in the Atlantic Provinces. In 2012 it was renamed Students Nova Scotia. The organization historically represented 80-87% of the province's university students. It worked towards improved funding for education in Nova Scotia and the elimination of real and perceived financial barriers for university students.
Student voice is the individual and collective perspective and actions of students within the context of learning and education. It is identified in schools as both a metaphorical practice and as a pragmatic concern. Tech educator Dennis Harper noted that student voice gives students "the ability to influence learning to include policies, programs, contexts and principles."
The Canadian Police Association (CPA) is an advocacy and fundraising organization that is also a registered lobbyist with the Canadian government. The CPA represents Canadian police officers. It is divided into 27 regional chapters at municipal, provincial, and federal levels. Each of these chapters is represented by either a president or director.
The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation was a private, independent organization created by an act of the Parliament of Canada in 1998. It received an initial endowment of $2.5 billion from the federal government to provide awards annually for ten years. The foundation distributed $325 million in the form of bursaries and scholarships each year throughout Canada in support of post-secondary education. As well, the foundation conducted research into post-secondary access, via the Millennium Research Program.
Higher education in Ontario includes postsecondary education and skills training regulated by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities and provided by universities, colleges of applied arts and technology, and private career colleges. The current minister is Jill Dunlop who was appointed in June 2021. The ministry administers laws covering 22 public universities, 24 public colleges, 17 privately funded religious universities, and over 500 private career colleges. 18 of the top 50 research universities in Canada are in Ontario.
The Alberta Students' Executive Council (ASEC) is a provincial student advocacy organization based in Edmonton, Alberta. Membership is open to student associations from any post-secondary institution in Alberta, and ASEC currently includes members from 17 universities, colleges, and polytechnic institutions across the province. The ASEC membership represents 110,000 students, or approximately 1/3 of all post-secondary students in Alberta, Canada.
The National Union of Students, Union nationale des étudiants (NUS/UNE) was a national university and college student organization in Canada from November 1972 to May 1981. The Union represented over 350,000 students in post secondary education. Donald Thompson, Sidney Shugarman, Pierre Ouellette, Myron Tiechko, Daniel Palmer, Dawn Hassett, Doyle Brown and Ian Boothe are listed as the first directors.
The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS) represents postgraduates at US universities. It was formed in 1986 and held the first national conference in 1987. It is formed by affiliation from student representative bodies across the United States and serves as "the umbrella organization representing all the graduate and professional students in the country.", through representation, lobbying, contribution to public policy debate, initiating communication between relevant parties and bringing key issues and potential solutions to wider audiences.
Students Nova Scotia, formerly known as the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations (ANSSA), is an alliance of some Nova Scotia post-secondary student associations. Its stated aim is to give students a voice in Nova Scotia with government and the public, helping set the direction of post-secondary education by researching challenges, identifying solutions, and creating the political space needed for these solutions to happen.
Yvan Baker is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the federal riding of Etobicoke Centre in the 2019 federal election. He is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. Prior to entering federal politics, he served as the Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the provincial riding of Etobicoke Centre from 2014 to 2018.
The Undergraduates of Canadian Research Intensive Universities (UCRU) is an alliance of students' unions in Canada. Their common objective is to protect the interests and advocate on behalf of over 240,000 undergraduate university students from Canada's largest research intensive universities (U15), and to provide research and recommendations to the government on how to improve post-secondary education in Canada. The UCRU began as an informal association called ADVOCAN, and was formalized and rebranded in late 2017.
