National Day of Action comes to Selkirk College for first time

A national campaign by the student movement Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) is coming to Selkirk College Grand Forks campus for the first time, Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 10:30 a.m.

The annual National Day of Action is sponsored by the CFS and supported by student unions across Canada, who are also members of the CFS. It is a national campaign to highlight the need for the federal government to reduce tuition fees, drop student debt and increase education funding. This is the first time the Grand Forks campus has hosted such an event because this is the first year there has been a union representative based at the campus.

Every school acknowledges the day differently. While some protest with placards, others have information based events like Selkirk College.

"(People need to come out) because post secondary education affects us all," said Marlene Garcia, the student union representative for the Grand Forks campus. "If we don't do something now, things will only get worse. Stephen Harper will continue to gouge our education system."

Grand Forks campus is hosting an information session featuring a variety of local speakers who will discuss the affects expensive post secondary education has on families, individuals and society.

Among the guest speakers will be Louise Heck from Sunshine Valley Child Care Society about how parents with pre-kindergarten aged children today may not be able to afford an education for those children 15 years from now if the student fees continue to rise; Ken Soroka and Jim Leech of Selkirk College about the stresses post secondary can have on the whole family and Grand Forks mayor Brian Taylor.

"A student will spend 15 years working after they've done school to pay for their student loans, and that is just madness," said Garcia, 53, who is taking the Adult Basic Education program to finish her Dogwood Diploma.

Garcia represents the more than 60 full-time and part-time students who attend the Selkirk College Grand Forks campus.

On Feb. 1 she will be handing out red ribbon arm bands -- red is the colour of the National Day of Action -- to protest high tuition rates.

The event starts at 10:30 a.m. in Room 8, with a lunch to follow. For more information about the National Day of Action campaign go to www.educationisaright.ca.