GSA/CUSA Student Service Centres
Feel free to offer your thoughts and ideas to the service centre coordinators or to CUSA’s VP Student Services. Whatever your needs, skills or interests, your service centres are here for you! See below for more information on the specific service centres.
Food Centre
426i Unicentre
613.520.2600 x2265
foodcentre@cusaonline.com
cusaonline.com/foodcentre
For students, the reality is that after tuition fees, rent and bills, there is often little money left for food.
The CUSA/GSA Food Centre works to provide accessible food on campus and to promote food security in our community.
The Food Centre was opened in 1997 in response to increased student poverty due to drastic tuition fee increases, and cutbacks to student funding. The centre was opened with the aim of providing a temporary relief for students but unfortunately continues to be needed by many students on our campus. This emergency food bank (as an agency of the Ottawa Food Bank) is for anyone who self-identifies as being in need of food assistance. After filling out a form and request, people can return the next day to receive their hamper of food supply for approximately three days of emergency assistance. Folks can come up to twice a month.
We also have an awesome program called the Good Food Box. Each month you can purchase a box of fresh fruits and vegetables (sizes of ten, fifteen or twenty bucks). The contents change by the month, but it is always an incredible deal and goes to support both food security and the local economy. Orders can be placed in the Food Centre or the GSA Office.
The Food Centre also has a beautiful patio, which was turned into a rooftop garden
If you are interested in advocacy around food security or anti-poverty, come by and let us know. Perhaps this is an area where you are doing research or maybe you have some time to volunteer on one of our campaigns – or to let us help you with one of yours.
And finally, we are next door to the best lunch deal on campus – the Garden Spot. Come by for a delicious pay-what-you-can vegan lunch and then pop over to the Food Centre for a place to sit down, relax and enjoy goodness of food.
Order and Pick-Up Dates:
Orders are due by the 2nd Tuesday of every month.
Pick-up is the 3rd Wednesday of every month.
Foot Patrol
426 Unicentre
613.520.4066
footpatrol@cusaonline.com
cusaonline.com/footpatrol
Carleton Foot Patrol is a volunteer-based, student-run service centre provided by the GSA and CUSA. With the help of our student volunteers, we provide a walk-home service to all students, staff, faculty and visitors at Carleton University. We operate in the evenings, and we are ready and willing to walk with you to any destination on campus as well as various locations off campus. We strive to keep Carleton safe by ensuring students never have to walk alone, as well as completing regular patrols of the campus. We also conduct an annual safety audit of campus to address safety concerns with the university administration.
You may have seen us around! Our Patrol teams walk in groups of two with our name and logo on the backs of their jackets and shirts. Our patrollers will walk with you anywhere on campus and also approximately 30 minutes off of campus in all directions and anywhere and everywhere in between. Our patrollers do more then walk you home – they are more then happy to pass by your workspace on a regular basis to ensure your safety. All patroller teams carry a flashlight and two-way radio to ensure quick contact with Campus Safety.
We are here for you – to ensure you have a great university experience. Join us as a volunteer and reap the benefits of being involved in your university. We appreciate our volunteers and give out tonnes of prizes on a regular basis. We also host monthly outings so that everyone has a chance to socialise. Join us for a Senators game, a night of bowling, or a skate on the world’s longest outdoor rink and meet your fellow volunteers and staff members. We also provide a welcoming space to study, eat lunch or meet with friends.
Foot Patrol is a great way to learn the ins and outs of campus. Learn all the short cuts, how to navigate the tunnels and where all the quiet computer labs are! Patrol teams walk in pairs, and work with a dispatcher to cover all areas of campus. We are always in need of friendly, helpful and dedicated students to help keep our service running! Drop by today to pick up an application, and kick-start your university experience. Sign up with a buddy and walk together and be part of a great team!
How to Get a Safe-Walk
There are four ways to receive a walk from Foot Patrol:
1) Call the office at 613.520.4066
2) Come to the office at 426 Unicentre (across from the CUSA office)
3) Flag down a passing team
4) Pre-arrange to have a team meet you at a set time and place by emailing or calling the Foot Patrol office.
Race, Ethnicity, Cultural Hall (REC Hall)
316A Unicentre
613.520.2600 x1621
rechall@cusaonline.com
cusaonline.com/rechall
Rec Hall strives to ensure an all-inclusive and interactive environment promoting the respect, recognition, and appreciation of racial, ethnic, and cultural differences, to further meet the needs of a diverse ethnic and multicultural student body.
Some of the services which we provide are peer support advice and referrals for mediation on racial and cultural issues, a much needed sense of community, REC Resource Centre, and great events such as Cultural Diversity Week and Black History Month.
REC Hall boasts an extensive resource centre which provides students with knowledge about different cultural backgrounds from around the world. REC Hall’s resource centre contains magazines, pamphlets, movies, books, music, and other types of non-literary resources.
The centre includes a large lounge area where students can relax, hold events or browse resources. This lounge is open throughout the day and gives a chance for students to drop in, have informal discussions, or just relax from a long day of school. The environment that we at REC Hall try to achieve is an informal laid-back atmosphere that makes it more welcoming for students to enter.
Womyn's Centre
308 Unicentre
613.520.2712
womyns_centre@cusaonline.com
cusaonline.com/womynscentre
The Womyn’s Centre provides a safe space for students to come together, run campaigns, provide support, host events, and build equality on campus and in our communities. The centre is a key networking tool for Carleton groups focused on issues pertaining to women. A strong supporter for a variety of women-related student issues, the Womyn’s Centre can help put you in touch with a cause important to you. People interested in improving the status of women, dispelling stereotypes, and empowering women will be able to use the centre as a route to explore their ideas and turn them into action.
The centre runs a variety of social and educational events throughout the school year with the input of students. They maintain a resource library of materials on gender, and referral lists for women’s services in Ottawa. Come out, be active, have a say, or simply get to know some great people.
Throughout the year, the centre hosts Womyn Care events, which are social opportunities for people to come to the centre, address issues, or simply get to know one another while enjoying a fun activity. Check out the Womyn’s Centre bulletin board in the third floor hallway of the Unicentre for events and dates. Have an idea for an activity? Send us an e-mail!
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Centre
427 Unicentre
613.520.3723
glbt@cusaonline.com
cusaonline.com/glbt
The Carleton GLBTQ Centre, located at 427 University Centre, has been serving the Carleton community for over fifteen years. Our mandate is to “work together towards gender and sexual equity” through our three pillars: education, advocacy and support.
The centre works closely with other groups on- and off-campus to ensure a safer and better community for all. We advertise for other groups on campus and we also work with groups such as the Womyn’s Centre in providing programming. Above all, the centre provides support to the Carleton and Ottawa communities by providing a safe space to socialise. We also reach out and build allies among our straight colleagues, and offer peer support and referral services.
We provide workshops to the Carleton and Ottawa communities on queer issues such as identity development, the changing definition of family, and safer-sex workshops. The centre engages in advocacy work, such as organising a rally in favour of same-sex marriage in December 2006, and starting a letter-writing campaign calling on the Ontario legislature to add sexual reassignment surgery to the list of OHIP covered procedures.
The GLBTQ Centre is open to anyone regardless of sexual or gender orientation. We have a great library resource centre that is the largest of its kind at any Canadian university. Resources can be checked out by any Carleton student, similar to the campus library. The centre also executes many different events throughout the year, including our annual Campus Pride Celebration – a week-long festival dedicated to education and fun, demonstrating our pride as queer Carleton students.
The GLBTQ Centre is a volunteer-based organisation with full-time staff. It is a modified collective, where the members of the centre meet to discuss how they want the centre run. They help with the planning and executing of events and they also submit ideas for new events. The centre also has two full time coordinators that see to the daily workings of the centre.
Aboriginal Service Centre
316A Unicentre
613.520.1268
aboriginalcentre@cusaonline.com
cusaonline.com/aboriginalcentre
The Aboriginal Service Centre is the newest centre to the family. Opened in the Fall of 2006, the inspiration came from the increased number of aboriginal students on campus and the visibility of their unique needs. The Aboriginal Service Centre offers opportunities to connect with peers who share similar interests in Aboriginal issues, as well as the chance to connect with aboriginal cultures across Canada.
Since its inception, the centre has increased its volunteer base, run social and educational events, as well as participated in the June 29th Day of Action for aboriginal issues.
The ASC is also responsible for the Tipi that stands by Loeb Building, it was purchased in the summer of 2007 as a strong symbol of aboriginal culture on our campus.
International Students' Centre (ISC)
128L Unicentre
613.520.2753
isc@cusaonline.com
cusaonline.com/isc
The International Student Centre helps students adjust to life in Canada. We provide support by connecting international students with each other at numerous social events, including the International Student’s Gala. The centre also runs events which introduce students to Ottawa and Canada. In addition, the ISC advocates on issues of importance to international students such as access to student aid, employment discrimination, and deregulated tuition fees.
Bill Ellis Centre for Mature and Part-Time Students (BECAMPS)
314 University Centre
613.520.2600 x8238
becamps@cusaonline.com
cusaonline.com/becamps
The Bill Ellis Centre for Mature and Part-Time Students assists Carleton students who combine their academic responsibilities with career and family commitments. Such students face particular barriers to their education in balancing increased paid and unpaid workloads in addition to academic commitments.
The centre helps by providing a large, comfortable lounge and study space where students can meet peers experiencing the same pressures, and by providing advocacy on issues like the need for affordable child care. The centre runs social events for students including the popular “Parent’s Night Out” and educational events including “Study Skills Workshops. They also provide childcare references, breastfeeding space, and information exchanges.
Carleton Disability Awareness Centre (CDAC)
424 University Centre
613.520.2600 x6618
TTY Service 613.520.7877
cdac@cusaonline.com
cusaonline.com/cdac
The Carleton Disability Awareness Center (CDAC) is a service centre which provides the Carleton population with social supports regarding disability and accessibility. We are designed to act as a forum for disability issues and to provide advocacy and events that raise disability awareness on campus and in the broader community.
We are in place to foster social opportunities and to involve Carleton students in disability education and the promotion of inclusion. We also provide a tunnel cart programme to help students with mobile disabilities get from class to class.
We endeavour to challenge stereotypes about disability and assist in the removal of barriers to every aspect of university life. We achieve this through a wide range of events and outlets for students that are both fun and informative.