Hey UPEI,

 Here is a rundown of what went on at the CASA Policy and Strategy Conference that myself and Kyle attended at UPEI over the week of June 6-11.

Day 1
We were welcomed, registered, and introduced to all of the delegates form across Canada.
We were given an overview of CASA's constitution.
An overview of the proposed 2011 budget for CASA was presented to us.
As well as an overview of CASA's operational procedures for its board of governors.
We were given a presentation on the Canada Student Loans Program (very informative).
A guest speaker on Meal Exchange, a campus food bank support group, filled us in on the student food network and what they would like to see in the upcoming years.
The first sitting of plenary occurred, which saw the approval of last meetings minutes and the 2011 budget for CASA.

Day 2
This day was all about identifying what issues will be a priority for CASA in the up coming year.
We started out with an update from our government relations officer on the current government climate.
Following this a HUGE brainstorming session took place.
These issues were then condensed, sent out to small committees, categorized according to the amount/quality of policy CASA currently has on them and their potential for government uptake, and approved as our priority issues for the year.
 

Day 3
We were introduced to the voting structure of CASA.
We also discussed the fee structure with no new changes taking place to either.
During the afternoon we took part in the second plenary session of the conference where the board of director's operating procedures and regulations were passed, and the fee structure was debated and eventually referred to the board for closer investigation.
During the evening we had a chance to meet the candidates for the National Director position over dinner.

Day 4
This day was completely devoted to the national director selection process. In the morning and afternoon we attended the candidates presentations. After the presentations we were given the opportunity to ask questions and after much debate, eventually we narrowed the field down to one candidate. 
The closing banquet for the conference also took place this evening.

Day 5
The final day of the conference consisted of plenary ALL day. During this session we ratified the newly selected national director, received a report from the interim national director, elected the new treasurer (Ghislan Leblanc, Universite de Moncton), elected the regional representatives (Atlantic Chair: Mike Mercer, Saint Mary's University), appointed members to sit on the various committees CASA consists of, and also discussed several motions pertaining to conference costs, bilingualism, and First Nations University of Canada. We also found out that the annual general meeting of CASA in March is going to be hosted by UBC in beautiful Vancouver British Colombia! 

I know this is a very brief summary of what took place at the conference, if anyone has ANY questions I would be more than happy to answer them for you. 

Also I would like to point out that although myself and Kyle are the ones who attended the conference if anyone from UPEI would like to get involved with CASA and gain some experience working with a federal lobby group focused on Post-secondary Education there are plenty of opportunities to do so with CASA. All you have to do is ask!

Rob Livingstone

UPEISU President