Shameli on community and addressing equity barriers
The Strand: Why are you running for councillor?
Ellenoor Shameli: I’m running for councillour because I want there to be access for people who do not get to see all of the amazing opportunities and different resources we have at Victoria College. I want there to be access for the people who need access to different resources, and I want to build a community where we can have an active and warm and welcoming community, so that everybody can really get involved.
TS: What do you think sets you apart from the other candidates?
ES: One of the main reasons I wanted to do VUSAC is because I saw about the renaming Ryerson campaign, and I thought the initiative to rename was something I really wanted to take part in and be able to have different initiatives that I could take part in to really make sure that everybody feels welcome and everybody feels like they are respected in the community.
I think I have an idea for how to get people to feel more welcome and feeling like they are actually part of a community. I know it’s really hard, even for me, like I came in first year and I’m in residence so it should be even more accessible to me — all of the amazing events. But I didn’t find out about these pancake days or these board game nights or anything like that until I actually sat down and went to the website and searched for it myself and I just think it’s really important that we make sure we can have these resources spread so that everybody has access to them; especially the commuters or people who can’t as readily access it. I think that’s really important, and I want to do that by, you know, having a wider online presence. Like I want to make sure we can get the Instagram more than 700 followers — no shade, no shade to them! But there are way more students than there are following the page and learning about all these initiatives and I think the more we spread that, the more we have a bigger online presence, we can get more people involved.
TS: What events or programming do you plan to assist with during your time?
ES: I really like the Equity Commission and the Scarlet and Gold because I think the idea of making sure that people feel welcome is my main idea of having a community where people really feel like they’re involved. I know it can be really hard, especially as a first year, to find a way to get involved: I mean you can just stay, you can go to classes then come back and not engage with the community at all, and I don’t want it to be like that for Victoria College students. I want them to have a fully well-rounded educational experience and that it’s not just limited to the classroom, so I think that everybody should be able to get involved. I think if there’s barriers, equity barriers to that, those should definitely be addressed, but also just making sure that people know what is going on and actually planning events like the pub nights and the Scarlet and Gold formal that really make people want to participate and actually getting them to want to—because a lot of the things that go on, I hear a lot of people, they’re like, “Ah, should I go? Like is it actually…?” —I want to make it so that everybody gets excited for this, everybody gets excited to want to participate.
TS:What is one issue that you’re passionate about?
ES: The reason I want to go into political science in general, is because I really care about race relations. I really care about making sure that people have equal, equitable opportunities and that—that’s why I think renaming Ryerson really pulled me in, because I really care about that and if there’s anything that I can do by helping the equity by making the online resources more available — this includes mental health resources more than just the clubs and different events that are going on — if I can make those resources more available, I would love to be able to participate and have people be able to access them.
TS:How do you plan to make events accessible, and how do you plan to increase event attendance or engagement?
ES: Yeah, I just think a lot of it actually comes from word of mouth as much as online presence is important, especially for people who maybe don’t get to talk to the people who are really going to advertise these events, online presence is important and honestly, a lot of different events, they often have like promoters, so I’d be happy to promote, like I have a decent following, I would promote, I’d encourage other people to promote it, so that the word of mouth can really get spread around and people can get excited to want to go to these events. Because we spend so much time putting them together, it’s worth getting people really excited about them.
TS: What will you do, in your power, to persuade people to opt in to their levy fees?
ES: I think that, obviously, there has to be some recognition that not all students can, like some students obviously can’t afford to do so. But for all of those who are maybe on the fence, and don’t know whether they should, or if they should just keep their money, I think just really the important thing is showing how much VUSAC does for everybody, showing how much The Strand does for building this community. Because if people don’t know about the different events and everything that’s going on, and all of the clubs that they have—official VUSAC clubs—they don’t know why it’s so valuable. But if we have generally more access to all of the amazing things, people can enjoy those resources, and then they’ll think, “Wow this is something really worthwhile keeping,” so the more they know!
TS: What will you do if you do not win?
ES: What I will do if I do not win is, I think I’ll maybe come into journalism as well. I want to write political pieces, I want to still be involved in the community, and I want people to think about how we can make things more equitable and more accessible for everybody involved. So, I’m not just going to give up because I don’t win this one time; if I have to run next year, if I have to go into a different commission, then I’ll do that. I just want to be able to make an impact and if this is not the route that I’m meant to take then I’ll take another one.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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