The Dawson Student Union’s motto is ‘Connect, Support, Inspire’. These words are the driving force behind every plan, every decision, every change and every implementation made. Recently, the last word ‘Inspire’, or to motivate others and push for positive outcome, was the guide for an executive decision taken.
General assemblies are usually catered events. Given that assemblies are currently being held digitally, the Executive Team decided to do a gift card raffle instead for those in attendance. Fifty of the students who attended had the chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card.
At first this seemed fairly innocuous, however, during the GA, one of Dawson’s oldest clubs and associations, Green Earth, brought up a very important point: Amazon has been known to be quite the harsh pollutant, and as such, providing support for that company in the form of gift cards may not entirely align with the Union’s position on sustainability and the goal of preserving the environment.
The Executive Team agreed with Green Earth, and in the end, the result of that discussion was that students would be given the option to either keep their $20 Amazon gift card upon winning, or they could donate the $20 to the ‘All Eyes on Mi’Kma’ki’ charity, which is currently supporting efforts to protect indigenous fisheries in the Maritimes.
The DSU Executives take their mandates very seriously including and especially their commitments made to the environment and have made the decision that in the future, they will try their best to work exclusively with companies with low negative social and environmental impacts and will offer the choice to claim prizes or donate the equivalent amount to charity in the case of future giveaways. During this round of giveaways, over $460 has been pledged to the charity.
The Union Executive Team would like to issue a special thank you to Green Earth for bringing this concern forward, and for more information, please contact sustainability@dawsonstudentunion.com.