The Muse

By Kristen Connolly

The Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship (MCE) has recently been recognised as one of the top emerging entrepreneurship centres in the world. Just last week, MCE was named as a top 5 finalist in the outstanding entrepreneurship centre category of annual awards, presented by Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centres (GCEC). MCE and director Florian Villaumé are very excited about this title and honoured to be the only entrepreneurship centre in Canada to be named a finalist, as well as only one of four centres outside of the United States to be named, across eight award categories. 

But what is it that contributes to MCE’s world-class status? The overall mission for the centre is “to inspire and enable aspiring entrepreneurs” and according to Villaumé, they have been achieving just that. From an initial intake of just 20 students, MCE now proudly provides programming to over 300 talented and driven Memorial University students. The centre delivers the tools to make their entrepreneurial ideas a reality, such as foundational training, encouragement, access to funding and external connections to aid in growing their businesses and ideas. According to Villaumé, MCE attracted significant funding very quickly:

“In just over three years the centre secured $4.7 million from local businesses and entrepreneurs, the provincial government, the federal government and a private foundation”. 

The centre has been essential in growing impactful start-ups for Newfoundland and Labrador, including names such as Mysa, CoLab Software and BreatheSuite. Mysa builds smart thermostats for baseboard heaters and now employs over 40 people, meanwhile CoLab Software has developed a cloud-based design review and issue-tracking platform specifically for manufacturing teams. CoLab, in particular, was the first company in the four Atlantic Canadian provinces to be accepted in Y-Combinator, a prestigious accelerator that has an acceptance rate of 1.5 percent. These three well-known names in the start-up community have attracted over $5.5 million in investment, says Villaumé and they all have started right here at Memorial University.  

We had the opportunity to speak with the CEO and Founder of BreatheSuite – Brett Vokey. BreatheSuite is set out to help asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients breathe better. Their first product is an inhaler add-on paired with a mobile app, meant to track and train patients in proper inhaler usage to self-manage their disease. Founded in 2018, BreatheSuite has grown substantially in the past year, the company now has 5 employees and have just secured $550,000 in private investment funding. BreatheSuite plans to double its team in the near future.

Vokey, being a former member of MCE, explains that they have been a huge part of his success with BreatheSuite. “MCE has been supportive right from the beginning, providing early mentorship, connections in the start-up community, office space as well as weekly objective setting, helping set and achieve goals. They’ve played a huge role in our success.”

The Ancillary Operations and administration of the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) library are currently building a coffee shop within the library space, a development that opens up several possibilities. On one hand is the promise of coffee in close proximity to students (in the library). On the flip side, however, is the potential noise and distraction to students in the open spaces and in The Commons area.

Echoing the concerns of many students, a student at MUN, Matthew Barter, wrote an open letter to The Telegram, highlighting this issue. The letter which can be read in the link here: https://www.thetelegram.com/opinion/local-perspectives/letter-coffee-and-consultation-357603/ was published on September 30th and has had over 7,000 views. The Muse decided to probe further, and met with Matthew Barter, to followup on his concern.

Matthew Barter is a third year student in the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty, studying Political Science and Sociology. Mr. Barter has been involved with activism since he started at MUN in 2015.

Speaking on the biggest impact he has made through activism, he said “My biggest accomplishment is getting the Senior Administration to hold a vote on the proposed mandatory U-Pass fee because at first they were strongly against any sort of vote. If a fee gets implemented, it’s almost impossible to get rid of. We saw this with The Works recreation fee (now $62); the Student Services Fee ($50) which was rushed into implementation the same year as tuition increases, and the Campus Renewal Fee ($50 per three-credit course up to a maximum of $250).”

“Implementing the Student Services Fee on top of all the other additional fee hikes was disingenuous and was done without enough consultation,” he added.

Matthew Barter’s letter seems to have gained a lot of traction since its publication. In his own words: “My letter to The Telegram got nearly 7000 views and was the top viewed story the day it was published.” Speaking on why he wrote the letter, he said “I wrote the letter because I had concerns myself and I talked to other students who also had concerns regarding the QEII Cafe expansion project so I thought that this issue needs to be talked about on a larger scale. I haven’t heard from the QEII administration since the publication of my letter. It is disappointing that they’re choosing to ignore a top viewed news article”.

Based on Mr. Barter’s concerns, we asked what his recommendations are in this case. “There should have been consultations before this project begun but it’s not too late now as the project is only in its early stage of being constructed. The authorities should hold public consultations about this project, including public in-person sessions, an online survey, and other methods to get the most feedback possible.”

To follow-up on this concern, we contacted the Interim Director Ancillary Operations Wayne Rose and the Associate University Librarian Janet Bangma for comments or quotes. Janet Bangma (on behalf of both parties) responded as follows:

“The Library consults and encourages feedback in a variety of ways including its recent strategic planning process, as well as a publicly accessible suggestion box. The feedback we heard has expressed an increased need for collaborative, interactive and flexible learning environments with elements such as moveable furniture and power stations. The Café space is being designed with these concepts in mind and will be open to students even when the Café is closed for food and beverage services. 

Specifically addressing Mr. Barter’s (and other students’ concerns), Janet Bagma added “Since the inception of the Café expansion project, design measures have been in place to mitigate noise such as dropped ceilings, noise absorbing flooring, and a Café service point with elements in place to diminish potential noise. We remain committed to providing students with services and spaces that cultivate their academic success.  Should unwarranted noise issues arise from the new café, we will be responsive and efficient in addressing them.”

Monday’s dramatic election was certainly a nail-biter; but regardless of the results, the Canadian Federation of Students is pleased with their Time to be Bold campaign.

In short, the campaign focused on getting students out to the polls. The CFS concentrated on four pillars this election – issues they considered the most pressing to post-secondary students this election season, including: Free Education and Debt Alleviation; Climate Justice and a Liveable Planet; Indigenous Learners’ Right to Education; and, Justice for International Students. On top of the four pillars, the CFS also included, on their website, a frequently-asked-questions section regarding voting, to ensure that this information was as easily accessible and concise as possible. As the election grew nearer, the Newfoundland Labrador branch of the CFS put up Time to be Bold campaign posters detailing when, where, and how students could access on-campus polls. On the ground at Memorial, CFS and MUNSU worked with Elections Canada to set up on-campus polling stations to ensure availability to students.

The CFS held a watch-party event for the election at the Breezeway on Monday (October 21). There, the MUSE had a moment to speak with Newfoundland Labrador’s CFS Chairperson, Bailey Howard, about the outcome of the Time to be Bold campaign. In her reflection, she said that it had been their primary focus since the summer. Howard specifically mentioned the success of the on-campus polling stations. Here at MUN, on-campus voting ran from October 5th to the 9th. Since those polls opened even earlier than the Elections Canada early polls, it gave busy students even more opportunity to vote. To engage even further, MUNSU also offered an election-day shuttle to the polls every hour, on the hour, from campus to polling stations from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

When asked if the Newfoundland Labrador CFS members would have changed the campaign in any way, Howard said that they thought Time to be Bold was successful. She remarked that the Federation did “all they could to engage students on the ground” here at Memorial.

Going forward, the CFS plans to hold government accountable to promises they made to students, particularly surrounding the pillars, during campaign season.

The World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a non-profit organisation that offers services and programs to education, empowerment, and economic opportunities to youth, women and refugees around the world.

Their flagship program, the Student Refugee Program (SRP), helps to resettle out-of-country youth who wish to attend Canadian universities and colleges. Started by a group of students from Carlton University more than 40 years ago, this program has been successfully implemented in 92 post-secondary campuses across Canada. However, Memorial University is not one of them.

The program operates through a youth-to-youth sponsorship model which allows Canadian students to play an active role in the sponsorship of refugee students. Each refugee is sponsored by a campus-based local committee that raises necessary funds to provide the student with at least 12 months of financial support. The local committee also offers the student social and academic support as part of his/her/their resettlement. The cost of these scholarships include tuition, supplies, accommodations and self-care. 100% of funds go towards the SRP and the WUSC Scholar.

“Approximately 130 refugee students are supported by this program every year to pursue their right to education,” says WUSC co-chair Nabila Qureshi, “the SRP helps refugees pursue their chance for education in a relatively safe environment. These students feel motivated and validated through this program, and in turn they participate and give back to the community. Universities such as McGill, all three campuses of the University of Toronto, University of PEI, Yukon College, and the University of British Colombia have all adopted the Student Refugee Program.”

The Right to Education has been recognised by several international organisations, but it can be difficult for refugees to exercise this right. As co-chair Hussam Basemah states, “Often these refugees must leave their countries in fear for their lives, it’s not their fault that they’ve been forced into a refugee camp and flee their homes. That’s why the SRP is so important, to allow refugees to feel safe in a new environment while being able to pursue an education that would’ve been very difficult to obtain in refugee camps,”

“Our goal is to spread awareness of the refugee crisis, let people know what they go through and how education can have a profound impact on their lives. We want to make people aware of the difficulty some people face for the simple right to education.”

“As a developed country, we have to recognise our ability to make a profound impact with the refugee crisis and our ability to change lives,” Nabila states, “I’d like people to know that it’s more than just refugees we’re able to support. WUSC offers services and programs to refugee girls’ education, youth skill development, market facilitation, and women (ie. child and maternal health) We have many positions open for interested volunteers, and we’re privileged to be a student-run organisation. The WUSC board wants to give back to MUN for everything they’ve done for us.”

“My personal interest here is to help people, to stand for a good cause,” says WUSC-MUN member Sadia Chowdhury, ” The world is currently dominated by political decisions that create situations of suffering for many, many people. Refugees often bear the brunt of such decisions and are made to flee for their safety. We can plat an impact-full role in remedying such catastrophes and supporting the SRP is one way to do that. I find SRP as a positive step to be helpful to others, to open a chance for others to practice their rights to education and to fulfill their dreams.”

This is why the local chapter of WUSC is hoping to recruit undergraduate students to vote in an upcoming SRP referendum taking place alongside MUNSU’s by-election, which will be taking place November 5th and 6th. Undergraduates are able to vote through the MUN Self Service.

Further information can be found on their facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pg/WUSCMUN/posts/?ref=page_internal

As the election results trickled in last night, the Liberal party attained enough seats to form a minority government. The end of the election marks the formal end to a turbulent campaign which featured various scandals and leaks perceived as strategies to detract support from voters. It appears that the Trudeau team has been able to overcome the backlash of scandals such as the TIME magazine blackface controversy. In comparison to their pre-electoral status, the Liberals have descended from 184 seats, to a position where a coalition majority (potentially with the NDP) is not entirely impossible. As of the time of writing this article the seat count remains at 156, out of a required 170 for majority government.

Ultimately it is a bittersweet victory for the Liberal party, who took the bulk of seat losses by having ridings taken over by the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec ridings, and the Conservative party in western provinces (notably Deputy Leader Ralph Goodale’s loss in Regina-Wascana). As a result of these gains, Scheer’s conservatives were able to rise up from a count of 95 seats to 122, forming the official opposition. The NDP may view the coalition option as a choice to remain afloat in uncertain political trajectory, characterised by a slow decline in seats since its leadership under Mulcair. However Jagmeet Singh’s leadership has been perceived by some as a triumphant survival against a challenged party. It remains to be seen how this outcome will be perceived by progressive voters and those seeking a centre-left government and the implementation of policies like Pharmacare and Dentalcare. Regardless of these challenges, the continuation of Justin Trudeau’s role as Prime Minister appears to be certain.