Meet Peter, your previous Chair of the Board
& current Ontario Student Voices Delegate
Ever wondered what truly happens at the provincial level of student advocacy? Or what decisions are made in the rooms where your student executive team represent student voices? We sat down with your Vice President of Advocacy, Peter to learn more about SSU’s advocacy efforts beyond our campus halls. As a student leader who spent a few years apart of the Board of Directors, and is now a Ontario Student Voices (OSV) delegate, we knew this was a great place to start.
Before we delve into Peter’s perspective, let’s learn about Ontario Student Voices. If you’re not familiar, Ontario Student Voices (OSV) is a provincial advocacy organization that represents college and polytechnic students. They identify the root cause of all the student concerns, provide data-driven recommendations to the government and amplify students real concerns by providing a platform to speak about the realities of student life beyond the numbers. If you didn’t realize, the Sherida Student Union are currently members of OSV and that membership allows us, alongside other student unions across the province, to come together and advocate for student needs. OSV helps us make sure that various MPP’s and MP’s are aware about the issues that concern the students the most, and hold an Annual Conference at Queen’s Park, Toronto to help take our advocacy efforts to the next level. Now, let’s zoom in a bit closer and learn through Peter’s lived experiences.
Q: What inspired you to take on the Vice President- Advocacy role this year?
“Having served on the Board for two terms, I had a desire to contribute in a working role capacity. I had an invaluable experience on the board guiding high-level decision-making both as a part of the Board of Directors and later as the Board Chair. Once a new MD had been hired and the SSU strategic plan was nearly completed, I wanted to help roll that out and work directly with the students I had represented for two terms.”
Peter at previous year’s AGM 2025 delivering his message to membership as the Board Chair.
Q: What does representing the Sheridan Student Union at the provincial level mean to you?
Peter with Samiya (SSU president and OSV Chair), and Christian (SSU’s previous year’s OSV delegate) at the OSV Annual Gala
“Being Vice President, Advocacy first feels like an incredible honour and a huge responsibility. It means first being in touch with the challenges that affect the students at Sheridan and then bringing them forward at OSV. Lastly, that’s not where it ends. We, as a group of delegates from other member colleges, then come together to advocate that they become priorities, which helps OSV advocate for those at Queen’s Park. It means being in the know about current public policy and how it is experienced by the students at Sheridan, and keeping a feedback loop with students, so they know that their concerns are being acted on by their student union at a provincial level. “
Q: What were the biggest takeaways from your first OSV conference?
“My first conference was just me soaking in what the structure and workflow of OSV was. It was learning how OSV picks the top five student issues it should advocate for and learning that a delegate from Sheridan can run to be the chair on OSV’s board. The main reframe for me was that OSV is not a separate organization that does our provincial advocacy, but rather we, as delegates from Sheridan, do a lot of the work at OSV.”
OSV’s Annual Gala Night picture with all the delegates, member observer schools and MPPs.
Q: What did you learn about OSV's advocacy priorities and the issues affecting students across Ontario?
“During the conference and other follow-up meetings, I learned that member schools come together with advocacy priorities from their specific colleges and must pitch them to each other to get by-in from other schools before it becomes an OSV priority. I also learned that while some issues cut across many schools in Ontario, some issues are unique to specific schools. This also provided insight in where Sheridan lies relative to many other schools in Ontario.”
Q: What was it like connecting with student leaders from institutions across the province?
“Meeting and learning from other student leaders creates such a wonderful opportunity to collaborate. They also presented their experiences from their respective student unions as case studies to learn about alternative approaches to providing the same core services to students.”
Peter and Samiya with other OSV delegates at Loyalist College during their visit to learn more about their Student Union.
Q: What advocacy issue or policy discussion from the Policy Conference stood out to you most?
“OSAP was the biggest focus for this year’s policy conference, and we explored alternative asks other than just the reversal of the recent changes. Another interesting one was Transit! It highlighted to me that while at Sheridan transit gets a lot of mention as a major problem, there were many schools across the province that looked at our transit access as the epitome of how good it can be. While some students have asked for a U-Pass, other schools were still asking for basic service routes and schedules to their schools and work.”
In your experience how does OSV turn student concerns into concrete policy positions?
“OSV follows a collaborative process to turn student concerns into advocacy priorities and policy recommendations:
Identifying priorities: Member school delegates recommend issues they believe should be prioritized and pitch them to their peers.
Selecting the top five: The priorities are discussed and voted on by the OSV Board.
Researching solutions: OSV conducts research into the government agencies connected to each issue and develops policy recommendations that could help address them.
Refining the recommendations: The research and recommendations are presented at the Policy Conference, where members can provide feedback and suggest changes.
Taking action: The final recommendations are voted on at a closing board meeting and then brought by delegates to Queen’s Park during Advocacy Week to be presented to policymakers.”
Peter with his fellow delegates talking about the priorities in this year’s OSV Conference.
What issues discussed at OSV do you think are particularly relevant to Sheridan students?
“OSAP was a top priority for obvious reasons, but Food Insecurity and Student Health and Wellness were also very relevant to Sheridan students. For example, we had a guest speaker share that an issue like Food Insecurity is rarely isolated; it is often one materialisation of the bigger problem of affordability, which is a major concern here in the GTA.
She also shared how this can trickle down to affect students' physical and mental well-being, as financial hardship was cited as a major source of student worry in an annual survey run by OSV. “
How do you plan to bring what you've learned back to SSU?
“I usually present my findings back to the Board when I return and seek their direction on how they would like me to influence the next steps in OSV’s subsequent conferences. I will also prepare a report capturing my findings and insights across all three conferences. OSV also provides us with digital and physical copies of their policy recommendation documents that we can make available to all our members should they be curious about the details on each advocacy priority. Feel free to reach out to me if you’re curious and want to learn more.”
Looking ahead to Advocacy Week at Queen's Park in November, what are you most excited or hopeful about?
“I am most excited about the prospect of presenting these recommendations to MPPS and learning in the moment what is effective and isn’t. This would inform what we would do differently on the next one, slowly closing the gap between SSU and public policy that affects our members. I hope to create relationships and alliances with policymakers that will outlive my term as VP of Advocacy.”
More About Ontario Student Voices
OSV is a provincial advocacy organization dedicated to representing college and polytechnic students across Ontario. OSV addresses student concerns by analyzing their root causes and leveraging data, research, and compelling storytelling to develop evidence-based solutions.
Want to Learn More About Other Advocacy-Related Blogs?
Meet Peter, Sheridan Student Union’s Vice-President of Advocacy, as he shares his experience representing Sheridan students at Ontario Student Voices (OSV). From shaping provincial advocacy priorities and learning from student leaders across Ontario to preparing for Advocacy Week at Queen’s Park, discover how student concerns are transformed into policy recommendations and brought to policymakers.