Leveling Up Our Advocacy: WUSA Joins CASA

Two people in a meeting room are smiling and holding a CASA plaque, with others seated at a table and an advocacy presentation displayed on the screen in the background.

Following the approval of the $1 federal advocacy fee at the Annual Members’ Meeting (read the recap here: Annual Members Meeting 2025 Recap), WUSA has officially joined the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) to focus more on federal advocacy and develop a strong voice at the federal level.

About CASA 🍁

CASA was established in 1995 and is a non-partisan, not-for-profit student organization composed of student associations across Canada, representing undergraduate, graduate, and polytechnic associations. At its core, CASA advocates on behalf of post-secondary students to the Canadian federal government.

CASA is a member-driven organization, where member associations select delegates to represent them, including voting on their association’s behalf at official CASA meetings. Like WUSA, CASA also has an elected Board of Directors which is comprised of its member school’s student associations.

📌 Learn more about CASA here: What is CASA and how do we help students? – YouTube.

What does CASA do? 🤔

CASA advocates to the Canadian federal government on behalf of student associations across the country. This includes:

Communicating what post-secondary students want their federal government to do through campaigns, presentations, policy papers, and more
Responding to government announcements to ensure the student perspective is shared
Conducting research to validate its stances on student-facing issues
Maintaining a partnership with the Quebec Student Union (QSU) to do advocacy for French-speaking Canadian students too
Representing Indigenous students from across Turtle Island through the National Indigenous Advocacy Committee (NIAC) and supports access to post-secondary education as an inherent treaty right

What’s in it for WUSA?

Our membership in CASA ensures that student perspectives from Waterloo are heard at the federal level. While our membership in the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance represents us provincially, CASA provides us with that same voice federally. Like OUSA does in Toronto, CASA has relationships with key stakeholders on Parliament Hill and can leverage those connections to effect real change for students.