CCSTA Board of Directors are set to meet with key political players from across Canada this week, including the Leader of the Official Opposition, Andrew Scheer.

Scheer was elected as the Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada in May, 2017. This comes after serving as the youngest Speaker of the House of Commons in the country’s history. He was elected within the Regina—Qu'Appelle riding in Saskatchewan.

The CCSTA Board of Directors will sit down with him for a 20-minute discussion on Oct. 30 about the importance of Catholic education within the Canadian education system.

The following day, CCSTA Board of Directors will split up to meet with other MPs from across the country including:

• Earl Dreeshen, CPC MP (Alberta)
• Peter Fonseca, LIB MP (Ontario)
• Chandra Arya, LIB MP (Ontario)
• Lloyd Longfield, LIB MP (Ontario)
• Harold Albrecht, CPC MP (Ontario)
• Todd Doherty, CPC MP (British Columbia)
• Marco Mendicino, LIB MP (Ontario)
• Charlie Angus, NDP MP (Ontario)
• Terry Sheehan, LIB MP (Ontario)
• Francesco Sorbara, LIB MP (Ontario)
• Omar Alghabra, LIB MP (Ontario)
• Chris Bittle, LIB MP (Ontario)

  Read more: Key MPs Set to meet with CCSTA at Oct. 31 Lobby Day

CCSTA is saddened to hear of the passing a great promoter and leader of Catholic education, Fr. Mario D’Souza.

A member of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Toronto, Fr. D’Souza made a wide and deep contribution to Catholic education, in particular to its philosophical underpinnings in contemporary culture.

Fr. D’Souza was born in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1956, and moved to Canada as a young adult. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1991, celebrating his 25th anniversary of ordination last year. He began teaching at St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology in 1991, and, other than his time at Assumption (Jan., 2005-Aug., 2006), the Faculty remained his home until his death. He held the Basilian Fathers Chair in Religion and Education, and was named a Fellow of St. Michael’s College in October of 2014. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Theology from 2009 to 2014.

He died peacefully at the Cardinal Flahiff Basilian Centre on Sept. 26 after a brief illness.

Read more: A Tribute to Fr. Mario D’Souza

Every year the Evergreen Catholic School Division in Alberta chooses a charitable cause in which all the board’s staff and students collectively fundraises for throughout the academic year. Often the cause is tied to the year division faith theme.  This year’s faith theme is “In Christ, all are welcome, all belong.” 

And so, they selected Toonies for Tuition to connect with that theme.

Evergreen Catholic School Division is a separate school authority within the Canadian province of Alberta operated out of Spruce Grove and includes 10 schools and a division office.

The Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association has made a commitment to support Toonies for Tuition and each board was encouraged to contribute each year based on the number of students they have graduating. 

ECS Superintendent Dr. Cindi Vaselenak explains how it came on their attention, and why they’re giving their full support to Toonies for Tuition this academic year.

“Our board chair Gerald Bernakevitch has been a HUGE advocate for Toonies for Tuition and has always encouraged schools to donate.  It has always been on our radar and we donate,” she explains. “However, this year we decided to really push it because there is so much negativity in the papers about the need for publicly funded Catholic education and Alberta could be in jeopardy of losing it.  We wanted to make sure we support Catholic education publicly (especially in an election year) and as one united division effort at a time, the value of Catholic education is publicly challenged.”

Read more: Alberta’s Evergreen Catholic Schools commits fundraising efforts to Toonies for Tuition