Hey Centennial, here is our first bulletin for the 2025-2026 academic year! We are so excited to bring you more advocacy, more information, and a more in-depth look at what is happening in YOUR student association!
Meet Your 2025/26 Board
Meet your 2025/26 Board of Directors. They will represent your voice at both the provincial and federal levels. If you have any questions or concerns about how the CCSAI operates, reach out to your Board! Keep an eye on our socials to get to know each of our new board members.
| Name | Role |
| Al Helal Shourav | Interim President |
| Logan Routhier | Vice President, Story Arts Centre |
| Aboalfadel (Fadl) Almushattat | Vice President, Morningside |
| Ayesha Siddiqua | Vice President, Ashtonbee |
| Harjyot Singh | Vice President, Downsview |
| Avery (Mukwa) Ladouceor | Indigenous Student Representative |
| Soul Merasty | Indigenous Student Representative |
Visit CCSAI.ca/Board-Central to learn more.
Summer Orientations
At the summer orientations, we loved the interaction between the new board and the incoming students. The summer orientations helped us learn more about you, and we’d love to hear more about what you need from your student association. Click here to access the suggestions box and tell us how we can improve OUR services for YOU!
Click here to catch a quick recap of the summer orientation!
Meet the Interim President – Al Helal Shourav
Due to the delays in the President elections, the current board has appointed Al Helal Shourav as the interim President to ensure smooth operations. Shourav will continue to work with the Board of Directors in full capacity until a selection committee is able to appoint a permanent president.
Meet the Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Poornima Pawar
Poornima has been a part of the CCSAI for over two years, serving as a Student Advocate, while studying International Development at Centennial. She is an internationally trained lawyer, holding a Bachelor of Legal Sciences (BSL), a Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), and a Master of Laws (LL.M) specializing in International Law.
New Board, New Chair and Governance Advisor!
As approved in the by-law amendments during the Annual General Meeting on April 8, the board meetings will now be led by the Chair of the Board. The most recent 24/25 Morningside, Vice President, Baljit Kaur has now been appointed as the Chair of the 2025/26 Board of Directors. The Chair will serve as a support and spokesperson for the Board of Directors. In Baljit’s previous experience as VP Morningside, she also served as Chair of the College and Polytechnic Advisory Committee at CASA.
Additionally, Ajane Adams, the outgoing president of 2023 – 2025, has been appointed as the Board’s Governance Advisor. A newly developed role, appointed by the board, he serves as an advisor to the board and provides governance training in this transitional, short-term role. Ajane is a Centennial College graduate, licensed paralegal, and brings with him a wealth of leadership experience.
Meet Your New Student Advocate
Alongside Andres Torres Guiterrez, we will now have Anjali Bhopal as a Student Advocate for this year! She is currently enrolled in the Addictions and Mental Health program and is very passionate about serving students and helping them in any way possible.
Click here to connect with Anjali.
Annual General Meeting Recap
On April 8, 2025, during the Annual General Meeting (AGM), the 2024/25 Board of Directors approved the new by-laws and budget as presented to the membership. To learn more about the new by-laws and changes, click here.
To learn more about the previous budgets and this year’s budget, click here.
Summer CASA Summit
Three board members, Logan Routhier, VP Story Arts Centre, Mukwa Ladouceur, Indigenous Student Representative and Aboalfadel (Fadl) Almushattat, VP Morningside, headed to Ottawa in mid-May to take part in the annual Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) Foundations Conference! At the summit, we learnt about the organization, got training in advocacy and lobbying, and connected with student leaders from all across the country! Members were able to take part in the policy-ideation activities, which was useful to know more about what future policies CASA should focus on.
We also attended an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training session, hosted by Dr.ABC, about the importance of diversity in leadership and how to remain an inclusive leader. Furthermore, folks from coast-to-coast were able to come together to discuss their advocacy priorities for 2025-2026. This culminated in mock Members of Parliament (MP) meetings to practice how to approach lobby meetings as a team!
In other news, Logan Routhier was elected to the board of directors at CASA as director of advocacy! In their new role, they were able to meet MP Maxime Blanchette-Joncas from Rimouski and discuss student issues.
Ontario Student Voices Conference
Between May 23rd to May 26th, Ayesha Siddiqua, VP Ashtonbee, Harjyot Singh. VP Downsview and Al Helal Shourav, CCSAI Interim President, represented CCSAI at the Ontario Student Voices (OSV) provincial conference as observers. The focus of the conference was to review the organization’s work plan, governance structure, policy manual and the value OSV would bring to CCSAI as a provincial advocacy organization.
At this conference, our board members participated in different training sessions, networked with board members from other student unions. All the board members had one shared vision of advocating for an equitable and accessible education for all college students in Ontario. We were able to assess OSV’s previous advocacy initiatives and link them to CCSAI’s advocacy goals, such as food insecurity, housing crisis, work-integrated learning and skill trade development, student health and wellness, funding for colleges, tuition and financial aid, and so much more.
For this year’s upcoming advocacy year, we seek to focus on the above key issues and bring your voices to the table.
National Indigenous Advocacy Committee Recap
Our Indigenous Student Representative, Mukwa Ladouceur, travelled to CASA Foundations to participate with NIAC, The National Indigenous Advocacy Committee and receive fundamental training for future federal-level advocacy.
Along with training, NIAC had hands-on practice writing questions that will be presented to the country’s leaders, such as MPs and Senators. NIAC members gave a presentation on past and future advocacy, along with some Indigenous teachings for the new members of CASA. Mukwa alongside another student leader, Des led a smudge ceremony and a tobacco pouch making workshop.
To open and close the week of foundations, CASA hosted an Indigenous knowledge keeper and drummer for members to experience Indigenous ceremonies.
Lastly, Mukwa also travelled to Albuquerque Gathering of Nations. This trip gave us the opportunity to meet with other tribes from North, Central, and South America. In the future, Mukwa’s hope is to include more Indigenous students so they can also experience this event!
Over the summer your 2025/2026 will begin their governance and advocacy training and be attending the annual board retreat this June. During this retreat we’ll be laying the foundation for our student advocacy and CCSAI Annual Action Plan which will guide all the work we do this year. Our summer office hours and meeting schedules are coming soon and will be posted to CCSAI.ca/Board-Central.
