Students head over the border
Students from St. Michael's and UVM take a trip to Ottawa

Karin Krisher | staff writer

On Oct. 18, students from St. Michael’s College and the University of Vermont (UVM), dressed in business attire and boarded two Greyhound buses bound for Ottawa, Canada.

The aims and the gains

St. Michael's and UVM students take a break to pose in front of the Parliament building in Ottawa for a group picture. Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Ayres

Professor Jeffrey Ayres, of the St. Michael’s political science department, says he has been taking his students on this trip for 8 years, but UVM's Canadian studies program has been visiting Canada for decades.

This year, the group of students was larger than usual, consisting of 10 students from Ayres’ Introduction to Canadian Government and Politics course, and 70 students from UVM’s Canadian studies program. Both classes were aiming to give students a first-hand perspective of the government and culture that they are currently studying.

Ayres’ course aims to introduce students to Canadian politics with focuses on Canada-U.S. relations, the political importance of Quebec nationalism or separatism, and the parliamentary government system, he says.

“It’s really a comparative course, although not listed as such, because the whole way we’re looking at Canadian politics, but from a point of view of the U.S,” Ayres says.

This comparative aspect was highlighted through the examination of Parliament and the parties of the Canadian political system.

The trip, which lasted two days, began with a visit to Parliament and a question and answer section with four representatives from the Canadian Parliament, one from each party in the government.

“The students really appreciate the Q&A section because it gives them an understanding of how much more liberal and how different the Canadian political parties are,” Ayres says.

Peter Vitt, a St. Michael’s senior who attended, says the question period was one of his favorite parts of the trip.

“We got to ask them everything from, ‘if you were voting in the United States’ next election, who would your party support?’ to questions about the separatist idea of Quebec becoming its own state,” Vitt says. 

                                                 
The UVM factor

Professor Ayres, right, sits with students Jennifer Strashnick and Evan Grenier in the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa. Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Ayres

The UVM Canadian studies program course aims to expose students to a new perspective on Canada.

“They had students from a Canadian history course and a Canadian literature course. There was a broad range of students, from upper level majors to first-year seminar students,” Ayres says.

The students were accompanied on the trip by the director of Canadian studies, Paul Martin; professor of history, David Massell; and Tom McGrath; who is not a teacher, but worked out the logistics of the trip, Ayres says.

The two groups had no issues spending the two days of the trip together, Vitt says.


“Everyone got along great. The faculty and the students were really cool,” he says. “Still, we may have been more prepared for the government aspect of the trip because that’s what our course is based in, while their's is based on Canadian history as well.”

The interaction with UVM was extremely beneficial, Ayres says.

“We stay in our little areas as separate schools, and this gives us a chance to interact with students and faculty and builds bridges between the institutions,” he says.

 So, what did you learn?

The trip, which costs students $137.50 included other aspects of Canadian culture aside from politics, all of which helped further a student’s understanding of the differences between U.S. and Canadian culture, Ayres says.

On Friday, Oct. 19, the students visited the Canadian Museum of Civilization and Canada’s National Art Gallery.

“The museum visits definitely mean something to them,” Ayres says. “I think the students learn of a very different history from the United States.”

St. Michael’s junior Cullen Murr agrees.

“We learned about the timeline of Canadian settlement and civilization. To understand where they are going
politically, you have to understand where they came from,” Murr says.

The students and faculty also attended a hockey game between the Ottawa 67s and the Peterborough Petes at the Ottawa Civic Center.

“Hockey is the national sport and part of their national identity,” Ayres says. “It’s the middle class Canadian families coming together, and showing up for something they really care about. You get a feeling of how much it means, and that shows you something about the culture.”

This experience illuminates how learning about Canada first-hand is a very different experience than learning in a classroom, Ayres says.

“When you stand in a classroom and talk about the differences between two countries which are right next to each other, and say the differences are so great, it just doesn’t mean the same thing,” he says. “The heart of the differences are the political ones, and that is what I wanted the students to see.”

Murr, after visiting Parliament and spending time in Canadian culture, says he has developed a new understanding of what the course really means. 

“Prior to the experience, and especially to the class, I had no knowledge of the Canadian government’s internal workings whatsoever,” Murr says. “Because of the trip, I believe I have a solid grasp of the similarities and differences between Washington and Ottawa.”

The first-hand observation helped to build a bridge to the next piece of the course, Vitt says. 

“I feel like I have a better base of knowledge now that I had the visual experience," Vitt says. "Before we went to Ottawa, we had talked about Canadian history. Now, we’re moving into the Parliament part of the course, and we already saw Parliament.”

Because the trip is helpful to students, Ayres says he would like to see everyone in the class attend. Forcing students to attend is not his goal, but it would be a great experience, he says.

“Everyone should go- it’s very beneficial and they would find it rewarding,” Ayres says.  “It’s not a service trip to India for two weeks or anything on that scale, but it’s a valuable opportunity for U.S. students to experience a society that is just so similar and yet remains quite different from our own.”