I know in Send Up the Count, we purposely stay apolitical. We have no problem doing this kind of thing. I speak for myself, not for the membership as a whole. Send Up the Count was formed specifically because people were getting lost in the system and didn't know where to go. I'm the one in charge of maintaining this massive resources document. It has VAC and JPSU numbers, everything across Canada, and even some international stuff. There's obviously a big gap in terms of people not knowing where to go and how to access things.
The only issue with having more of a formal organization is that things may end up becoming more politicized and so on, which I know a lot of the peer support groups are very against, because it just makes people angry. When you're in a situation of putting your group or your mandate into somebody else's hands, it brings in too much that you can't control.
I think there definitely needs to be more coordination between the groups. The CBG support groups sort of spun out of Send Up the Count and became more localized groups to help people with boots on the ground, basically when somebody is having a massive issue and needs somebody to go to his or her house right away. There is a line between supporting people and the political aspect. Most of the groups want to stay away from the money and they want to stay away from being seen as politicized.