Ontario Secondary School Students' Association
The Legend of the OSSSA
Way back when, in 1969 (yeah, sixty-nine), a group of high school students in London, Ontario felt that a provincial students' association was needed in order to adequately represent all high school students.  And thus was formed the OSSSA (Ontario Secondary School Students' Committee).  Leadership conferences were at the top of a list of things to do, and the first conference, PIC '72, was held in Windsor, followed by one in Kingston (K-Town, baby!).  By then, the name had morphed into the OSSSU (Ontario Secondary School Students' Union), but due to lack of student involvement, the meetings were few and far between.  But they did manage to develop a few key terms still used today: skillbuilder, delegate, conference. 

Then, in 1972, the Minister of Education at the time declared his plans to lengthen the school year by two weeks.  Needless to say, the students across the province were not pleased.  A demonstration in Queen's Park in Toronto attracted many other students who shared the same ideas and beliefs regarding the issue.  The Minister of Education then requested representation from the students, to discuss matters.  As both parties failed to come to an agreement, the Minister granted the students $3000 to hold a provincial conference to gather student opinion on the issue.  This took the students' attention away from the matters at hand, and they in turn focused on designing and running the conference.  But by the time the conference was held, and the information gathered, it was too late.  The two weeks had already been added, and they remain so until this very day.

The entire thing did however succeed in doing one useful thing: it revived the OSSSU, and students regained their interest in leadership.  In the summer of 1975, a group of students met in the basement of a church in London, and decided that it was time to form a more comprehensive provincial students' association.  Using the OSSSU as a model, and changing but a single word, they created the OSSSA.
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