An Ottawa university’s students group has voted to discontinue its annual fundraiser for cystic fibrosis, in part because the disease mostly affects white people, and primarily men.

The preamble to the resolution supported last night by the Carleton University Students Association (CUSA) includes a line saying the association supports diversity, and that “whereas” CF is a disease that is largely restricted to Caucasian males, that CUSA will discontinue its annual SHINEARAMA fundraiser for CF.

CUSA president Brittany Smyth defended the move on a city talk radio show this morning, saying that student discussion around the table before the vote focused more on a desire to take on a new charity after 11 years, rather than the line about the race and gender that the disease affects. She called that line the “opinion” of the person who drafted the motion.

CF is the most common, fatal genetic disease affecting young Canadians, according to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. CF is a multi-organ disease affecting primarily the lungs and the digestive system that happens in one in every 3,600 children born in Canada, male and female.

Watch tomorrow’s Metro Ottawa newspaper for more on this developing story.

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