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A government contest inviting students to design a logo for Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017 is exploitive and should be scrapped because it offers payment only to the winner, says Graphic Designers of Canada.

GDC, the national certification body for graphic and communication designers, released an open letter to Heritage Minister Shelly Glover Monday and has already collected more than 3,000 signatures on an online petition opposing the contest, announced Friday.

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“I think it’s great the government wants to engage students in this process,” GDC president Adrian Jean said in an interview. “However, the way they’re doing it is all wrong.”

Jean said Dawson College informed him Monday it agrees with GDC’s position and is discouraging its design students from participating in the contest.

The government’s “Canada 150 logo design contest” is open to Canadian citizens or permanent residents 18 and older registered at a Canadian post-secondary institution in December or January.