Canadian Federation of Students Annual General Meeting addresses membership questions, plans for year ahead

Sabrina Nemis
The Fulcrum

OTTAWA (CUP) — Despite last year’s protests and dissatisfaction with Canada’s largest student lobby group, this year’s Canadian Federation of Students’ (CFS) fall annual general meeting focused on planning new campaigns in light of the federal election.

After an initial discussion, focus shifted away from membership questions brought up last year. In September 2013 more than a dozen member unions expressed their desire to leave the organization via media release followed by protesters picketing and chanting outside last year’s fall AGM.

Members still having trouble leaving CFS

The dissatisfaction was centered around student unions having difficulty leaving CFS, with several going to court in order to disaffiliate. This fall, the McGill Post-Graduate Students’ Society won the right to have their referendum recognized by CFS in court and the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union reached a settlement allowing their referendum to go forward as well.

Jessica McCormick, chairperson of the national executive, said most members leave without issue, pointing to Capilano University’s student union, which left earlier this year with little apparent difficulty. She said, “when we have members of student associations who dispute the decision of the national executive” it is usually “cases where the individual member who submitted the petition or the student association hasn’t followed the bylaws.”

This fall, only representatives from the Dawson Student Union (DSU) at Dawson College requested recognition of the referendum needed to disaffiliate from CFS.

In order to disaffiliate, members of student unions must petition their membership and present it to the CFS for ratification. Sarah Drouin, external affairs director of the DSU and one of the representatives at the AGM, said the bylaws make it hard to obtain a referendum. She said they’ve been trying to hold a CFS-recognized referendum for four years and demanded CFS give them a referendum date this fall, adding if they were not able to hold one, “we will have to go to court.”

According to current CFS bylaws, only two members may have referenda between semi-annual general meetings and those referenda must be recognized by CFS. With two referenda now recognized as a result of the legal battles, the national executive declined to consider a third referendum at this meeting.

There was also disagreement as to whether the DSU was up to date on all fees. Drouin said Dawson College had no outstanding balance except the current semester for which they are still collecting from the student body. A petition will not be recognized in the event that a member is found to owe anything to CFS, according to their bylaws.

McCormick said CFS and the DSU have been in frequent discussion over fees, but said it still unclear whether or not there remain any outstanding. The CFS treasurer will be in contact with the financial executive member of the DSU to clarify what information will be needed to confirm whether all fees have been paid.

“I don’t think there’s been a decision, on our part at least, as to whether or not there are or are not fees to be remitted,” she said.

CFS planning for busy year in light of federal election

Aside from the defeated membership motion put forth by the DSU, the atmosphere was positive and enthusiastic from members in attendance.

This year, students at affiliated campuses will see campaigns combating rape culture, supporting racialized and LGBTQ students, supporting missing indigenous women across Canada, going fossil fuel-free on campus and a special focus on next year’s federal election with the It’s No Secret campaign.

“The discussions at this meeting brought something different to the table than what I’ve heard before,” McCormick said, pointing to conversations centred on the need to make sure discussions at the AGM are representative of their membership. For example, the No Means No campaign was amended to ensure the experiences of racialized and indigenous women are recognized explicitly, regardless of whether they constitute a large percentage of a campus’ population.

McCormick said CFS intends to bring education and outreach about the coming federal election to campuses, have a student-centered question brought to one of the televised leaders’ debates and “the very ambitious goal of increasing voter turnout.” She wants to make sure students feel they can bring their voices into the national conversation surrounding the election so they can impact “the kind of country that we want to have.”

Next year’s national executive was also voted in at the meeting. Bilan Arte, who is now the deputy chairperson, will take over for McCormick in the spring. Former president of the Kings’ Student Union at the University of King’s College, Anna Dubinski will take over the vacant treasurer position immediately, as well as continuing in the role for the coming year. Current president of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, Anne-Marie Roy will be deputy chairperson.

 

This story originally appeared first on CUP Newswire.