campus: Motion proposes SFSS leave Canadian Federation of Students
Amanda McCuaig, Peak Editor
In anticipation of the upcoming Annual General Meeting, one student has put forward a controversial motion that the Simon Fraser Student Society withdraw membership from the Canadian Federation of Students. Providing that Wednesday's AGM meets quorum, the defederation process will potentially begin this fall.
The Canadian Federation of Students is a national student union that was formed in 1981. According to the CFS website, its purpose is to provide students with an "effective and united voice, provincially and nationally" and to give students the "resources and political clout to effectively influence the post-secondary education policies of the provincial and federal government"
The motion was put forward by current Simon Fraser University student Amanda van Baarsen on behalf of Jan Gunn. Gunn was unable to put the motion forward herself because she is not currently enrolled in classes but both Gunn and van Baarsen have been active committee and/or board members of the SFSS in the past and share similar views about the relationship between the SFSS and the CFS.
"I think that our relationship with the federation is unhealthy for the SFSS," commented Gunn. "I think that this will, at the very least, be the start of a dialogue that hasn't been happening for a very long time."
"SFU students have been complaining about the CFS since before I was enrolled," commented van Baarsen in an e-mail. The former SFSS board member expressed her concern over the CFS's relevancy to SFU students. "[I have been] witness to some of the internal and certainly external workings of the CFS, I believe that SFU would benefit more were their CFS fees transferred to their local, more transparent, and directly accountable Student Society."
The CFS collects $400,000 from the SFU student body each year. The organisation claims that as a result there are many benefits of being a member, including Travel Cuts, the Student Saver program, the handbooks students receive free from the SFSS at the beginning of each year, and greater provincial and federal lobbying power. "We have a much stronger and more powerful voice when we use our individual voices together," commented Scott Payne, the British Columbia representative to the CFS. "That's the fundamental purpose of the CFS existing. Through that united action, which Simon Fraser University students have been involved in, we've seen some significant victories."
This year, the SFSS ordered approximately 20,000 handbooks for students, and could have easily been produced by the SFSS to suit SFU students' needs. Travel Cuts is owned and operated by the CFS.
Payne, a University of Victoria graduate who now works full time for the CFS, said he doesn't believe that SFU students actually want to defederate. "We have a potential to realise a lot of real significant victories," he commented, referring to the tuition effort, "and I hope that Simon Fraser students don't get distracted from doing that important work and realise the benefits for themselves."
The movement to defederate reads as follows:
ix. Membership in the Canadian Federation of Students
van Baarsen/
- Be it resolved that the Board be directed to undertake the process to withdraw membership (defederate) from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), in accordance with all relevant By-Laws of the CFS, and;
- Be it further resolved that signficant staff resources and funds be allocated for work on the defederation process, and;
- Be it further resolved that a concurrent referendum be held to redirect the CFS membership fees to the Simon Fraser Student Society, and;
- Be it further resolved that a student-at-large committee be struck, whose mandate will include oversight of the defederation process, and appointing students to the joint defederation vote committee (per CFS by-laws).
Surprisingly, the AGM, which is the highest decision making body for the student union, is by no means the final say as to whether the SFSS will defederate or not. The defederation process is a three-step process, starting with the signing of a petition by no less than 10 per cent of the individual members of the association (approximately 2,500 SFU students).
A referendum vote at the end of the six months would be the final step in whether or not Simon Fraser students agree to defederation. According to the CFS Constitution and Bylaws, Bylaw 1, Article 6-e, the vote for defederation will be overseen by two appointed members of the CFS and two members appointed by the SFSS. This group also decides the rules around campaigning.
"In this case, everyone in the committee cares about the outcome of the election," said Kevin Tilly, expressing concern over the legitimacy of the overseeing committee. "You may have two people who want to get out and two people from the CFS who want us to stay in. But the real point is that you have four people there who are vested in the outcome of the election."
The CFS Constitution and By-laws are not available on their website, but can be accessed in the SFSS, or by visiting www.sfu.ca/~tgregory.
Board members of the SFSS were unable to comment, except for Ana Kresina, SFSS treasurer and board member who simply said, "Let the people speak."