Coalition of Student Associations Lobbies CFS for Change

The KSA and CFS weigh in on causes and outcomes

A letter from 10 national student associations requesting reform within the Canadian Federation of Students was released on Sept. 19. In their letter, the associations highlighted six key concerns that they would like to see the CFS address.

Nearly 200,000 students are represented by the group of associations, including those at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Also on the list are associations from Carleton University, Cape Breton University, Ryerson, University of Regina, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, Ontario College of Art and Design, and two unions from Laurentian University.

As a whole, their concerns can be summarized as a lack of freedom and transparency within the CFS. The letter criticizes the Federation for failure to take proper minutes and make them—along with their bylaws, policies, and financial information—publicly and easily accessible. In addition, they feel that the criticisms and opinions of the Federation’s members are often ignored, particularly at general meetings, where exclusive behaviour is apparently common.

One complaint written in the letter is an issue that the Kwantlen Student Association has spoken on in the past: the difficulty of leaving the CFS. They feel that the process of terminating the Kwantlen Student Association’s membership with the Federation would be extremely difficult, particularly because it requires an exceptional number of students to vote by referendum in favour of leaving. The chances of that happening are not high—in fact, many students don’t even know that they pay fees to the Federation every year.

“I think that, given that students at KPU are paying $260,000 a year to the Canadian Federation of Students, it’s something that we should be talking about and we should be allowed to vote on,” says KSA President Alex McGowan. “The 20 per cent threshold to get a petition together to vote on campus for a referendum of whether or not students want to be members is a barrier that essentially prohibits students from even having that discussion.”

“If students want to vote on a KSA fee, or any fee that they pay, 100 students need to sign a petition. If students want to vote on the CFS fee, 4000 students need to sign a petition, and I don’t think that’s reasonable.”

With the goal of change within the Federation in mind, McGowan sees the coalition as a first step, not a last resort.

“For a number of years, the KSA has seen issues with the Canadian Federation of Students and we have pushed for changes like the ones being proposed by this coalition, and so when this group started meeting and talking it was something we naturally wanted to support,” he says. “I think a more open structure that allows for freer debate is the most important part of all this.”

National Chairperson of the CFS Bilan Arte was unpleasantly surprised to read the letter and challenges the notion that the Federation lacks transparency. However, despite disagreeing with several of the claims, she encourages a productive dialogue between the coalition and Federation staff at the upcoming general meeting.

“It’s really saddening for me to see that members are not feeling heard and considered in our Federation spaces. I do want to say that our Federation includes many structures at its meetings that allow for discussion and debate in an inclusive way,” says Arte.

In reference to the accessibility of files, most of the Federation’s minutes are posted on their website, although only since the letter was released. Arte says that they have “always had [their] constitution, bylaws, operating policies and issue-based policies online,” with only their financial documents—as “sensitive” material—not available.

Speaking on the so-called “burdensome” requirements for leaving the CFS, Arte states that “it’s important to recognize that that particularly was a process that was resolved upon through a democratic process by students at multiple general meetings prior to this one, and beyond that it’s also a process that is quite similar, actually, to many large-scale federations and organizations.”

“That being said, the purpose of our meetings is to facilitate discussions and to define those priorities about processes that students have today,” Arte concludes.

The associations and the CFS have agreed to discuss solutions and future change at the Federation’s annual general meeting in November.