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CFS / FCEE

Canadian Federation of Students / Fédération canadienne des étudiantes et étudiants
Founded	1981
Members	500, 000
Country	Canada
Key people	Katherine Giroux-Bougard (Chairperson)
Office location	Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Website	www.cfs-fcee.ca

The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) is the largest student organization in Canada. Founded in 1981, the stated goal of the CFS is to work at the federal level and provincial levels for high quality, accessible post-secondary education.^[1]

Structure

The name "Canadian Federation of Students" is generally used to designate three legally distinct organizations: the national CFS, one of the provincial components of the CFS, or CFS-Services.

CFS and CFS-Services share the same bylaws^[2] and decision-making structures. These structures include biannual general meetings, where every member students' union receives one vote regardless of its local membership, and an executive^[3], which includes representatives of each provincial component. In provinces where a significant number of students' unions are members of the CFS, the provincial component (e.g. CFS-BC, CFS-Ontario) has its own general meetings and executive, the latter being formed by representatives of the local students' unions.^[4]

The national CFS has threatened legal action following news releases and articles in which actions by provincial components have been attributed to "CFS". This response was contested on the grounds that some documents produced by the provincial components use the general name, and that students who join the CFS are required to be members of all three organizations.^[5][6]

History

The Federation was officially formed on October 18, 1981, from the merger of two national organizations - the National Union of Students in Canada (which was originally known as National Federation of Canadian University Students) and the Association of Student Councils - and student federations from five Canadian provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Saskatchewan), in an effort to create a united student movement in Canada that could provide student-oriented services and political representation at the federal and provincial levels of government. Part of the impetus to organize came from the federal government's announced $2 billion in cuts from Established Program Financing (including cuts to federal transfer payments for health and education), which were likely to result in tuition fee increases for students.

Founding conference

The founding conference was held on October 14-19, 1981, at Carleton University. Mike McNeil was elected as the organization's first Chairperson, along with Mike Walker (Treasurer), former NUS treasurer Kirk Falconer (International Affairs Commissioner), Kathie Cram (Women's Commissioner), Brian Robinson (Graduate Student Representative), Ben Freedman (Member at Large), and Leslie Neilson (Member at Large).^[7] The Federation's bylaws and constitution were finalized and over 50 motions were passed during plenary. After hearing speeches by Salvadoran and Chilean students, delegates passed motions condemning human rights violations and anti-student policies in those countries.^[8]

A campaign strategy was also launched in order to oppose the federal government's planned cut to EPF. The slogan for the campaign was "Access not axe us" and it called for an establishment of an all-grant system and a public inquiry into the future of post-secondary education. ^[7] The campaign also called for alliance building with community groups and public sector workers in order to gain support and fight against cut-backs to social programs. The campaign was named after a research report of the same name, by Bruce Tate. The report focused on effects of the Liberal Party cutback to education and highlighted issues such as access and tuition fee levels.^[9]

The Conference ended with a student presence in the daily Question Period in the Canadian House of Commons, a meeting with Secretary of State Gerald Regan, and a one-on-one debate between Chairperson Mike McNeil and Member of Parliament John Evans (parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Allan MacEachern) in the Snake Lounge at Carleton University.^[10] Delegates attending the House of Commons Question Period were denied entry by security guards.^[11] Mike McNeil and delegates were not satisfied with the outcome of the meeting with Gerald Regan.^[12]

1992-1995 disaffiliation movement

In 1992, six students' unions disaffiliated from the CFS to create the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, due in part to CFS' lobbying on social issues.^[13].

The CFS reached a membership of 440,000 students from 65 member students' unions in 1993-1994. In the following year, many students' unions organized referenda to disaffiliate themselves from the CFS. For example, the executive of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) argued that the CFS's stance for the abolition of tuition fees was unrealistic, and criticized the CFS' involvement in causes that were not student issues. The chairperson of the CFS at the time, a former SFUO president, responded to the latter point that issues like free trade have an impact on public post-secondary education.^[14] Executive members from the SFUO, the Carleton University Students' Union and the Ryerson Students' Union signed a letter stating that these criticisms of the CFS had motivated students' unions from 20 universities to found the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. ^[15]

Overall, 20 affiliation or disaffiliation referenda were held in 1994-1995, with the net result that 59 member students' unions formed the CFS in September 1996, the latest being the York University Graduate Students' Association (Local 84).^[16][17]

Recent membership expansion

Between 1995 and 2008, over twenty students' unions joined the CFS, including many graduate students' associations and part-time students' associations^[18].

Several large undergraduate students' associations voted to affiliate themselves to the CFS during the same period. In 2002, the University of Toronto Students' Administrative Council, which had never been part of a national students' union before, voted to join the CFS.^[19] At the November 2005 Annual General Meeting of the Federation, the positive result of affiliation referenda at both University of Manitoba Students' Union and the University of Saskatchewan Students' Union were ratified. The latter referendum result was challenged by former USSU director, and in 2007, the courts ruled the referendum to be of no force or effect. The CFS website continues to list the USSU as Local 17.^[20] In October 2007, USSU voted to keep prospective membership in the CFS and hold a referendum in the next two years.^[21]

2008 disaffiliation referenda

In March 2008, four students' unions - the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS), the Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) and the University of Victoria Graduate Students' Society (UVGSS) in British Columbia, along with the Cape Breton University Students' Union in Nova Scotia, organized simultaneous referenda to disaffiliate from the CFS.

At Simon Fraser University, the student newspaper The Peak had been one of the CFS' harshest critics. An opinion piece published by The Peak in 1998 accused the CFS of being corrupt, bloated, Ontario-centred, closed to outsiders, and with a leadership that regularly secures jobs in the NDP or Liberal governments.^[22] It reported that former CFS-BC chairperson, Michael Gardiner, was hired as special advisor on youth by New Democratic BC Premier Glen Clark. As of 2000, Gardiner had returned to work for CFS-BC as an organiser.^[23]

In 2007, Global Television in British Columbia ran stories alleging corruption within the Douglas Students' Union, local 18 of the CFS. The report focused on a $500,000 payment to the students' union's health insurance provider by the Canadian Federation of Students - British Columbia. It appeared to link the actions of the CFS-BC with CFS' national office and staff.^[24]

This negative media coverage of the CFS was one of the reasons listed by the KSA for calling the disaffiliation referendum. The KSA also criticized the financial transparency of CFS-BC and argued that the CFS was ineffective at lobbying for students. ^[25]. During the referendum campaign, the KSA also released a leaked document reportedly authored by "CFS-BC" which named several CFS staff members as active members in the anti-defederation campaign. The KSA alleged that this was the "smoking gun" proving that the "Federation seeks to place CFS supporters in key staff positions in all of its member students’ unions" ^[26]

The memberships of the CBUSU, the SFSS and the UVGSS voted 92%, 66% and 58% in favour of disaffiliation, respectively. CFS representatives did not participate in the Cape Breton referendum, claiming that the CBUSU failed to give proper notice. The CFS did participate in the Simon Fraser referendum, but national chairperson Amanda Aziz stated that it might not recognize its result due to alleged irregularities in the voting process. The UVGSS result has not been contested by the CFS.^[27]

The Canadian Federation of Students petitioned the BC Supreme Court to postpone the Kwantlen referendum. According to CFS national chairperson Amanda Aziz, the lawsuit was launched when Kwantlen Students Association hired the independent elections administrator Schiffner Consultants to run the referendum after a period of deadlock on the Referendum Oversight Committee.^[28] The The KSA chairperson, Laura Anderson, claimed that the Federation was "afraid of facing the students" and was attempting to stall the referendum.^[29]. Three weeks after the disaffiliation votes at SFSS and UVGSS, Kwantlen students voted to remain members of the CFS. ^[30]

Current campaigns

Tuition freezes/cuts

The CFS actively lobbies on tuition-related issues, including holding rallies and national "days of action" to address such issues as tuition freezes and reductions in student loans. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the only province where all public college and university students' are members of the CFS, students pay the second-lowest average undergraduate tuition fees in Canada^[31]. There, tuition fees were reduced by 25% in the 1990s and have remained frozen. The current Progressive Conservative government has pledged to keep the freeze in place until the end of their mandate in 2008.^{citation needed}

In British Columbia, the CFS lobbied the former New Democratic Party (NDP) government to introduce tuition fee freezes and reductions.^[22]

Rock the Vote

The CFS has also been involved with attempting to increase turnout (particularly among students and young people) in elections. For example, in 2005 CFS-British Columbia (the provincial chapter of the CFS), the Langara Students' Union and the Corus Entertainment owned radio station C-FOX led a "non-partisan" campaign registering young voters in BC called Rock the Vote BC, based on the Rock the Vote campaign drives used by the Republican and Democratic parties in the 2004 US election to register young voters. Elections BC did not endorse the initiative because of concerns of partisanship.^[32]

The CFS was admonished by the Commissioner of Canada Elections in October 2002 for having failed to submit an elections advertising report in the four months following the November 2000 elections. The Commissioner notes that the report was filed by CFS in May 2002.^[33]

Graduate student issues

Graduate students' unions within the CFS meet together as the National Graduate Caucus (NGC). Currently, 60, 000 graduate students at 31 campuses across Canada, are members of the NGC.^[34]

Commercialization of research

The NGC campaigns to oppose commercialization of university research because its research shows that pressures from industry partners can threaten academic freedom and the public interest.^[35] It points to cases such as those of Nancy Olivieri and David Healy as examples of commercialization run amok.^[36]

Whistleblowers campaign

In 2006 the NGC began working with Christopher Radziminski, alumnus from the University of Toronto, to support his battle with the University of Toronto and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) over research conducted with ERCO Worldwide. The former student alleges that a drinking water experiment in Wiarton, Ontario was not accurately reported in scholarly journals, posing a serious health risk to Canadians.^[37] The NGC is supporting a judicial review of NSERC's decision not to press for an investigation at the University of Toronto.^[38]

Post-residency fees

The NGC has an active campaign to reduce fees charged to graduate students after their residency period. Graduate student unions affiliated to the NGC urge graduate students to sign pledges that they will not make alumni donations until their university reduces post-residency fees.

Copyright renewal

The NGC has been lobbying the federal government in partnership with several organizations over current reform of the Canadian Copyright Act. This involves a letter writing campaign to MPs and participation in developing the Creative Commons project.^[39]

Research funding

The NGC advocates for increased graduate student funding in the form of scholarships and training programmes.

Services

The Canadian Federation of Students-Services (CFS-Services) is a legally separate branch of the Federation, founded in the early 1980s as the successor organization to the Association of Students' Councils Canada (AOSC). Services made available to individual student members or member students' unions of the CFS include:^[40]

• Travel CUTS and the International Student Identity Card (see below);
• the StudentSaver Discount Card;
• the Student Work Abroad Program (SWAP);
• the National Student Health Network (NSHN), a non-profit health and dental benefits buying consortium;
• a handbook and dayplanner producing service, which aims to reduce the cost per handbook to the individual students' unions, through economies of scale.

Travel CUTS

Travel CUTS (Canadian Universities Travel Service) is a travel agency majority-owned and operated by CFS-Services (CFS-S), which operates in Canada and the United States.^[41]

As a member of the International Student Travel Confederation, Travel CUTS is the Canadian issuing agent for the International Student Identity Card (ISIC), an internationally recognized student identification that also provides access to discounts on travel. Services at Travel CUTS are not restricted to members of the CFS, but full members can obtain an ISIC at no charge. The ISIC is considered by some to be the most direct financial benefit associated with CFS membership.^[42]

In 1996, the University Students' Council at the University of Western Ontario initiated a lawsuit against CFS-Services, to be later joined by three other student societies (Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia, Queen's Alma Mater Society and University of Alberta Students' Union). The plaintiffs "alleged the CFS-Services illegally transferred assets from the AOSC, including Travel CUTS, to itself at a 1987 meeting".^[43]A settlement was reached in 2006 through which the plaintiffs acquired 24 per cent of Travel CUTS and two seats on its board of directors.^[44]

References

External links

• CFS national website
• Alliance vs Federation The Manitoban student newspaper examines the pros and cons of CASA and the CFS.
• Constitution, Bylaws, and Policies of the CFS (official)

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