The Many Faces of CCSA

I have a correction to make. In a previous post, I stated that the CCSA (which usually means "Canadian Congress of Student Associations," but more about that later) "does not currently have a website." Boy was I wrong! As it turns out, there are three different websites, or at least web domains, that claim to be "the CCSA," none of which are actually owned by the recently-incorporated organisation.

Website Number 1, http://www.ccsaonline.org/, is the oldest of the three, having been registered in October of 2001. It contains archived versions of the websites for CCSA conferences held in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004, as well as a brief note thanking those who participated in CCSA 2005. It is owned by the Seneca Students Federation, and managed by their Director of Operations, Mario DiCarlo. Why the Seneca Students Federation owns this website is beyond me; as far as I can tell, they haven't hosted a CCSA conference in some time. (Incidentally, archived records of Website Number 1 show that as late as February 9, 2005, ccsaonline.org still displayed the friendly portal for CCSA 2004, even though CCSA 2005 [hosted by the Students' Unions of Vancouver Community College] had already taken place over a month earlier.)

Even curiouser, however, is Website Number 2, http://www.ccsaonline.ca/. This website, which was created in June of 2004, is owned by the Ryerson Students' Administrative Council (RyeSAC), which is now known as the Ryerson Students' Union. (Ryerson has not hosted any CCSA conference for several years now, either.) Managing the (currently non-functional) site on behalf of the RSU is Bob Emerson.

Rob Emerson is no stranger to controversy. When the aforementioned website was registered, he held the position of Operations Manager of RyeSAC. In that capacity, he had been criticized by Sajjad Wasti, former VP Finance and Services, for allegedly making business decisions that benefited the Canadian Federation of Students rather than the students of Ryerson. Emerson weathered that storm, and was elevated to the position of General Manager when Brad Lavigne, the former GM (and former National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students) left Ryerson to become NDP Director of Communications. Emerson later left RyeSAC to become General Manager of the Student Campus Centre (SCC), an entity distinct from the student union. Shortly after taking the helm of the SCC, however, he was attacked by his former employer. Under the leadership of President Rebecca Rose (incidentally, an ally of top political operative Jeremy Salter), the RSU accused their former GM of acting in a conflict of interest; tried to fire Mr. Emerson and his top staff; when that failed, moved to end all cooperation between the RSU and the SCC; and is currently encouraging students to bombard his email address until the SCC restocks its feminine hygeine product dispensers, on the grounds that "Pads and Tampons are our RIGHT not a PRIVLEDGE!" [sic]. But despite this controversy, the RSU apparently comfortable having their former GM continue to manage their CCSA domain name.

Website Number 3, http://www.ccsa2006.ca/, is the 'newest' of the three websites, having been created on March 28, 2006. It is owned personally by James Pratt. Mr. Pratt's illustrious carrer has included one year as President of the Carleton University Students' Association (CUSA), one year as Treasurer of the Ontario division of the Canadian Federation of Students, and two years as CFS National Deputy Chairperson. He is presently Executive Director of CUSA (or is that Executive Coordinator?), and in his spare time apparently serves as Membership Secretary for the NDP Ottawa Centre constituency association.

Also interesting to note is that the cccsa2006.ca website does not actually advertise an upcoming Canadian Congress of Student Associations. It does, however, advertise an upcoming Canadian Conference for Student Associations, to be co-hosted by CUSA and two other student unions. This conference is to take place May 31 - June 3, immediately prior to the competing conference of the "Federation of Canadian Student Leaders." All in all, a pretty website; too bad most of the content is empty.

Of note, cheques should be made payable to the Carleton University Students' Association. This is interesting, because it would appear as though the corporation known as the "Canadian Congress of Students Associations," which was incorporated just eight months ago, appears to play no role whatsoever in this conference - not for financial purposes, not for legal purposes, not for organizational purposes. So what exactly is happening to this corporation? As far as I can tell, nothing; its directors are simply sitting on the organization and its assets.

But who knows, perhaps the CCSA will get active. There are many things that it might want to do, like change their registered address, or perhaps create a website. Or, it just might want to actually organize a congress....