Reactions from Federation of Canadian Student Leaders Conference

The inaugural Federation of Canadian Student Leaders (FCSL) conference is over - as is its website - and many of its attendees have written reports to their students' unions. Several of these reports are online, and they paint a picture of an event that has not avoided the problems that have plagued its predecessor, the Canadian Congress of Student Associations.

• Joanne Liu, VP Administration for The University of Lethbridge Students' Union (ULSU), submitted a generally positive report (PDF). She summarized the keynote lecture ("Bill Smith's 25 tips for a Successful Year"), which she described as "inspirational advice." She also reported on workshops on Student Apathy, Human Resources and Staff, Fundraising and Sponsorship, Setting Up Legal Contracts, Lobbying, Senior Administration Relations, and Budgeting. She noted that the "2007 FCSL conference will be hosted by Malaspina Student Association in Nanaimo, BC." The "Malaspina Student Association" is actually the Malaspina Students' Union. Their General Manager is Steve Beasley, who was the full-time British Columbia National Executive Representative to the Canadian Federation of Students in 2004.
  
  
• Charlotte Kingston, VP Academic for ULSU, submitted a decidedly mixed report on the conference (PDF), addressed to "whoever you report readers are..." (little does she know ). She said that the opening plenary "quite literally made me bang my head on the table and did not exactly set a great tone for the rest of the conference," due to the "nit picking and adversarial atmosphere that was established by some members in the room." However, Ms. Kingston had generally positive memories of the workshops that she attended on such issues as on campus childcare, executive compensation, students' union-run bookstores, and event planning. She also shared her colleague's high regard for Bill Smith's "25 tips for a Successful Year."
  
  
• Kevin Keystone, President of the Alma Mater Society of UBC, reported on his attendance at the FCSL conference verbally at a meeting of Council, the substance of which has been recorded in the minutes (PDF, pp. 3-4). He stated that the Canadian Congress of Student Associations (CCSA) conference had been cancelled due to the FCSL's decision to schedule their meeting simultaneously with that of the CCSA, which led to a situation whereby "the schools that would have gone to CCSA (mostly CFS schools) came at the last minute to FCSL." Then, "at the open plenary, the bylaws [proposed bylaws to officially organize the FCSL] and code of conduct were thrown out through block voting by the CFS schools, setting the tone." (This sort of block voting was also reported to have occured, across the country, in 1995 allegedly to prevent the formation of a British Columbia organization of students' unions.) Despite such comments, Mr. Keystone and his colleagues also noted the positive opportunities to network and meet fellow students' union executives.
  
  
• David Cournoyer, Omer Yusuf, and Samantha Power all provided reports on their experiences at FCSL (PDF, pp. 24-32) in their respective capacities as the VP External, VP Student Life, and President of the University of Alberta Students' Union. Mr. Cournoyer appreciated the opportunity to meet with many other VP Externals (or their equivalents) at the conference, to network and to discuss campaigns and lobbying strategies; he also believed that he had "gained a base of first-hand knowledge" regarding the national student movement and its organizations (i.e. the Canadian Federation of Students and the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations). However, he felt that many of the workshops were not useful, as they were geared towards smaller student associations.
  
  
• Omer Yusuf similarly felt that the workshops were "extremely useless" for the most part. Mr. Yusuf did report positively on the opportunity to meet fellow VP Student Life executives from other students' unions, but felt that, on balance, the Federation of Canadian Student Leaders was a conference more suited for Presidents and VP Externals.
  
  
• President Samantha Power (again from the UASU) reported positively on a number of workshops (on ethical businesses, corporatization, and maintaining positive relationships with the senior administration) that she attended. She also appreciated the opportunity to talk with fellow students' union executives, both in Alberta and across the country. However, she was extremely disappointed in the keynote speakers, and was troubled that Studentcare.net/works hosted a social event that was heavily promoted by the conference organizers.
  
  
• Ezra Edelstein, President of the Dalhousie Student Union, reported (PDF, p. 28) that the FCSL went quite well: "The professional development and partnerships aspect of the conference went very well, with great sessions on legal contracts, media relations, lobbying, services, and a half day open space where people could talk about issues that were pertinent to them."
  
  
• Chris Ide, VP Internal of the Dalhousie Student Union, reported (PDF, p. 29) a slightly different tale. "Interesting," reported he. "The entire exec attended this conference in Toronto from June 2nd – 10th which was aimed at partnership and professional development. To see a group of student leaders unite in an attempt to derail a conference was both encouraging a disappointing (students standing together = encouraging; when they do it at the detriment of other students = disappointing)."
  
  
• Chad LeClair, VP Finance and Operations of the Dalhousie Student Union, reported (PDF, p. 31) that the sessions and networking opportunities were good.
  

All in all, a rather mixed review of the conference. It would appear that the goal of the conference organizers - to hold a "non-political" conference - did not succeed. I am presently trying to determine who is now sitting on the steering committee that is planning next year's FCSL conference....