FCSL Steering Committee

The steering committee of the Federation of Canadian Student Leaders is as follows:

• Host School — Rick Powelson (MSU)
• BC — Tiffany Kalanj (SUVCC)
• Alberta — Garth Crump (NAITSA)
• Saskatchewan — Amanda Smytaniuk (URSU)
• Manitoba — Garry Sran (UMSU)
• Ontario — Paul Bretscher (UofT SAC)
• Quebec — N/A
• Nova Scotia — Ezra Edelstein (DSU)
• Newfoundland/Labrador — Stella Magolios (MUNSU)
• New Brunswick — N/A
• PEI — N/A

Provinces that did not send delegates to the FCSL conference have no representation on the steering committee.

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....

Cancelled!

As has been noted by one of StudentUnion.ca's many anonymous commenters, the Canadian Conference for Student Associations (CCSA) has been cancelled.

This leaves one remaining conference: the Federation of Canadian Student Leaders' "Conference on Partnerships and Development," scheduled for June 3-7, 2006. Since registrations have been closed since May 10, refugees from the CCSA will presumably not be able to register at the last minute for this conference. However, the website has been updated to include a number of new sessions.

Also of interest, particularly to this blog, are the three Plenary Sessions that have been scheduled. The purpose of these sessions is to draft a "governance structure" for the Federation, to elect the Steering Committee for the coming year, and to select a new conference host for 2007. The draft governance structure has not been posted online, but it should nonetheless be available soon to registered conference attendees. Here's hoping that the Federation adopts a governance structure that's a good deal more sensible than that proposed in 2005 by certain unsatisfied student associations - and a good deal more democratic than the recently adopted bylaws of the Canadian Congress of Student Associations (Inc.)

Conflicting Meetings?

The Canadian Conference for Student Associations (CCSA) and the Federation of Canadian Student Leaders (FCSL) are not the only organizations putting on conferences these days, it seems. As it turns out, the Association of Managers in Canadian College, University and Student Centres (AMICUSS-C) is also putting on a conference. This conference, called the National Professionals Conference 2006, will be taking place in St. Catherines, Ontario on June 3 - 7, 2006 - on exactly the same dates that the Federation of Canadian Student Leaders will be hosting their conference. In essence, the FCSL is forcing students' union managers to choose between their professional association and itself....
..................
UPDATE (2006-05-09): Sorry, my mistake. As has been pointed out in the comments, AMICUSS-C and the FCSL are in fact holding their conferences at the same location, thus enabling people from student unions to attend both conferences.

Sneaky, Sneaky...

"To help protect the unique identity and integrity of Government of Canada Web sites, GC organizations must register and maintain the registrations for any domain names that include their title in commonly used domains such as .com, .org, .net, .ca, etc." (Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Common Look and Feel for the Internet, Standard 3.1 [Cybersquatting])

In a previous post, I talked about the "Federation of Canadian Student Leaders" (FCSL), who are advertising their upcoming Conference on Partnerships and Development on their website, http://www.canadianstudentleaders.com/. Unfortunately for them, the FCSL failed to register the similar domain http://www.canadianstudentleaders.ca/. This domain name has since been registered by one Alex Lisman, who has redirected all who mistakenly access his domain to a webpage produced by the Ascendant Strategy Group.

Alex Lisman was VP Education of the Ryerson Students' Administrative Council (RyeSAC, now known as the Ryerson Students' Union) in 2001-2002. After his term in office, Lisman became a member of the Ryerson Activist Coalition. This Coalition, also known as RyeACT, became heavily involved in the RyeSAC 2002 elections, where Mr. Lisman "told The Eyeopener that he plans to campaign like he's never campaigned before to make sure Dave MacLean is not elected president" (Eyeopener, 2002-03-05). A heated election ensued. Sure enough, Mr. MacLean's main competitor for President (whom Mr. Lisman supported), Ken Marciniec, was elected President (albeit amid allegations of corruption and bias on the part of the Chief Returning Officer). And, as it turns out, Mr. Marciniec has also enjoyed a little cyber-squatting on his own.

The Ascendant Strategy Group is a for-profit consulting agency that is primarily geared towards providing consulting services for student unions (which they call "student government associations"). Despite its tag line, which describes it as a "World Leader in Student Enhancement," the organization appears primarily geared towards American student unions. Why exactly Mr. Lisman believes that it would be reasonable for such a consulting agency to possess the domain name "canadianstudentleaders.ca" remains a mystery to me....

In any event, anyone who wants to waste their money is welcome to register studentunion.org, studentsunion.ca, studentunion.ca, studentsunion.ca, etc.

Translation: Traitors!

Yet another anonymous informant has obtained a copy of a letter that was apparently sent to student unions in Canada by a group calling itself the "Canadian Conference of Student Associations" (CCSA). This may or may not be related to the "Canadian Conference for Student Associations" (CCSA) that is being held in one month in Ottawa; and it may or may not be related to the "Canadian Congress of Student Associations" (CCSA) that recently became a federally incorporated (but apparently dormant) organization. The letter reads as follows:

Monday May 1, 2006

Dear Colleagues,

I trust that by now you have received the information package for the Canadian Conference of Student Associations. As you may know there is another group of schools that are attempting to organize a competing conference immediately following the CCSA.

At the annual CCSA in Vancouver in June 2005, student representatives from across Canada democratically voted to hold this year’s conference in Ottawa, with Carleton and ourselves, hosting. For the past ten months we have worked in preparation for hosting this year’s conference. Now, with only weeks before its scheduled start, it appears that the competition is looking to override the democratic vote of last year’s conference by organizing a similar but opposing event, the schedule of which overlaps with the CCSA.

We at the Student Federation at the University of Ottawa have invested a significant amount of time, energy and money into to organizing this year’s CCSA. Amongst other thing, deposits have already been paid to the University of Ottawa Conference Services for accommodation, to the company providing French- English interpretation services, to the company supplying the party boat for the Ottawa River boat cruise and to the company that will be ferrying participants between the University of Ottawa and Carleton University on the historic Rideau Canal.

In Vancouver, all schools had every opportunity to submit a bid. No one else chose to do so at that time. Now with only a few weeks left, an announcement is made that a competing event is unilaterally being organized.

Since the 2005 CCSA in Vancouver, we have worked diligently to address the concerns of student associations that both attended and did not attend last year’s conference. We will have more specific sessions for colleges and smaller universities. We have worked to include Quebéc [sic] and francophone student associations to provide a venue that can truly meet the needs of all student associations in Canada. And, as delegates agreed last year, there is no better place to have this type of truly national conference than in the heart of our nations capital. We do not understand why the decision was made to go out of one’s way to divide and undermine the one opportunity for all students, regardless of affiliation, to meet, learn and discuss with each other.

I encourage you all to go with the democratic process that all our student unions and associations are modeled on. This year’s CCSA promises to be a dynamic and engaging event that will allow student leaders to form those necessary bonds to colleagues all over the country. The CCSA is a grouping of three conferences, which brings together post-secondary student leaders and students’ association staff from all over Canada. Each year, student leaders and their staff meet to share their ideas, learn new skills, and celebrate their achievement and progress. I hope to see you in Ottawa.

Yours truly,

Adrienne De La Rosa
Conference Coordinator, CCSA 2006

Student Federation of the University of Ottawa

Adrienne De La Rosa is the former Vice-President, Student Affairs (2005-2006) of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa. Since her term ended one month ago today, she was presumably hired by one of the sponsoring student unions just a few weeks ago for the purpose of coordinating this conference.

In addition, one will note that the letter states that "[t]he CCSA is a grouping of three conferences." Persons familiar with past CCSA conferences will know that it is - or at least was - a grouping of four conferences: MoneyCon, SuperCon, CART, and AMICCUS-C.

Translation: Give Us Money

StudentUnion.ca has intercepted a letter sent one month and ten days ago to AMICCUS-C, the association of student union managers, from the newly-formed "Federation of Canadian Student Leaders," in regards to their "Annual Conference on Partnerships and Development." Here is a copy of that letter:

March 20, 2006

AMICCUS- C Executive,

This letter is being sent on behalf of the Federation of Canadian Student Leaders (FCSL), Annual Conference on Partnerships and Development Steering Committee. This committee has emerged from the will to deliver a national conference where student leaders can be exposed to a suite of educational sessions focused on professional and organizational development. Moreover, this conference is meant to serve as a forum for student leaders to interact with one another to network, and to interact with our full-time managers.

Given the timing, location and nature of the relationship between the FCSL and AMICCUS-C, we believe that both groups can help one another in the planning and delivery of their respective conferences.

This letter is to request the assistance of the AMICCUS-C Executive on matters related to the planning and delivery of the student conference which could include but may not be limited to the following:
a. Conference funding;
b. Scheduling of educational sessions;
c. Accommodation logistics;
d. Social event and keynote speaker bookings;
e. Food and beverage logistics;
f. Travel logistics;
g. Transportation logistics; and,
h. Sponsorship recruitment.

We are pleased to work with AMICCUS-C on this project and hope to continue to work together on similar projects in the future.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by phone at 905-688-5550 ext. 3101, or via email at president@busu.net.

Best regards,

Bryan Hicks
President, Brock University Students’ Union

Ever Heard of the "Federation of Canadian Student Leaders"?

Neither did I. But apparently they're having their inaugural conference, "Conference on Parterships and Development," this June. According to their introduction:

"This conference has been brought to fruition through the input and feedback
from many student associations of varying sizes and from across the country. Focusing on professional development, organizational development, building partnerships and planning for the future, the FCSL aims to be a forum for collaboration and progression."

The Steering Committee includes student association executives from Brock, Dalhousie, Queen's, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, University of Alberta, and Red River College. Bryan Hicks, Brock University Student Union President, seems to be chairing the event: he is on the Steering Committee; he is a listed presenter; and he seems to be the FCSL webmaster.

Some might be aware of the goings-on within the Canadian Congress of Student Associations (CCSA), the annual training and networking event for student association executives. Several large students' unions have been dissatisfied with the CCSA as of recently, complaining (1) that the conference was being "politicized" by Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) staff and executives, and (2) the conference was focussing more on the needs of small student associations, neglecting issues facing large ones. A recent report from the President of the UWO University Students' Council (unfortunately no longer available online) talked about the formation of a new annual conference, geared towards large student associations. In addition, Perhaps this is said conference?

In any event, the conference has significantly greater visibility than the Canadian Congress of Student Associations, which does not currently have a website.