The CFS campaign

Here are all the interesting websites relating to the defederation campaigns at SFU, Kwantlen, and the University of Victoria:

Pro-CFS:
CFS campaign site for Simon Fraser University: www.yescfs.ca
CFS campaign site for University of Victoria Graduates: www.uvic.yescfs.ca
Camosun College Student Society site: www.cfstruth.org
CFS-BC 'membership development': www.iamcfs.ca
I AM CFS Facebook group

Anti-CFS:
Simon Fraser Student Society site: www.sfss.ca/independence
Kwantlen Student Association site: www.cfstruth.ca
University of Victoria Graduate Students' Society site: cogitoergono.blogspot.com
WE WANT OUT Facebook group (SFU)
Kwantlen students want out of the CFS! Facebook group

Neutral:
The Canadian Federation of Students Debate - A Neutral Forum Facebook group


Also, the CFS has applied to the Supreme Court of British Columbia for an injunction postponing the KSA's defederation referendum to the fall of 2008. The KSA has put up a site listing the documents filed by both sides in this case: http://www.kusa.ca/cfsvsksa
Erin Millar reported on this controversy at Macleans.ca

... In which we attempt to stop the re-writing of history...

...And so yesterday I attended the opening plenary meeting of the Semi-Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Federation of Students - British Columbia. Here is a precis of the more interesting things that happened.

After preliminary matters, we came to:

8. Preparation for Committees

All committees were struck (Campaigns; Finance; Organizational and Services Development; Policy Review and Development).

When the motion was moved to adopt the Finance Committee agenda, the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) noted that the Finance Committee agenda curiously did not include any information on audits. This was rather odd, given that the CFS-BC was, at that time, 2.5 years behind in its financial statements. The SFSS moved that the Finance Committee agenda be amended to include (1) Review of Audits, (2) Appointment of Auditor, and (3) that the Auditor be present at the Finance Committee meeting as a resource person. Amendment approved.

9. Consideration of Motions Served With Due Notice

A great deal of motions were moved, seconded, and referred to an appropriate plenary committee. The motions included matters relating to general meetings; research on student financial assistance, Campus 2020, private loans, and international students. The Malaspina Students' Union submitted this gem: "Be it resolved that a handbook on best practices in financial management be produced as a resource for member local boards of directors and staff," which was submitted to the Organizational and Services Development Committee.

The only motion that aroused controversy during this meeting was this resolution, submitted by the Graduate Students' Society of the University of Victoria:

Whereas a CUP resolution was passed such that the Death Star fund not be otherwise appropriated; and

Whereas no other vessel or vehicle is sufficiently evil or potentially, advantageously destructive; and

Whereas construction has begun in a secret facility hidden in a galaxy far, far away; and

Whereas a construction job of that magnitude would require a helluva lot more manpower than the Imperial army had to offer – I’ll bet there are independent contractors working on that thing: plumbers, aluminum siders, roofers…!; therefore

Be it resolved that independent contractors hired by the CUP be offered benefit packages accordant with the hazardous working conditions posed; and

Be it further resolved that in the interest of an egalitarian destructive weapons base, funding be increased for the Death Star Gay Bar; and

Be it further resolved that in the case that the pesky Federation discovers the weakness of the yet incomplete Death Star, i.e. typos on Joey Coleman’s blog, that the independent contractors be evacuated promptly; and

Be it further resolved that minacious posturing by the Federation be tantamount to a declaration of boredom, and that, foreseeing spurious debate upon the cryptic nature of such ridiculous resolutions

Be it further resolved that we acknowledge on behalf of the CFS that a safely completed Death Star is disastrous, as Darth Vader would never vote NDP, and therefore must be barraged at all costs with Mark Hamill’s wooden acting and reactionary plenary oversight

This motion was fairly clear to the small group of us in the room who (1) had attended the May 2007 National General Meeting and witnessed the plenary notify the National Executive about the "attempts by the Canadian University Press to influence the decision-making of the [national plenary] Organizational and Services Development Committee" and (2) were actually familiar with CUP's joke "Death Star" motion [which is hilarious in and of itself].... It's hard to tell what the rest of the plenary felt about this motion - and we will probably never know, since a motion was promptly moved to Object to the Consideration of this motion.

9. Presentation of the Report of the Executive Committee

Now this was interesting. The Report of the Executive Committee was presented, even though the Executive Committee itself never had a chance to review and approve the report.... Two particularly controversial portions of this report were aroused great controversy, under the most amusing heading "Membership Issues": Douglas Students' Union and the Simon Fraser Student Society. The Douglas Students' Union section read as follows:

LOCAL 18 - DOUGLAS STUDENTS' UNION
For almost two years the administration at Douglas College refused to remit local and
Federation membership fees collected for the member local union. The College's
intial claim was that the member local union was not in compliance with the
College and Institute Act, the legislation in BC that obligates institutions to
collect and remit students' unions' and provincial and national students'
organisation's membership fees to the respective organisations. Upon the member
local union's demonstration of its compliance with the Act, the College created
a list of demands that it required be met before the member local union's and
Federation's fees would be remitted. The demands from the College far
outstripped the obligations of the member local union according to the Act and
sought to undermine the autonomy of the Union. The Union refused to meet the
College's criteria and remained firm in its resolution that its compliance with
the Act obligated the College to remit the dues it was illegally holding.

In response to the College's unwillingness to fulfill its obligation, the Union
initiated legal action to obtain its dues and ensure that the Federation's dues
were remitted. The College launched a counter petition, requesting that the
Union be put into receivership with a receiver manager of the College's
choosing. The College named as its desired receiver manager expensive firm
Deloitte and Touche, the Union, agreeing that the appointment of a receiver
manager would be beneficial, proposed Local 44-University of Victoria Students'
Society General Manager Marne Jensen.
Given that it had a vested interest in a responsible resolution to the dispute, the Federation sought and was afforded
intervener status on the case and expressed its agreement with the member local
union that Jensen be apointed receiver manager. In early January, the case was
heard before the BC Supreme Court; the judge's ruling not only agreed with the
member local union and Federation's request that Jensen be appointed as receiver
manager, but also vindicated their assertions that the Douglas College
administration had been illegally withholding both the member local union's and
the Federation's membership dues.
Since the ruling, Douglas College has
released the dues it was illegally holding to the member local unions and the
Federation. The Receiver Manager, working with the Students' Union's Board of
Directors, has enacted appropriate financial controls, and is working to ensure
the Board is able to stabilise its financial situation and complete its late
audits.
Elections for the Board of Directors were held in April and the new
Board took office May 1. Federation membersin BC have been supporting the newly
elected representatives so that they are able to address internal challenges
while offering useful servicces and effective representation for
members.

Representatives of the Douglas Students' Union pointed out the following flaws in this section of the Executive Committee report:

• The DSU has never, since the controversy began, become compliant with the Society Act's requirements of annual audits. (For more information, please see the following extracts from court documents: Affidavit of Karen Maynes #1; Exhibit G (draft, unaudited financial statements for 2005); and Exhibit L (Don Crane's demand letter that claims that the DSU is in compliance with the Act.)
• The DSU Board of Directors never agreed that Marne Jensen should be appointed General Manager; the DSU's lawyer, Don Crane, made this submission to the Court without their consent. [Interestingly enough, Mr. Crane's position happened to coincide with that of the Federation's position...]
• they said that the Courts never "vindicated" the position of the Federation re: the alleged 'illegality' of Douglas College's withholding of CFS fees; their only Order was to appoint Marne Jensen as receiver manager.
• they disputed the assertion that "The Reciever Manager, working with the Students' Union's Board of Directors, has enacted appropriate financial controls, and is working to ensure the Board is able to stabilise its financial stituation and complete its late audits."

The Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) then moved that that portion of the report be referred back to the Executive Committee. When the vote was called for 'in favour,' half a dozen students' unions raised their voting cards, while the majority of them didn't do so. When the vote was called for 'against,' a couple of voting-card-carryers half-raised their cards - I presume hoping that the other Fedhead unions would join them in shooting down this motion. This did not happen, however, and so rather than bravely raise their cards in the air, these two 'half-against' student unions simply put their cards down - meaning that the motion passed unanimously! My interpretation was that they were too embarassed to attempt to rewrite history without the support of all the other loyalist/Fedhead students' unions in the Component.... (Interestingly enough, one of these voting-card-holders was Steve Beasley, Executive Director of the Malapsina Students' Union....)

(I have uploaded onto my webpage hundreds of pages of court documents that I pulled from the Supreme Court of BC registry several months ago relating to the Douglas Students' Union case. Read them, and then tell me whose story you believe!)

Immediately after this vote passed, a number of rather unhappy Fedhead delegates came to the microphone. One delegate insisted that this motion was out of order. Anita Zaenker, the Plenary Chair, disagreed.

A motion was then moved to approve the Executive Committee report, except for the Douglas Students' Union portion.

Then came the Simon Fraser Student Society, who objected to this portion of the Executive Committee report:

LOCAL 23 - SIMON FRASER STUDENT SOCIETY
In March a letter from a member of the Local 23 Board of Directors was received by the
Vancouver office, stating that the Local had held a referendum to defederate.
The Federation clarified to the Local that no referendum had been held.

The SFSS moved that that portion also be referred back to the Executive Committee.
While this was being debated, the Douglas Students' Union then moved that the ENTIRE report be referred back to the Executive Committee, citing yet additional flawed references in the Executive Committee report to the Douglas Students' Union....

The motion to refer the entire Executive Committee report to the Executive failed, with UVic Grads, DSU, SFSS, and KSA voting in favour.

The amendment relating to the SFSS succeeded on a very tight vote. (A motion moved earlier that this vote be taken by roll call was defeated.)

Finally, the main motion passed. UVic Grads, DSU, SFSS, Capilano Students' Union and KSA voted against, citing the continued inclusion of false statements in relation to the Douglas Students' Union case in the report....

The entire meeting was rather emotional, even though we were not debating the expenditure of money or the launch of a campaign; all we were doing was arguing over a certain version of events. It was clear that CFS-BC (or rather, the at-large officers and their loyalists) wanted desperately to spin the situation as "Evil Douglas College versus Oppressed Douglas Students' Union," presumably so as to justify the hundreds of thousands of dollars that CFS-Services and CFS-BC lent to the DSU in 2005 and 2006 (without Board of Directors resolutions, might I add) and portray the Federation as "liberator" rather than "participant in cover-up" or "waster of money," etc.

In any event, today and tomorrow we have committee meetings, speakers, caucuses, and workshops of various sorts. Sunday is the day for Closing Plenary, when motions that have been debated in committees get voted on.

National Day of Action 2007

(That me on the left!)

The rally and impromptu march in Vancouver, though smaller than in 2004, still managed to produce quite a strong response. Our march through the streets of downtown Vancouver only covered half of the road; cars still ran on the other half, and many of them honked in support of us. The student press covered the National Day of Action very comprehensively (Langara, Lakehead, Concordia, etc.) and the mainstream media also took notice.

However, I think that the simple message "Students wants tuition fees reduced" won't really resonate if the pundits like Ian King respond by stating "Yeah, but it's a bad idea." King's stance - that the government should increase the provincial grant program - was actually stated in the speeches that preceded the march, but this was drowned out in the storm of "Reduce Tuition Fees" posters.

Another Disputed Election, Another Lawsuit

In an earlier blog entry, I noted that the third consecutive general election of the Kwantlen Student Association is now headed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

I have now obtained a copy of this petition to the Supreme Court of British Columbia [PDF], asking the court to annul the election.

(Earlier StudentUnion.ca coverage of the KSA: here, here, here, and here.)

Kwantlen Student Association Post-Audit Memorandum Released

The Kwantlen Student Association has published its Post-Audit Memorandum [PDF] for 2005, following the recent victory of the "Concerned Students of Kwantlen" slate, displacing the "Reduce All Fees" (RAF Party) slate that had previously been in power for a year and a half. And what revealing things one can find in this document! Allow the following gems to pique your interests:

1. Disbursements should be authorized by appropriate personnel. There is no approval system in place for disbursements....
2. Cheques issued no longer require 2 signatures....
5. ... As at December 31, 2005, $285,000 in outstanding deposits had to be recorded in the current health and dental plan accounts.
6. ... The bank accounts were not reconciled correctly for most of the fiscal year....
9. At the time of the audit, we discovered that certain expenditures (some were large) that were unsupported (i.e., no cheque requisition, no supplier invoice)....
23. For the year ending December 31, 2005, the Association incurred a loss of approximately $352,000 after recognizing a gain of $49,000 on the sale of long term investments which had previously been written down. In addition, the Association's overall equity has been reduced by that amount to approximately $326,000 (down from $677,000)....
24. As at December 31, 2005, the Association has a working capital deficiency of $209,815....
28. Substantial severance payments (over $180,000) were made to employees in 2005....

In total, 53 complaints were recorded in the Post-Audit Memorandum. The KSA is currently conducting a Forensic Audit through PriceWaterhouseCoopers to determine exactly when happened to their money during the RAF Party era (now referred to within the organization as the "Dark Times").

Now, the KSA actually received a clean audit [PDF] for 2005, back in June 2006 when its financial statements were presented at the Annual General Meeting. This is most peculiar: the society received a MASSIVE number of complaints in its Post-Audit Memorandum, which was (until now!) a confidential documents, known only to the KSA management and executives, whereas their actual Auditor's Report - the only document presented to the membership - suggested that everything was rosy.
Even more interestingly, the auditors of the KSA are Tompkins Wozny Miller, the same firm that audits our good friends the Douglas Students' Union (DSU) and the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS)! And, as it turns out, there are actually quite a number of interesting connections between the KSA and the DSU/SFSS, besides a common auditor....

In an earlier post, I noted that a lawsuit between the KSA and a group of students (who have since won the recently-held KSA elections and are now in power) had been settled. The Petitioners in this lawsuit alleged that the KSA, under the rule of the RAF Party, had held a Special General Meeting that was corrupt and anti-democratic, specifically alleging that notice was not given for the general meeting, no opportunity was allowed to debate the motions under consideration, and the motions themselves were voted on in a manner designed to prevent the assembly from knowing what exactly they were voting for.... (Check out Steve Lee's website for the details!) In any event, here is a screenshot of a video clip of this Special General Meeting:



Wait a minute, who is that gentleman in the red shirt? Is that not our good friend Joey Hansen, Finance and Services Coordinator of the Douglas Students' Union?

And here is another interesting connection between the DSU and the KSA: they both have granted loans from the Health and Dental Plan funds to people! In the case of the DSU (at least as reported by Global TV), a loan of $20,000 was allegedly granted to Christa Peters, Mr. Hansen's partner (and staffer of the Students' Union of Vancouver Community College). In the KSA, however, it appears that loan of $200,000 was approved, out of Health and Dental Plan funds, to someone named Inderjit Johal. Here is the proof:



Now how about that connection to SFU? Well, the RAF Party has contended that the election that saw the Concerned Students of Kwantlen take power was conducted improperly, and they sought to have the election annulled (with the result that they would continue to stay in power until another election could be held). So they appealed to the KSA Ombudsperson, Paul Browning, who has apparently agreed with the RAF Party on appeal.

Now, Paul Browning is also an SFU student. Indeed, during the October 25, 2006 Special General Meeting at SFU, Mr. Browning was first on his feet during the debate on the motion to impeach President Shawn Hunsdale, declaring that Mr. Hunsdale was a "fine, upstanding individual."

In any event, the latest electoral conflict will be sorted out in court, as the former Council (dominated by the RAF Party) has filed a lawsuit naming the Concerned Students of Kwantlen as Respondents, asking the Courts to annul the election. And guess who is the lawyer for the RAF Party folks?

You guessed it! Donald G. Crane, of Rush Crane Guenther, is prosecuting this case, just as he is sueing me over the SFSS Special General Meeting.... Oh, what a small world we live in!

Kwantlen Student Association Troubles Continue

The Kwantlen Student Association is undergoing some problems at the present time. In August, I reported that a lawsuit between the KSA and several Kwantlen students had settled. In accordance with that settlement, a new election is taking place this semester. However, the four students are complaining that the KSA has breached the settlement agreement, and are applying to the Supreme Court of British Columbia [PDF] for an order declaring, inter alia, the executives to be in contempt of court.

Kwantlen Student Association Lawsuit Settles

A settlement has been reached between the Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) and a group of Kwantlen University College students over a lawsuit over alleged KSA procedural violations, gaming fraud, and electoral fraud. The Vancouver Sun has provided a summary of the case.

Specifically, the petition [PDF] of a group of four Kwantlen students alleges the following:

• powers that the Bylaws specified were properly the domain of Council (such as setting the budget) and of the General Manager (such as managing staff) were delegated to the Executive
• the Executive increased their own salaries (by over 80%) without the matter going to Council
• various members of Council were removed from office through procedurally irregular means, and four members of the KSA were actually expelled
• a Special General Meeting was held in September 2005, but inadequate notice was given, and a motion to adopt a radically altered set of Bylaws was voted on in a confusing and undemocratic manner (debate was not allowed, and the 'no' votes were not called for)
• one Executive member was offered a bribe in exchange for his voluntary resignation
• the spring 2006 elections were conducted in an irregular manner - the Elections Committee was established by executive fiat, ballots were not secured, campus representatives were elected by students across all four campuses, etc.

The petitioners requested that a new election be held under the supervision of "the Chief Returning Officer of the Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia," trusting the AMS to be an "independent third party."

The final settlement [PDF] does not mention the AMS, but it nonetheless satisfies most of the requests of the petitioners. The September 2005 Special General Meeting was ruled invalid, a caretaker executive was established (including two of the petitioners), and new elections will be held on October 17-19, 2006.

For more information see Steve Lee's webpage and blog.

Kwantlen University College Elections

Ah, the Kwantlen Student Association, the only students' union where the RCMP stops by to investigate three times in a single year!

Steve Lee, a Kwantlen student, has compiled a number of documents relating to the 2006 KSA elections. These include complaints filed from the three main slates in this election: Reduce All Fees ("RAF"), Student Movement Party ("SMP"), and Common Sense Initiative ("CSI"). The election results were simple: RAF swept all the positions that it contested, including all nine members of the Board of Directors.

But all is not as it seems. Steve Lee has submitted reports to the Elections Committee alleging that the provisions in the KSA Bylaws relating to notice were not complied with, and that he was improperly denied the right to run in the elections. Furthermore, the Ombudsperson has released a ruling essentially concurring with Mr. Lee's allegations, and advising the Board of Directors to rule the election invalid. This has not been done.

Douglas Students' Union Elections

The Douglas Students' Union (DSU) has been having problems as of recently. As Dave Fleming-Saraceno reported in The Peak back in 2005, Douglas College decided not to remit student fees to the DSU due to the latter's not having had audits for the past three years. Mr. Fleming-Saraceno stated that the CFS had given $100,000 to the DSU to keep them afloat, notwithstanding their lack of ability to keep track of said money.

Lisa McLeod, Chairperson of CFS-BC responded. She stated that the Federation had given a loan to the DSU, not a gift, and that the DSU had, in fact, completed its audits regularly. Of course, this was not the end of the matter. Jan Gunn responded, "They may not be stealing... But they can't prove they aren't." She showed a copy of a post-audit memorandum from the DSU's auditors, containing many criticisms of the way that the DSU handled its money. Gunn also claims that, in fact, there is no record of the Federation having properly approved any loan to the DSU. Confidential sources tell me that the Federation did, indeed, grant a loan to the DSU, but this loan was not subject to any terms or conditions of repayment - effectively making it more like a gift than a loan, for legal purposes at least.

But good folks in charge of the Douglas Students' Union may soon wish that they had these minor problems. DSU elections are coming up, and there are three slates vigorously competing for the votes of Douglas students. The DSU webmaster seems blissfully unaware of this minor fact, of course, but The Other Press, the Douglas College student newspaper, has dutifully published the official notices of the Students' Union. The last page of the March 22, 2006 issue notes that DSU elections will be taking place Tuesday, March 28 - Monday, April 3. The last page of the March 15, 2006 issue notes which positions would be available, and when campaigning would take place. But no where do we find out *who* these mysterious candidates are.

Fortunately, Steve Lee, a Kwantlen student, has posted a full set of resources on his website relating to the Douglas Students' Union elections. Apparently, one entire slate of candidates in the Douglas elections are actually Kwantlen students who all registered in courses at Douglas for the purposes of getting themselves elected to the DSU. This slate (called "Reduce All Fees" [RAF] at Kwantlen) is currently in power over at the Kwantlen Student Association, and many of the candidates in the DSU election are currently executives or staff over at the KSA. Mr. Lee informs Kwantlen students that "a number of your KSA staff and elected officials seem to have so much time on their hands that they feel they can effectively run multiple student unions at the same time."

What about the other candidates? Sources tell me that the other candidates are part of two different slates, each of which includes incumbent DSU executives. For example, consider the candidates for Treasurer. Jessica Gojevic is the current Treasurer; Heidi Taylor is the current College Relations Coordinator; and Liv Grewal is a former candidate for the Kwantlen Student Association with the RAF Party.

How will the elections turn out? We won't know until a few days from now, when (hopefully!) all the votes will be counted.

An Update

Suffice it to say, much has changed since my last post.

University of Alberta Pembina Hall students were evicted from their residences only a few days after my previous post. Despite a strong student campaign to save the only residence reserved for graduate students, the building was vacated to make way for office space. However, due to delays in renovating the hall, the building sat empty as of January 2006.

Similarly, the University of Alberta Students' Union webboard has been restored - albeit with a "Terms of Use" documents that emphasizes the non-responsibility of the Students' Union for comments posted theirein. A "National Forum" for discussion on student issues nation-wide has been disabled, however.

The 2005 election fiasco at the Kwantlen Student Association had to be resolved by a court case, in which the court's decision gave the election to the "Reduce All Fees" party. But that story requires a whole post by itself.... (And no, they haven't yet restored their webboard.)

The Embassy continues to exist at the University of Waterloo; but as far as I can tell, the Federation of Students haven't reversed their decision to cease recognizing the Embassy Students' Association.

Sheldon Levy is clearly settling into his position as President of Ryerson University.

U of A threatens to evict Pembina Hall residents
Pembina Hall is a graduate student residence at the University of Alberta.
Normally, of course, one could chat about this on the U of A SU Webboard - but "Pursuant to a directive from the Executive Committee of the Students' Union, the Webboard is temporarily closed." No rationale is given for this action. However, rumour has it that the SU Executive Committee has obtained a legal opinion advising them to do so.
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I'm betting that a similar legal opinion has probably not been obtained by the self-proclaimed new Council of the Kwantlen Student Association, which recently shut down their webboard immediately after evicting the old Council and changing the locks. The old Council, which considers itself still in power as the report of the Chief Returning Officer reports that most of the new Council were disqualified for various electoral infractions, recently held a meeting in the KSA Lounge. Legal actions are proceeding quickly, and a court date has been set for this Thursday.
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In other news, the Embassey Students' Association, a religious club at the University of Waterloo, was dissolved (or more accurately, no longer recognized or funded) by the UW Federation of Students. Although relations between both organizations have been frosty in recent times, the dissolution took place due to the Association's incurring debt.
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Sheldon Levy will be the new President of Ryerson University, according to the Ryersonian. Levy is the outgoing Vice-President, Finance at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
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The Concordian