Written by Daniel Bitonti

It will now be left up to a judge to decide whether University of Guelph students will vote this semester on continued membership in both the national and provincial components of the Canadian Federation of Students, Canada’s largest student body.

On Feb. 16, the Central Students Association (CSA) filed a motion to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice requesting the court make a decision regarding the referendums on Mar. 8. This came after months of confusion regarding the status of University of Guelph petitions requesting referendums, including issues over when the petitions were received by the federation and the validity of student signatures.

Last week the Ontarion reported that CFS-Ontario denied the University of Guelph a referendum on continued membership which was intended to be held at the end of March.

On Feb. 22, less than a week after the CSA filed their motion, counsel for both CFS-National and CFS-Ontario made a motion to a judge that the Mar. 8 date should be adjourned “to a date convenient for all counsel and available for a full day hearing with the Court in April or May 2010,” according to court documents.

The judge ruled that a referendum on continued membership would have to happen in the same year the petition was circulated. A judge decided that both parties would reconvene on Mar. 23 and a decision would be made then.
This, according to the CSA, still leaves enough time for the required two weeks of campaigning prior to a referendum.

“What is happening now, to ensure that the students are allowed to participate in the democratic process questioning continued membership in the CFS, is submitting an affidavit for both CFS-National and CFS-Ontario to recognize the petitions and move forward with a referendum,” said Gavin Armstrong, the CSA’s communication and corporate affairs commissioner.

In early September, student organizers had circulated petitions around campus asking students if they wished to a vote on continued membership in CFS-Ontario. According to CFS-Ontario bylaws, the federation must receive petitions by registered mail, with signatures of 10 per cent of the undergraduate population six months prior to the scheduled referendum date. The Guelph petitions requested a referendum question be asked on Mar. 29, 30 and 31 2010.

CFS-Ontario told the Ontarion last week that the Guelph petitions sent by registered mail were received on Nov. 9, 2009, more than a week after the Sept. 29 deadline. In October, the Ontarion obtained affidavits showing that Guelph petitions had arrived at CFS-Ontario headquarters by the Sept. 29 deadline, but they had been delivered by a process server, not by registered mail. According to CFS-Ontario chairperson, Shelley Melanson, the petitions arriving late was the main reason for not granting Guelph a referendum.

The national petitions had also been plagued with repeated problems. According to national treasurer, Dave Molenhuis, the CFS-National executive had problems verifying the student signatures on the petitions, despite a letter being sent by the University’s registrar that verified that the petitions represented 10 per cent of the undergraduate student body.

CFS-Ontario referred the Ontarion to the public court documents that have already been made available to the public. Under the advice of legal counsel, they would not comment further.

Molenhuis told the Ontarion that the CFS-national executive had tried their best to ensure a fair process by attempting to get the CSA’s help in verifying student signatures.

“Upon reviewing this petition, the national executive had concerns with the process used and so as a first step had requested of the CSA’s assistance in resolving these matters so we had written, we had corresponded with Mr. Armstrong. There were exchanges between myself and him where we had asked for assistance in resolving these matters,” he said. From the outset he had refused to address these questions, refused to assist us in reviewing these petitions.”

If a judge rules that the petitions are valid during the March court date, a referendum will likely be scheduled sometime in the first three weeks of April.

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