Week after week, we have tried – sometimes successfully; other times, not so much – to write about the ongoing issue about the University of Guelph’s membership in the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) in a manner that is easy for students to understand. Unless you’re already deeply invested in the issue, legal issues surrounding student politics can be dull, convoluted and long-winded.

We’ve tried graphics, surveys, charts and the creation of a ‘dummy’s guide’ to the issue, and now, more than ever, your attention is required.

Because despite all of the back-and-forth banter, legal jargon, accusations and findings, the final decision now rests with you, the student.

Requiring the intervention of the Ontario court system, petitioners fighting against Guelph’s membership in the country’s largest student lobby group have, at long last, achieved their goal of presenting an official referendum to the student body, reevaluating the university’s membership in the CFS.

By now, you hopefully have an idea about what the CFS attempts to do, and if not, have a look at the stay/go chart that accompanies this feature. By and large, the CFS stresses its ability to lobby national and provincial governments, to protect the rights of students, particularly concerning issues such as tuition costs.

Its critics argue that for the semesterly fees in excess of$220,000 paid by U of G students to the organization’s provincial and national factions, the CFS needs to be more effective in making good on its platforms. The fact that the CFS has failed to establish a local presence, often refused to comment, and marginalized the democratic process has only fueled the fires within its detractors.

The Ontarion has refrained from explicitly taking sides in the debate. We have spent countless hours communicating with both CFS advocates and condemners in an attempt to provide objective content on the debate, because let’s face it, if you’re only going straight to the CFS or its critics for your information, the facts will be clouded by subjectivity. This is not a shot against either side, just a statement of the obvious; they have an agenda, we don’t.

At this time next week, the referendum will be in full swing. Each student will have been sent, via email, their individual ballot, which will ask their opinion as to whether our membership in the CFS should continue. The facts have been laid out, the arguments have been made. This is participatory democracy to the fullest extend.

Students, it’s your move.

YES

Dave Molenhuis, CFS National Treasurer

1. The Federation is the only student organization that represents students at both the provincial and national levels. Since tuition fees, financial aid programs, and funding levels are set directly or indirectly by the federal and provincial governments, it is vital that our interests and concerns are represented to both levels.

 2. The Federation is the only student organization in Ontario advocating for lower tuition fees and lower student debt. Students can only win this if they work together. In Newfoundland, where every college and university student is a member of the Federation, the provincial government has reduced tuition, introduced student grants and increased funding for post-secondary education.

 3. While the International Student Identity Card (ISIC) is free for members of the Federation, non-member full-time students pay $20. The ISIC is the only internationally recognized form of student identification.

 4. The Federation is a proud ally of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Council of Canadians, Ontario Federation of Labour, Make Poverty History, Canadian Labour Congress, the International Union of Students, the National Union of Students-UK and United States Student Association.

 5. The Federation’s ethical purchasing program is the only national, not-for-profit cooperative that offers t-shirts, water bottles and other items that are ethically purchased, sustainable and affordable.

 6. The Federation’s Bottled Water Free campaign has resulted in four Canadian campuses phasing out the sale of Bottled Water entirely, with more on the way.

 7. Federation campaigns such as No Means No (campaign against date rape) and the December 6th Day of Remembrance and Action against violence against women, are highly respected by women’s and social justice organizations nation-wide. The Federation played a supporting role in Guelph’s fight against program cuts, such as Women’s Studies, and linked Guelph students with other students in Ontario who were facing similar cuts.

8. Through the National Aboriginal Caucus of the Canadian Federation of Students, students across Canada work together to fight for Aboriginal students’ rights, and coordinates the Stolen Sisters campaign calling for a federal investigation into the over 500 missing or murdered Aboriginal women in Canada.

9. The Federation is the only student organization that has been a vocal advocate for fair copyright reform since the federal government started to work to reform copyright legislation. In coalition with the Canadian Association of University Teachers and Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, the Federation has been at the forefront of fighting for fair copyright so that students can access copyrighted materials free from licensing fees.

10. Over the past year, the Federation and its international coalition partners fought Russell Athletic for the reinstatement of 1,200 unionized workers in Honduras, the most successful targeted-corporate boycott in modern student activist history.

NO

Curtis Batuszkin & John Sakuluk, U of G student organizers.

1)      The CFS and CFS-O claim to have lobbied to lower tuition fees ever since we joined them in 1987.  However, Statistics Canada has reported that tuition has increased more than 300% since 1990. 

2)      We have paid $853,588 to the CFS and CFS-O since 05/06.  That is near equal to the approximate increase in undergraduate student tuition fees we see at this university each year. 

3)      The CFS regularly litigates in referendum attempts.  Simon Fraser, Kwantlen, UPEI, UVIC, Cape Breton, Concordia Student Union, and McGill PGSS are all involved in ongoing legal disputes with the CFS.   Our own CSA spent ~$70,000 litigating for the right to hold this referendum.  The CFS and CFS-O did not support this referendum, so why are they here campaigning in a referendum they didn’t even support? 

4)      The CFS is unknown at Guelph. When was the last time you heard about this organization before this week?  Why are you paying ~$225,000/year to the CFS and CFS-O?

5)      The CFS has been caught sending threatening legal letters to student journalists.    Macleans magazine compares the CFS to “coal companies and criminal organizations.” 

6)      There have been multiple claims at other institutions about gross financial mismanagement from the CFS. Secret loans include $350,000 at the UVSS $600,000 to the Douglas Students’ Union, $150,000 missing from CFS-Quebec  and $300,000  of cheques written in 2008-2009.  As well representatives claim $413,000 of CFS-Quebec fees have completely vanished in the last three years alone. These claims of financial mismanagement total almost 8 years of OUR membership dues.

7)      The CFS overwhelmingly voted to tighten the restrictions on referendums instead of listening to modest reforms in the Fall of 09 that included a conflict of interest policy, disclosure of legal costs and salaries of our paid executives, and recognition of legitimate referendums that have occurred in other schools.

8)      The CFS opposed the Millenium Scholarship foundation.  This scholarship provides, on average, $3000/year to qualified students.  Statistics Canada has reported that the only thing that brought more students to universities in the 1990s, during a time of double digit tuition increases, were the increased scholarships and grants available to students during this time. 

9)      Who is behind the VOTE YES campaign?  One Guelph student leader.  The rest of the army of clipboards are not even Guelph students! The next time a CFS campaigner comes to speak to any of you ASK TO SEE THEIR STUDENT CARD.

10)  The CFS always claims that they are a “united student movement.”  13 student unions petitioned to leave this year, 9 referendums are occurring across this country, and 3 more referendums occurred the year before. This is the real united student movement.

As part of the campaigning for and against University of Guelph membership in the CFS, several students have created Facebook groups, outlining their arguments. Individuals are free to join these groups to either support the campaign, or simply become more educated about the issues. The following are quotations from both parties, posted on their respective pages or affiliated websites.

Guelph for the Canadian Federation of Students. VoteYESCFS.ca!

“If you believe that Guelph students are stronger when they are united with hundreds of thousands of students across the country, then get involved with the YES campaign to show your support for membership in the Canadian Federation of Students.” – Facebook group home page.

“After learning about the CFS by reading the Ontarion (Only source) I totally agreed with what everyone here is saying. But yesterday I learned that CFS does way more than try to lower tuition fees. It creates a network between all of the post-secondary institutions across Canada and allows for individuals and groups to coordinate movements that are nation wide. We have been able to organize pledges towards sustainability and competitions to remove bottled water from campus. We are addressing aboriginal rights, international student rights, and ethical purchasing. These are all issues that are supported and facilitated by the CFS, and are extremely important to me.” – Paul Wartman, independent researcher.

UoG CFS Free!

 “The CFS has refused to be transparent and provide [certain] information, even though its members are entitled to them under their bylaws and under law. What do they have to hide? One example here: The CFS sues and threatens its own member student unions, individual students, and journalists.” – Curtis Batuszkin, group creator.

“The arguments from the CFS don’t stand. Of course ‘Guelph students are stronger when they are united with hundreds of thousands of students across the country,’ but there are other student lobby groups, composed of schools that have left the CFS, such as OUSA at the provincial level and CASA at the federal level.” – Griffin Carpenter, group member.

“Students from the Vote Yes campaign just came into my classroom to talk about why we should vote yes.It took up 15 minutes of the 50 minute class. Im sorry, but I like that my student fees go towards getting an education…not being lectured by people who don’t got my school.” – Meghan Semple, group member.