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The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) is the largest student organization in Canada. Founded in 1981, the CFS has a mandate to work for high quality, accessible post-secondary education at the federal level and provincial levels. It has a membership of over 500,000 full-time and part-time students from eighty college and university students' unions across the country.
History
The Federation was formed in the early 1980s from two organizations NUS and AOSC in an effort to create a united student movement in Canada that was both national and provincial and that provided political representation and student-oriented services.
Several student governments left the CFS in the early 1990s expressing displeasure over the organization's political stances, particularly its opposition to the Gulf War, and its involvement in other issues, which some argued were outside the purview of student politics. As well, several of the student governments who left argued that the CFS's advocacy of "zero tuition" was unrealistic, and its emphasis on organizing political demonstrations rather than lobbying governments was detrimental.
Some of the students' unions have since rejoined the CFS, resulting in an increase of membership by 100,000 students. Returning members included the undergraduate student unions at Carleton University and the University of Windsor, and the graduate students at Queen's University. In 2002, the University of Toronto Students Administrative Council, Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students and Scarborough Campus Students Union joined the organization. At the November 2005 Annual General Meeting of the Federation, the results of the positive-result referendums at both University of Manitoba Students' Union and the University of Saskatchewan Students' Union were ratified. In 2005, students at the Edmundston Campus of Universite de Moncton, Thompson Rivers University, part-time students at Laurentian University, graduate students at the University of New Brunswick and more also became prospective members.
In the past ten years, the CFS has organized a series of actions to complement its lobbying of provincial and federal governments. In 1995, over 100,000 students came out to oppose the Liberal federal government's plan to introduce "Income Contingent Loan Repayment" Schemes. In Ontario, the CFS organized a series of demonstrations to protest the former Progressive Conservative government's deregulation of tuition fees and reduction of provincial funding. In British Columbia, it played an active role in convincing the former NDP government to introduce tuition fee freezes and reductions. They have been accused of being too close to the Glen Clark government in BC, and harassment of any union that tries to leave CFS.
Services
The Canadian Federation of Students-Services (CFS-Services) was founded in the early 1980s as the successor organization to the Association of Students' Councils Canada (AOSC). CFS-Services is a legally separate entity, responsible for the numerous services it offers.CFS-Services focus on providing cost-saving services to students and students' unions. One of the main operations of CFS-Services is Travel CUTS (Canadian University Travel Service), through which the CFS offers students and others discounted flights, and issues the International Student Identity Card, which members receive for free. Other services include the Student Work Abroad Program The Studentsaver Discount Card for members, and operates the non-porfit National Student Health Network, among other services.
StudentSaver Discount Card
The Studentsaver Card is Canada's only student owned and operated national student discount program, with over 2,500 discounts across Canada ranging from 10% to 50% off purchased goods and services. Unlike the ISIC, the Studentsaver Card is available to part-time students.
Dayplanner Service
CFS-Services has operated its handbook service since 2001-2002, the service was created by the Canadian Federation of Students-BC in the late 1990s. The service's goal is to leverage the large volume of books produced to reduce the cost of students' union handbooks/agendas while at the same time improving the overall design and features available in the books. Some of the available features are:
- full-colour books
- tear-off corners in the calendar section
- a dye-cut sticker page, containing stickers to mark important dates and events, and different sections of the book.
In addition to the various features available, all books are produced using vegetable based inks, 100% recycled paper, and union labour.
National Student Health Network
In 1985, CFS-Services member unions created the National Student Health Network (NSHN), a extended health and dental benefits buying consortium. Through the NSHN, member unions utilize the economies of scale to reduce the administrative and brokerage fees paid as part of student health plans. In addition to cost savings realized by NSHN members, the NSHN has pushed insurance providers and brokers to implement a number of innovations in the market place such as: pay-direct cards (for prescriptions and dental benefits, paramedical services, and medical supplies), recognition of same-sex partner benefits, electronic opt-outs, and one-time opt-outs. The NSHN, in association with a licensed insurance broker, provides a non-obligation, value for dollar audit of health and dental plans. This service allows student union representatives to understand where the money their members are paying goes, and whether the levels are within the industry norm.
Student Work Abroad Program (SWAP)
Established in 1975 with a small work exchange in New Zealand, SWAP is Canada's largest international exchange program and is owned and operated by the CFS-Services . SWAP offers programs in twelve countries and regions including: Australia, Austria, Britain, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand, and the United States. In addition, SWAP offers a volunteer abroad program in South Africa. SWAP participants pay a registration fee, and receive all necessary working papers, accommodation upon arrival, and other services. CFS-Services members receive 15% off of the registration fees.
Travel CUTS
Travel CUTS is the largest travel agency in the world fully owned and operated by students and the largest domestically owned travel agency. Founded over 35 years ago, Canadian Universities Travel Service (Travel C.U.T.S.), has operation across Canada and the United States of America. Travel CUTS offers unique student focused products such as the Student Work Abroad Program, International Student Identity Card, student-oriented tour packages, and discount travel and accommodation options for students. Travel CUTS is majority owned and operated by CFS-Services and provides travel services to over 300,000 students annually.
Current Campaigns
Tuition Fees
Since its founding, the Canadian Federation of Students has been a vocal opponent of tuition fees, making tuition fee reductions one of its primary campaign undertakings. The CFS asserts that financial barriers are a barrier to equal access to post-secondary education.
Student Financial Assistance
The CFS believes that students should receive student financial assistance in the form of non-repayable bursaries rather than loans. To achieve this goal, the members of the CFS consistently adopt the œôòüGrants NOT Loansœôòý campaign as part of the annual campaigns strategy of the CFS. The CFS declared partial victory in 1998 when the Chretien Liberal government introduced the $2.5 billion Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. However, soon after its implementation, the CFS became critical of the operation of the Foundation, citing concerns about accountability and effectiveness. Eventually, CFS members voted to oppose the Foundation and call for its replacement with a true national system of need-based grants. The CFS' work paid off in 2008 when the federal government announced plans to replace the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation with the Canada Student Grant Program.
Sustainability
At the CFS May 2007 national general meeting, its members adopted a campaign to fight climate change and promote environmental sustainability. The campaign involves encouraging people to make choices to reduce emissions, reduce waste, and reduce the commodification of public water systems. The CFS has entered a partnership with the Sierra Youth Coalition and the Polaris Institute to broaden it's reach. On March 3, the CFS launched a cross-Canada speaker tour called the œôòüGenerations Tourœôòý that aims to raise awareness about sustainability. Dr. David Suzuki and other renown environmentalists will speak at more than thirty campuses.
Copyright
The CFS is currently undertaking a campaign to win copyright legislation that balances the rights of users and creators in response to the federal government's intention to amend the Copyright Act. The goals of the campaign are:
- Clarify the inclusive nature of fair dealing.
- Strong limits on digital rights management and technological protection mechanisms.
- Implementation of a Notice and Notice regime.
- Elimination of statutory damages for good faith fair dealing.
- Protection of statutory rights.
- No extensions to length of copyright terms.
- Elimination of crown copyright.
- No new sector specific exceptions.
The CFS is part of a coalition of concerned organizations called the Copyright Forum.
Opposition to ICR
The Canadian Federation of Students has been a steadfast opponent to the implementation of income contingent student loan repayment. It says that the scheme was devised by conservative economist Milton Friedman as a strategy for achieving full cost-recovery tuition fees from the œôòüusersœôòý of post-secondary education. The CFS successfully mobilized in 1995 to force the Liberal government to abandon plans to implement ICR as part of its œôòüsocial program reviewœôòý led by Lloyd Axworthy. In 2006, the CFS successfully lobbied the Conservative Party of Canada to make an election promise to not implement ICR if elected.
Graduate students
Graduate students' unions within the CFS meet together as the National Graduate Caucus (NGC). Most graduate students in Canada are members of the NGC. Current campaigns of the NGC include: Anti-Commercialization: The NGC campaigns to oppose commercialization of university research because it argues that pressures from industry partners can threaten academic freedom and the public interest. They point to cases like Nancy Olivieri and David Healy as examples of commercialization run amok. In 2006, the NGC began working with a former graduate student from the University of Toronto to support his battle with the University of Toronto and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) over research conducted with ERCO Worldwide. The former student alleges that a drinking water experiment in Wiarton, Ontario was not accurately reported in scholarly journals, posing a serious health risk to Canadians. The NGC is supporting a judicial review of NSERC's decision not to press for an investigation at the University of Toronto. Post-residency fees: The NGC has an active campaign to reduce fees charged to graduate students after their residency period. NGC member students' unions urge graduate students to sign œôòüpledgesœôòý that they will not make alumni donations until their university reduces post-residency fees.
Aboriginal Students
The Canadian Federation of Students' organizational structure includes a caucus for Aboriginal students. The Caucus meets to discuss issues of importance to Aboriginal students and runs campaigns, such as œôòüWhere's the Justice?œôòý, to improve access to post-secondary education.
Student Loan Bankruptcy Law
After the federal government changed the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in 1998 to outlaw the declaration of bankruptcy involving student loans for ten years until after graduation, the Canadian Federation of Students responded with a campaign to repeal the change. In addition to lobbying government and opposition Members of Parliament, the CFS launched a legal challenge to the prohibition under section 21 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, alleging that the student loan bankruptcy prohibition was analogous to discrimination and unconstitutional. The case was heard in the Ontario superior court by Judge Gordon Sedgewick, who eventually ruled that it was not analogous to discrimination and refused to strike down the law. In late 2005, the CFS successfully convinced the Paul Martin Liberal government to reduce the prohibition from 10 to 7 years. A federal election and change in government delayed the full implementation of the bill until early 2008. The CFS continues to lobby for no prohibition on student loan bankruptcy, arguing that students deserve equal treatment in the law and that the existing bankruptcy proceedings can determine who needs legitimate access to bankruptcy.
No Means No
In the mid-1990s, CFS members resolved to adopt the York Federation of Students' œôòüNO means NOœôòý anti-date rape campaign. The campaign has enjoyed widespread recognition, and has even been supported by the provincial government in British Columbia. In 2007, it was revealed that clothing company Bluenotes was spoofing the anti-date rape campaign with shirts that suggested that œôòünoœôòý means œôòühave another drinkœôòý. The CFS immediately won a public apology from Bluenotes and subsequently partnered with Bluenotes to sell NO means NO t-shirts from Bluenotes stores and all profits go to furthering the work of the NO means NO campaign.
Campaign Tactics
The CFS employs what it calls the œôòüthree-pronged approachœôòý to achieving its goals:
- Research (reports, popular education materials)
- Lobbying (meeting with elected officials and civil servants)
- Mobilization (petition drives, rallies, letter-writing)
Website Service
In November 2005, CFS-Services launched its students' union website service. The service provides participating students' unions with customizable website templates and access to a user friendly content management system to maintain their sites. In addition, the service provides: email hosting, domain registration, additional domain registration at cost (CFS-Services is a domain reseller), and full data backup of email, website and FTP content.
Current Issues
In 2002, three students' unions at the University of Toronto voted to join the Federation. The University of Toronto Students' Administrative Council and the Scarborough Campus Students' Union represent over 48,000 students and had never been part of a national students' union before. The Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students had previously left the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance.
In 2003, the graduate students at Memorial University of Newfoundland voted to join the Federation, making Newfoundland and Labrador the only province where all public college and university students' are members of the CFS. Newfoundland and Labrador has the second-lowest average undergraduate tuition fees in Canada. Tuition fees were reduced by 25% in the 1990s and have been frozen ever since. The current Progressive Conservative government has pledged to keep the freeze in place until the end of their mandate in 2008.
The Ryerson Students' Union considered holding a referendum to leave the CFS. A motion was served to the council of the students' union in summer 2004 by former President Dave MacLean, despite his election promises to work with the CFS. It narrowly passed by one vote, without any representatives of the Federation being allowed to be present. The RSU never served notice to hold a referendum, and the decision of council was overturned at the union's Semi-Annual General Meeting in autumn 2004. The vote to overturn was carried 122 in favour to 22 opposed.
During the winter term of 2005 The Lakehead University Student Union also considered hold a referendum to leave the CFS. A motion by then Vice President Student Issues Alex Stuart was given to the Board of Directors of the Student Union. A letter of the Unions intention to leave was also handed to the CFS. But with the change of the executive and pressure from the CFS Lakehead University Student Union never held the vote on whether to stay or leave.
In 2004-05, CFS-Ontario led a lobbying campaign designed to convinced the provincial commission on higher education, chaired by former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae, to recommend a complete tuition fee freeze. The Rae commission did not take CFS's advice.
In 2005, CFS-British Columbia, the Langara Students' Union and the Corus Entertainment owned radio station C-FOX led a "non-partisan" campaign registering young voters in BC called Rock the Vote BC, based on campaign drives used by the Republican and Democratic parties in the 2004 US Election to register young voters. Elections BC did not endorse the initiative because of concerns of partisanship.
In 2006 CFS-Services recently settled with three student societies (including the Alma Mater Society of UBC and the University Students' Council at the University of Western Ontario) for an amount of under 3 million dollars including over $250,000 of legal fees. The case that has been undergoing since the mid nineties alleged that the CFS and/or CFS-Services innapropriately transferred Travel Cuts from a former student organisation.
In 2007, CFS lost a court case pertaining to a membership referendum at the University of Saskatchewan Students' Union. The courts ruled the referendum to be of no force or effect. The CFS website continues to list the USSU as Local 17, the actual membership status of the USSU is unclear.
Controversy
A 1998 article in the Simon Fraser University student newspaper The Peak accused CFS of being corrupt, bloated, Ontario-centred, and a form of clique, with their people getting jobs in the NDP or Liberal governments.
However, both the Liberals and (Progressive) Conservative governments have enacted legislation in response to lobbying on behalf of the CFS.
The Simon Fraser University student newspaper The Peak has held a consistent editorial line against the CFS. The editorial pages regularly contain articles denouncing the CFS as containing corrupt staff, organizational bloat, Ontario-centric, closed to outsiders, and whose leadership end-up in NDP or Liberal governments.
Global Television in British Columbia recently run stories alleging corruption within the Douglas Student Union (a member union of the CFS). The report was to do with an $500,000 payment to the student union's health insurance provider by the Canadian Federation of Students - British Columbia. The report tries to link the actions of the CFS-BC with CFS' national office and staff.
The Ryerson University student newspaper The Eyeopener has published editorials accusing the CFS of being overly litigious. It recently alleges that the CFS suppresses criticism of bloggers through cease and desist letters.
2008
Several student groups have been attempting to hold referendums to leave the CFS on the basis that it is not accountable to students, is not effective, and has mismanaged student funds . Further controversies have been raised on the CFS's "war plan" to convince students to remain in the CFS using student funds to do so.
References
- Scott Newman, The (CFS)-Files, The Peak, Simon Fraser University's Student Newspaper, retrieved 2007-10-06
- Statistics Canada (September 1, 2005). "University tuition fees". Retrieved 2007-11-12.
- Megan Stewart, Political, not partisan, says Rock the Vote, Martlett — University of Victoria's independent newspaper, retrieved 2007-10-06
- Macleans.ca staff (August 28, 2007), Canadian Federation of Students loses appeal and U of S membership — Precedent-setting decision may affect McGill's upcoming membership referendum, macleans.ca
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Scott Newman, The (CFS)-Files, The Peak, Simon Fraser University's Student Newspaper, retrieved 2007-10-06
- [http://
- Scott Newman, The (CFS)-Files, The Peak, Simon Fraser University's Student Newspaper, retrieved 2007-10-06
- David Fleming-Saraceno (November 14, 2005), Check yer six: Manna from heaven for Douglas students, vol. 121, e.Peak — The Peak: Simon Fraser University's Independent Student Newspaper, retrieved 2007-10-05
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - CFS Corruption 3 (video), dailymotion.org, retrieved 2007-10-06
- Previous blog entry removed, studentunion.ca, February 5, 2007, retrieved 2007-10-06
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - http://www.cfstruth.ca/reasons.html
- http://www.cfstruth.ca/documents/2008_02_04_ksa_media_release.pdf
External links
- National Site
- Alliance vs Federation The Manitoban student newspaper examines the pros and cons of CASA and the CFS.
- Constitution, Bylaws, and Policies of the CFS (official)
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