In a unanimous decision, the Divisional Court of Ontario ruled that the Student Choice Initiative (SCI) was unlawful.
As first reported by The Varsity, the court ruled in favour of a collective of student organizations–comprised of the York Federation of Students (YFS), the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario (CFS–O), and the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU), in their case against the province’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU).
We took the Government to court & WON!
Today, the Divisional Court released their unanimous decision deeming the SCI unlawful.
From the streets, to the court room, the students united, will never be defeated.#WeTheStudents #onpse #onpoli #cfsfcee pic.twitter.com/eefNBYbJLc
— CFS-Ontario (@CFSON) November 21, 2019
CFS-O held a press conference at 10 a.m. on Friday morning at Queen’s Park.
“It was a great day to celebrate victories for students in Ontario,” said Kayla Weiler, national executive representative for CFS-O, who spoke at the event.
The SCI, announced by Doug Ford’s provincial government in January of this year, allowed students at post-secondary institutions throughout Ontario to opt out of certain ancillary fees which were deemed not essential.
The MTCU is currently reviewing the decision.
“We’re calling on the government just to respect us as organizations and the work that we do,” said Weiler.
The next step for the collective is to meet with the province to discuss the next steps with the SCI, and the province’s cuts to OSAP, said Weiler.
However, this may be easier said than done, as Weiler said CFS-O has not had a meeting with MTCU since around June 2018.
But the panel of judges ruled that the provincial government acted without statutory authority when implementing the SCI, according to an email sent out by CFS-O.
More to come.
Featured image from file.
