The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) will hold their annual general meeting (AGM) from Nov. 18 to Nov. 21 in Gatineau, Que.
CFS members have proposed several motions to address potential issues with the organization, after a signed open letter by 10 student unions earlier in September raised concerns about how the CFS operates.
The CFS was founded in 1981 at Carleton, and lobbies the provincial and federal governments to support student issues, according to their website, in addition to providing advocacy campaign material for student unions.
CFS holds two general meetings per year—the semi-annual meeting was held earlier in January, and the national meeting takes place this month. Student unions from across the country gather to discuss student issues, amend bylaws, and plan future projects.
In this year’s semi-annual meeting, members voted to make the CFS’ information for events and meetings more accessible through digitization after students raised concerns about the accessibility of information. The federation now posts their motions and meeting minutes online.
At this year’s AGM, concerns with CFS operations will be discussed, including:
Federating and defederating
Prior to 2009, 10 per cent of students would need to vote in favour of defederating in order to leave the CFS. However, 20 per cent of students now need to vote in favour of defederating after the bylaw was changed.
This year’s AGM will decide whether that bylaw changes or remains. A new proposed amendment would require that the vote to federate—or join the CFS—would increase by five per cent, meaning 15 per cent of students would need to vote in favour of federating in order for a student union to join the CFS.
But the main concern is the vote percentage to defederate. The motion is seeking to reduce that requirement by making it 15 per cent of the student vote, rather than the current 20 per cent.
Financial transparency
The open letter signed earlier this year calling for greater transparency prompted a motion to make the budget available online no more than one week after each general meeting.
The motion is set to resolve that all CFS budgets, including the previous year’s projections, be available online for that week, and updated with the most recent year-to-date expenses.
Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) president Fahd Alhattab said making financial information available is one of “the simplest things.”
He said CUSA currently puts financial information on their website, including budgets and audits.
Constructive criticism
The letter sent to CFS in September criticized the “lack of space for dissent and constructive criticism.”
One motion is proposing that members should be permitted to ask questions of CFS representatives for 30 minutes before the meeting.
The motion states annual general meetings should “provide members with an opportunity to interact directly with their elected leaders,” and “the ability to ask questions in a formal, public setting is an important element of accountability.”
Alhattab said when the news about an unaudited bank statement came out, CFS did some shifting around of its staff and did some structural changes. But he said the CFS is trying to create more space for discussion and dissent.
“That’s a huge cultural shift and attitude shift that’s going to have to take place over time,” Alhattab said.
The federation will also vote on things such as supporting marijuana legalization, renaming the National Aboriginal Caucus to the National Indigenous Caucus, and holding a national summit on mental health and physical accessibility barriers to post-secondary education in 2017.
