Ten student unions, including the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), have signed a letter to the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), criticizing the organization.
The letter seeks to improve the CFS by making the organization “more transparent, effective, accountable,” and focused on students. These criticisms are valid and the CFS should take note of them.
One of the criticisms in the letter is that CFS staff often have a “dominant” voice over students when it comes to student issues. Collaboration between many student unions across campus and the CFS has been dwindling.
In 2014, the federation’s Ontario branch passed a motion supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel. This is an example of the CFS taking a one-sided approach on a highly-contentious issue—one that students across the province do not unanimously agree upon. If the CFS truly wants to represent students, they should listen to all student unions across the board, rather than represent the interests of few.
The letter also criticized the organization for an “extreme difficulty of accessing information, including bylaws, policies, and especially financial information.” This is a significant point—if students across Canada are paying the CFS on a yearly basis, with Carleton students paying around $16 a year, the federation’s financial information should be readily available, preferably on an easily-accessible platform, like their website.
The CFS needs significant reform in the areas of financial transparency and collaboration with student unions across Canada, and these issues should be heavily addressed in their next annual general meeting in November.
