Across the country, 13 student groups are petitioning for referendums on membership in the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). Currently, leaving the CFS requires jumping through multiple hoops. The federation has even sued several student groups who have tried. As if this is not concerning enough, Carleton’s Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) will be introducing a motion to the CFS to restrict students’ ability to hold referendums on their continued membership in the federation.
Students in any member union currently need signatures from 10 per cent of the student group to hold a referendum on the issue. The GSA has proposed increasing this minimum to 20 per cent. The GSA also wants to increase the length of time between referendums from three years to five and cap the number of referendums that can take place in a given year across the country.
The GSA is doing students a huge disservice with these proposals.
Sure, there’s reason to worry about the amount of time and resources the CFS spends encouraging students to remain members each time a referendum campaign is launched, as it means the federation is left with a diminished capacity to fight for student issues. But what the GSA is proposing is a disproportionate reaction to the problem at hand; these concerns do not justify depriving students of their right to vote. It is uncommon for so many student groups to simultaneously reconsider their membership in the CFS. And whenever petitions do bring about referendums, it doesn’t mean the student body will decide to leave the CFS. It simply represents the fact that a significant number of students want to revisit the issue.
If students are made to wait five years between holding referendums, some will go through their entire time at university without having a chance to vote on this matter.
Any democratic body is subject to the wishes of the electorate and the CFS should be no different. Student governments should ensure their students have a voice and the GSA should not be working against that mandate.