The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) had its 37th National General Meeting (NGM) from Nov. 16-19. The Charlatan breaks down what you need to know.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions motion passes
Rawan Habib, president of York Federation of Students, put forward a motion that the CFS endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
BDS is a Palestinian-led movement that encourages economic pressure on Israel to comply with international human rights laws, according to the BDS movement website.
Habib, who is also an ethnically Palestinian student, also asked that the CFS support Palestine solidarity-organizing on a national level. The motion was passed despite being met with criticism.
Jakob Sanderson, president of the University of Manitoba Students’ Union, spoke against the motion calling it divisive.
“While there are a large array of opinions about BDS on our campus . . . I just think that it’s not the appropriate direction for the federation to be involving themselves in this issue,” he told the Charlatan.
He said he spoke to people who are both Jewish and non-Jewish on his campus and found that there’s concern around this campaign.
Habib said at the closing plenary that “reducing the genocide of the Palestinian people to a faith conflict is entirely unfair to the entire Palestinian community and to the injustices they’ve been facing for over 70 years now.”
Munib Sajjad, executive director of the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union, sought to amend it to include that the CFS put out a statement condemning the current “atrocities” in Gaza and that the CFS reaffirm its commitment to anti-war efforts. This amendment to the motion also passed.
The Carleton University Students’ Association was present at the NGM but would not comment on motions.
Downsizing the spring meeting
The CFS national executives put forward a motion to amend the bylaws to make the semi-annual meeting in Spring 2019 a smaller meeting to offset expenses and avoid running on a deficit.
National executives wanted to make the spring meeting a two-day event with a limit of one delegate per local. The budget committee also proposed that $83,000 for that meeting instead of a proposed budget of $250,000.
Despite CFS representations saying the organization is in a “tough financial situation,” several motions to limit the number of delegates a local can send—three, five, or 10 delegates maximum—were defeated.
Shanice Steele, a delegate from Trent Central Student Association argued against limiting the number for delegates. She added that limiting the number of delegates will also limit the number of Indigenous students coming to CFS general meetings, which is already low.
Steele said the way Indigenous students have been able to attend meetings is through alternative funding methods such as band funding and funding from different departments within the school.
“This will continue to limit Indigenous voices in this space,” she said.
After several delegates spoke in favour and against limiting the number of delegates and budgeting $83,000 for the spring meeting, they voted against both motions. There will be no limit on the number of delegates and the CFS instead will still spend approximately $250,000 on the meeting.
Divest Now campaign
Students at University of Guelph (U of G) and Dalhousie University have been advocating for their schools to divest from fossil fuel companies.
Universities invest part of student tuitions into companies to generate revenue for the school.
However, Dalhousie University put forward a motion that CFS have a Divest Now campaign which passed at the NGM.
Fossil Free Guelph, a group of students at the U of G, have been lobbying their administration to divest from these companies.
The U of G’s Board of Governors are expected to vote on the decision to divest in the new year.
Dalhousie, on the other hand, had some success.
In February, the Board voted in favour of a motion which tasks the Investment Committee to assess a third-party search for fossil-free investment funds for Dalhousie and to report back through the Finance, Audit, Investment and Risk Committee.
This process is to be concluded by March 2019.
Anti-Islamophobia and anti-Semitism
In light of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh which claimed the lives of 11 people, an emergency motion was passed to expand the United for Equity campaign to include anti-Semitism.
The United for Equity campaign aims to challenge all forms of discrimination, according to the CFS’s website.
The motion was put forward by the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU).
Joshua Grondin, UTSU vice-president (university affairs), said the events in Pittsburgh scared him, considering his best friend is Jewish.
“His family came to Canada because they thought they had a safe place to be, and an action against someone somewhere is an action against someone everywhere,” he told the room.
Grondin said the solidarity shown by students from “all walks of life” at a U of T vigil after the shooting meant a lot to him.
He said often anti-Semitism is a thing of the past but the Pittsburgh shooting shows that “it’s right on our doorsteps.”
Delegates also voted in favour of striking an anti-Islamophobia working group to revamp the No Islamophobia campaign, a motion put forward by the York Federation of Students.
Emergency motions
Several emergency motions were also passed at the NGM including the motion against anti-Semitism.
The CBC recently reported that at least 60 Indigenous women in Saskatchewan are pursuing a class-action lawsuit against various physicians and the provincial and federal governments due to experiencing forced sterilization.
The Circle of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Students put forward a motion asking the CFS to write a letter condemning this and to support the spiritual and legal action being taken. The federation voted in favour.
Another emergency motion that passed was one put forth by the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association that the CFS officially condemn the use of solitary confinement in Canada and urge the government adhere to UN standards of solitary confinement of maximum of 15 days.
Ryerson’s Black Liberation Collective also put forward an emergency motion, asking the CFS to support grassroots student groups, even those whose unions are not members of the federation.
The group asked for financial and other resources that would help Black students facilitate anti-oppression training, media training, and learning organizational tactics.
They also requested that an emergency fund be created for student unions, student groups and organizers for unforeseen issues such as needing legal representation.
This request was put forward by members of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa and echoed by Leila Moumouni-Tchouassi, the racialized students’ representative for the CFS.
The motion was ultimately pushed to the national executive and the next CFS general meeting is in Spring 2019.
— With files from Izabella Belcerzak of the Eyeopener
Photo by Haneen Al Hassoun
