The Martlet

“Education Shouldn’t Be a Debt Sentence.” That is one campaign the Canadian Federation of Students B.C. (CFS-BC) launched this past October, targeting the growing debate that the CFS’s lobbying efforts have fallen short.

The debt campaign, which was unanimously adopted by members of CFS-BC at their Annual General Meeting (AGM), contains four demands: the establishment of a student grants program, tuition fee reduction, an increase to core funding and the elimination of interest on B.C. student loans.

“Student debt has really skyrocketed in the last eight years,” said CFS-BC chairperson Shamus Reid, referring back to when the provincial government lifted a freeze on tuition. “We’re looking to see the government committing to some action for the next three years.”

Student members of CFS-BC have been circulating a petition and have letters available at debtsentence.ca that students can send to their MLAs and to Minister of Advanced Education Moira Stilwell. Reid says sending the letters will create pressure on the government to act.

In 2004, CFS-BC gathered 40,000 signatures and the government “did a 180” on their approach to post-secondary education, he said.

“The work we’ve been doing over the past eight years has really built public support,” said Reid.

Reid also says that CFS-BC will bring the four-point plan to local MLAs and to Stilwell.

“Ultimately, we’ll be coordinating (as a federation) meetings with local MLA’s,” said Reid.

The campaign is an example of lobbying efforts by the CFS-BC, who also run the “We Ride” campaign to improve transit.

CFS also lobbies on the national level. During the recent Lobby Day on Parliament Hill (which takes place during the federal government’s budget consultation period), the CFS presented members of Parliament and the Senate with its “Canada’s Education Action Plan,” a tongue-in-cheek play on the federal government’s Economic Action Plan.

According to CFS National Chair Katherine Giroux-Bougard, student representatives from across the country came to Ottawa and met with more than 150 Members of Parliament and the Senate.

The student representatives presented five key recommendations: step in and take leadership in post secondary education, improve research capablities of post-secondary education (such as having Statistics Canada research effective policies in increasing access to education), increase the money going in to the new Canada student grant program, increase funding for Canadian graduate scholarships and increase funding for the program that increases Aboriginal students’ access to education.

“I think the lobby week was actually quite successful and it really highlighted the fact that post-secondary education isn’t an issue of the left or the right,” said Giroux-Bougard. “Members of all parties were very supportive of recommendations put forth by the federation.”

However, the effectiveness of the CFS’ lobbying efforts has been a topic of debate lately. Several campuses across the country are circulating petitions to hold a referendum on CFS membership. Many of the organizers of the petitions have criticized the CFS as being an ineffective lobbying organization.

One criticism has been that the leftist nature of the CFS alienates the organization from the current Liberal provincial government. However, Reid says this is not the case.

“The provincial government largely alienated itself from students when it doubled tuition fees,” he said.

However, he says pressure from CFS-BC caused the government to reinvest in post-secondary education after removing the tuition freeze.

“Governments respond to public pressure,” Reid said.

Reid added the CFS has a well-established, long-term relationship with the government that allows them to arrange meetings with MLAs, despite not being registered as a lobby group in B.C.

Reid refutes the claim that the CFS is ineffective, and adds that the organization’s strength comes from its numbers.

“Essentially, what we are is the framework that student unions have developed to work with on a democratic basis,” he said. “We’re less effective if we’re not united.”