The Martlet

Students who organized a petition calling for a referendum on membership in the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) plan to keep fighting, despite being told their petition didn’t meet the organization’s bylaws.

On March 30, petition organizer José Barrios received a letter from CFS National Chairperson Katherine Giroux-Bougard informing him that the petition had not met the quorum required to hold a referendum. According to CFS bylaws, members must provide signatures of 10 per cent the student population to hold a referendum on membership. While the petition Barrios submitted last fall had verified signatures representing 11.4 per cent of the membership of the UVic Students’ Society (UVSS), the letter from the CFS referenced a counter-petition that removed names off the original petition.

“My understanding is pretty limited at this point,” said UVSS Chair Veronica Harrison. “Though it’s my understanding that hundreds of students had signed the petition to remove their names from the other petition, from the petition to have a referendum question, and that made it so José’s petition didn’t meet the required quorum. We do know that approximately 3,000 members at UVic signed a petition to remain in the CFS. They said that they didn’t want to have a referendum questioning the membership. That’s a pretty large statement in itself.”

CFS National Chairperson Katherine Giroux-Bougard confirmed that the original petition did not meet the required 10 per cent because of the second petition.

“There were a number of students that requested their names be removed [from the original petition],” said Giroux-Bougard. “Taking into account both the original petition and the requests it was determined that it didn’t meet the requirement in the bylaws.”

Giroux-Bougard said the verification process used on both petitions was long and thorough, but was very straightforward for the CFS national executive.

“My understanding is we corresponded with the student society to have them facilitate in that verification process,” she said.

However, Barrios argues that the counter-petition doesn’t invalidate the original petition, and that the CFS is legally obligated to provide UVSS members with a referendum.

“We’re looking at all the possibilities,” he said. “Guelph went to court and the judge ruled in favour [of the Guelph Central Students Association (CSA)]. We’re confident that precedent is going to hold in B.C. as well.”

A counter-petition was also circulated at Guelph. However, according to CSA Communications and Corporate Affairs Commissioner Gavin Armstrong, the counter-petition was tossed out by the judge.

“The CSA argued that this counter-petition has no place in the CSA bylaws, nor did it specifically reference the original petition and therefore should not be considered,” wrote Armstrong in an email.

According to Armstrong, the judge told the CSA not to waste their breath because the counter-petition had no legal affect.

Barrios said petition organizers at UVic are already in talks with lawyers.

“We will go to court. We have to — there’s no way around it. Unfortunately the CFS left us no option,” he said.

Others agree.

“This action to deny us a referendum through a so-called counter-petition should be a wake up call as to how the CFS views UVic students,” said current UVSS Director-at-Large Kelsey Hannan, who helped to organize the petition. “When nearly every single CFS referendum across Canada results in a lawsuit, you must ask yourself this question: is it the students that are causing these court cases, or the CFS?”

However, going to court doesn’t come cheap. According to Guelph’s petition organizer Curtis Batuszkin, their legal battle to hold a referendum cost $70,000. Despite the price tag, Batuszkin feels the process was worth it.

“The students had a chance to engage in a legitimate democratic forum that would not have been possible,” he said. “The CFS did not want this referendum to take place.”

Members of the CSA will vote on their CFS membership April 7 to 9.

Hannan, who has been elected UVSS director of finance for the 2010/2011 term, is prepared to pursue a referendum in court, despite the UVSS’ $300,000 deficit.

“We will pursue it through the cheapest means necessary,” said Hannan. “The Guelph decision that the judge brought down paved the road for us in many ways.”

Hannan said that part of the problem with the CFS is how much money it can cost in legal fees to achieve a referendum.

“Why should a student who wants a democratic referendum have to have several thousand dollars in pocket?” he said. “The issue here is that the CFS throws money at referendums when they do occur without any regard for how that affects the fairness of the referendum.”

Hannan hopes to ensure a level playing field if the referendum does occur.

“It’s up to the society to make sure both sides are represented, to make sure students aren’t outspent,” he said.

How the UVSS will deal with the rejection of this petition is still largely up in the air.

“It depends what process it gets to. Right now it’s in the petitioners’ hands,” said Harrison. “I know that right now the decision is that there isn’t going to be a referendum right now. There’s no need for the student society to be involved right now.”

Chairperson elect James Coccola, who takes office May 1, sees a referendum as something the UVSS will pursue.

“If it can be shown that students want to have a referendum then it is our constitutional duty to work to facilitate that,” he said, referencing section 2a of the UVSS constitution, which reads “The purposes of the Students’ Society are to organize students on a democratic, cooperative basis in advancing students’ interests, and advancing the interests of the students’ community.”

However, Coccola says that he hopes to avoid ending up in court.

“It starts with actually talking to the CFS,” he said, adding that Harrison is the only director who’s had any contact with them in this matter. “It starts with figuring out what’s actually going on before we assume what’s going on.”