BC-CFS chair downplays leaked campaign document

David Karp, CUP Western Bureau Chief

Web exclusive

VICTORIA (CUP) — Two days after a B.C. Canadian Federation of Students (CFS-BC) campaign document was accidentally sent to a mass email list, the organization’s chairperson downplayed its importance.

“They misrepresent the document as a CFS document. The fact is that it had nothing to do with the CFS,” said CFS-BC chairperson Shamus Reid. “It came over CFS-BC executive listserve, but was simply a draft document prepared by one individual in the office. It was her brainstorming about the campaign, but it wasn’t a document that anyone had viewed and signed off on, and it’s not reflective of what will actually be the strategy going into March.”

The document, which listed names of available campaigners, their relationship with the CFS and even outlined hiring options at some students’ unions, was prepared by CFS-BC organizer Summer McFadyen.

The document was widely circulated to members of the media on Feb. 4 by Kwantlen Student Association policy analyst Titus Gregory. It appears to be a campaign strategy for an upcoming referendum at Simon Fraser University which will decide whether that student society will remain members of the Canadian Federation of Students.

Students at Kwantlen University College, in the Lower Mainland, and graduate students at the University of Victoria are also holding referendums over CFS membership in March.

Reid said his organization is preparing for the referendum to try and convince students to remain members, but not using the leaked document.

“Don’t you think that our members would feel that we’re in dereliction of responsibility if we didn’t have a plan?” Reid said.

He added that the Simon Fraser Student Society is already campaigning to leave the CFS, despite the official campaign period not commencing until March.

The leaked campaign document contains notebooks titled “Volunteers,” “BC Volunteers,” “ON Volunteers” and “Outside ON,” with lists of names. The lists include a columns titled “Level” where many students receive a grade ranging from A+ to C-.

While CFS national chairperson Amanda Aziz said that, from past experience, a number of people from other students’ unions will likely express an interest in being part of the campaign, she said that conversations about how they might take part have not begun.

She would not speculate on if any flights to B.C. would be subsidized in any way.

“It doesn’t say anywhere in the document what those letters reflect,” Reid said. “I think they reflect what Summer perceived to be people’s availabilities for possibly campaigning.”

The spreadsheet contains cells for each weekday during the campaign period, which are highlighted for some people. Another cell contains specific notes about availability. Ryerson University’s Emily Shelton, for example, has “2 weeks” listed in the notes column, and has cells corresponding to the last two weeks of campaigning highlighted in the calendar.

But Reid insisted that no one has been contacted about campaigning.

“I don’t think that any of these people have been contacted yet and no decisions have been made about people’s involvement,” he said.

The list includes NDP staffers and former electoral officers from student elections.

“From my understanding, what Summer did was brainstorm every single person that she’s had a history of working with in various activist causes over the last decade or so,” Reid said.

“She just threw down every single name and made some notes about every single name that she could possibly think of.”

The plan lists “Arrange for other flights and flight authorisations” with a deadline of Feb. 11 to be handled by CFS-BC national executive representative Dustin Grof and CFS national director of organizing Lucy Watson.

Reid also refused to speculate on whether or not the CFS-BC would fly campaigners out to B.C.

“I can’t say. We haven’t had the discussion yet,” Reid said. “We’ll have to decide what is the best means of implementing this campaign.”

The CFS-BC budget for “Referenda/Membership Drives” is set at $10,000 for the 2007-08 fiscal year.

Reid said the CFS-BC is re-evaluating its e-mail practices after the leak.

“We ensured that people were contacted right away about not circulating personal information,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s clear that some people have and we’ve put controls in place to ensure that only official documents of CFS-BC go over the listserve.”

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