U of S CFS referendum remains void: Appeal court judge

CFS/USSU appeal of referendum to join dismissed

TESSA VANDERHART, STAFF

The University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union violated its own bylaws when it voted to join the Canadian Federation of Students in 2005, and are not current members of the CFS, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled on Aug. 27.

The ruling means that the U of S, despite a long and complicated referendum process, is not a member of CFS.

Eight days before the referendum occurred, the USSU added a bylaw that the CFS referendum oversight committee would oversee the process, on the advice of their lawyer. One councilor further added a clause that the final decision would need to be approved by the USSU’s own election board.

After the election, in which 55.4 per cent of students voted in favour of joining the CFS amid much controversy, the election board declared the election invalid because of infringements of the USSU bylaws. But the USSU Student Council voted to approve the referendum.

The USSU was then denied approval from the University of Saskatchewan Board of Governors to collect approximately $160,000 per year from students’ fees for CFS membership.

In October 2006, Robin Mowat, a campaigner for the “no to CFS” side in the referendum, filed and won a lawsuit against the USSU and CFS to declare the election void.

The CFS and USSU appealed the decision on the basis that Mowat, as an alumnus of the U of S, did not qualify to sue the students’ union, and that the previous decision was misinterpreted. Justice J.A. Richards ruled that Mowat, as 2004-05 USSU president and long-standing student politician, did qualify and the Corporations Act was correctly interpreted.

As of Aug. 28, 2007, according to Maclean’s magazine, CFS listed the U of S as a member on their website.

The University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) left the CFS one month later, in November 2005. The UMSU Council suspended its bylaws dealing with referenda in October 2005, in order to accept the Referendum Oversight Committee bylaws for the election.

Mowat, currently serving with the Canadian Forces overseas, spoke to the Manitoban about the lawsuit in October 2006.

“My goal for the lawsuit was to get someone detached from the politics of the situation to decide if the referendum was fair or not. I was on the ‘not valid’ side and there were a lot of people on the ‘valid’ side, but I knew that if I didn’t go through with it that nothing would have been done about it,” said Mowat at the time. “There were a lot of unanswered questions that I thought needed closure.”

“I feel like the results so far are just a semi-colon to my question and not a period,” Mowat continued.

“I hope that through it all USSU will take the advice of their own elections board and have another referendum. This time let’s just hope that it’s fair and democratic.”

The CFS also declined to comment. But, In the Oct. 19 issue of the University of Toronto student newspaper, the Varsity, CFS national office treasurer David Hare was quoted as arguing that the ruling “has no bearing on CFS membership as defined in the bylaws of the Canadian Federation of Students.”

According to Maclean’s, the decision may have an impact on the Student Society of McGill University’s intention to join the CFS, as their election policy contradicts the bylaws of CFS.