New evidence in Ontario college students' lawsuit against province

Document alleges colleges not allowed to charge ancillary fees

SARAH MILLAR, CUP ONTARIO BUREAU CHIEF

TORONTO (CUP) —The province of Ontario has been dropped from a $200-million class-action lawsuit launched by two students of that province’s colleges. The province’s 24 colleges are now the sole defendants.

The colleges are being sued for allegedly collecting tuition-related ancillary fees that were rendered illegal under Ontario’s tuition freeze in 2004.

The two representative plaintiffs and the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario announced on Sept. 4 that because the colleges are agents of the Crown, they cannot be named in the same suit as the province.

Ontario’s 24 colleges are now the sole defendants in a class-action lawsuit which demands that three years worth of tuition-related ancillary fees collected by Ontario’s colleges since 2004 be refunded to students. They include information and technology fees, laboratory fees, library fees and fees for the mandatory lease of laptops.

At a press conference at the Ontario legislature, the representative plaintiffs presented two key pieces of evidence in the case.

In a 1993 video from the Ontario Legislature, now-Premier Dalton McGuinty was shown asking the government why it allowed universities to raise tuition fees “through the back door” in breach of the ministry’s own regulations.

“This video is only a part of the growing body of evidence that demonstrates that Premier McGuinty and the training, colleges and universities minister, Chris Bentley, have been aware all along that illegal ancillary fees are being collected from Ontario’s community college students and that they refuse to enforce the law,” said Jen Hassum, Ontario chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students.

The defendants also presented a letter from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, dated July 12, 2004 — when the Ontario tuition fee freeze came into effect — addressed to college presidents.

The memo, acquired through the province’s access to information laws, states that “no ancillary fees or other items (e.g. building and information technology infrastructure improvements or student support services) are to be levied on students unless specifically approved by the ministry.”

“The ministry’s own analysis of ancillary fees in Ontario, issued in June of last year, admitted that each of these fees was prohibited,” said Amanda Hassum, a student at Conestoga College and one of two representative plaintiffs in the case.

The other representative plaintiff is Daniel Roffey, a former student of George Brown College. Together, the two represent more than 150,000 Ontario college students.

“In one instance, the ministry confessed, in their own documents, that despite the universal practice of charging the fees, and despite being an important source of revenue, ancillary fees for IT technology are not currently an eligible fee,” said Amanda Hassum.

Douglas Elliott of the firm Roy Elliott Kim O’Connor is representing the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit. He expressed his disdain at the government’s lack of reaction or response to the lawsuit, saying that there is no need for this to go all the way to the courts.

“Minister Bentley and Premier McGuinty have all the legal power that they need to fix this problem . . . Under the law governing colleges, Minister Bentley can simply deduct from the college operating grants any monies illegally collected from students. That’s what he should do. He should deduct that money from the college operating grants and turn it over to students.

“If he’s not sure how to turn it over to the students, we’re happy to sit down and help him figure that out,” Elliott said.

Roffey said that he has received a huge amount of support since the lawsuit was launched in June.

“Since launching our case, we have received e-mails from students who support our claim, many of whom who would like to get formally involved, and we’re very happy to receive the support of OPSEU, the union representing college faculty and staff. There’s no doubt that a case like this requires a huge collective effort,” he said.

Elliott also said that the province will not be named as a defendant in the lawsuit due to the fact that colleges are agents of the crown. Both the province and the colleges cannot, therefore, both be named in the same suit. Elliott said that the colleges would remain as defendants in the suit because they are ultimately the ones who collected the money.

Elliott also said that the lawsuit is forward-looking and will account for future fees collected, as well.

“I want to make it very clear that this lawsuit covers this year’s fees, and if they charge illegal fees, it covers next year’s fees. Colleges should not be cheating their students,” Elliott said.

Chris Bentley, the minister of training, colleges and universities, did not return requests for comment by press time.

The Canadian Federation of Students, while not offering financial support to the suit, is playing the role of ringleader by providing background research and media relations support. Both representative plaintiffs said that it was through the CFS that they were introduced to one another and presented with options to move forward. Roffey sat on the executive of the Student Association of George Brown College, Local 92 of the CFS in 2005-06. Amanda Hassum is the sister of CFS Ontario chairperson Jennifer Hassum, who was also the president of the University of Toronto Students’ Union.

According to Jennifer Hassum, the CFS-O also hopes to make the lawsuit a central electoral issue among student voters in Ontario’s October provincial election.