Every month, each Camosun student pays $2.25 for membership in the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and the British Columbia Federation of Students (BCFS); the fee, which is collected by the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS), is split between the two organizations. However, the CCSS is taking deliberate steps to not advertise student membership in the CFS. The CCSS logo on its 2017/2018 student handbook does not contain a reference to the CFS, as it has in years past.
CCSS student services coordinator Michael Glover says the CFS was not involved in the making of the book, and that the focus for the CCSS is now more on the BCFS instead than on the CFS.
“We’ve sort of been focusing on our membership in the British Columbia Federation of Students rather than in the Canadian Federation of Students due to our ongoing concerns,” he says. “We haven’t gotten proper responses on the issues that we’ve brought up with the national organization.” (See nexusnewspaper.com for our ongoing coverage of the national student movement.)
Glover says removing references to the CFS in the handbook was a decision made by the CCSS student board of directors.
“There’s nothing binding us to advertising that in those ways,” says Glover in regard to the use of the CFS logo in the handbook. “The board has directed me to not do so, and so I have to follow through with that.”
A representative for the CFS said that CFS chairperson Coty Zachariah was “not interested in giving a comment” on the matter.
Glover says that the CCSS no longer trusts the CFS’ ability to deliver the services it previously did to students; one of these services was making the handbook. (The BCFS is now making them; the costs of making the handbook are additional costs above and beyond membership fees for either organization.) The CCSS board is focusing on membership in the BCFS, he says, “because that is what is having the impact directly on the members at this time.”
When asked about students being informed about where their money is going, or being directly informed about the fact that they are CFS members, Glover says the CCSS still distributes International Student Identity Cards (ISIC).
“That is the only place where our members really have a realistic interaction with the Canadian Federation of Students. That’s still a benefit of membership they get,” says Glover.
The CCSS has also taken references to the CFS off its website. Camosun Marketing student Rahul Gill says that he didn’t know he pays CFS fees as a Camosun student, and he feels that students should be told that they pay those fees. (A partial breakdown of fees is available on the Camosun College website.)
“Students should know where their money is going,” says Gill.
Arts and Science student Gregory St-Cyr doesn’t “care too much” about the CCSS not communicating that students are members of the CFS but feels it’s important that students have a way to find out fee details.
“I don’t know how much detail they should get into, but I do think there should be an area where you can research on your own where your money is going,” says St-Cyr.
Glover says the CCSS has been questioning the value of CFS membership to Camosun students for a number of years due to, according to the CCSS, the CFS’ lack of financial transparency and lack of ability and willingness to deliver services to students.
“We’ve asked [the CFS] to solve those problems and, as you have reported time and time again, we’ve not gotten satisfactory answers. So there’s nothing we can do instantaneously to get our members out of that fee,” says Glover. “So at this time we’re exploring what we can in terms of trying to get value for our members out of the organization by advocating for change within the organization. In the meantime we’re sort of in limbo about what to do about the organization.”
Glover says the CCSS is in a delicate spot as it tries to respond to what he says is the desire of many students to leave the CFS.
“It’s hard for us to advertise our membership in an organization that has not answered for some of the very undemocratic things that it’s done,” he says.
Approval was made at a May 29 CCSS meeting for a $16,730.70 payment of Camosun students’ money to the BCFS to cover printing costs of the handbook.