As recently reported in Nexus, Camosun students have handed in a petition to the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) saying they want to hold a referendum on whether or not to remain members of the national student organization. However, the CFS and the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) have been emailing each other but cannot reach an agreement about the referendum dates. Camosun students continue paying into the CFS while the two parties try to settle this.
The CFS initially suggested referendum dates of March 7 to 9 to the CCSS; the CCSS agreed to these dates but then the CFS said they never confirmed the dates. The CFS also says that because the CCSS has remitted approximately $200,000 of Camosun students’ CFS fees to the British Columbia Federation of Student (BCFS), the referendum can’t happen. The CCSS says it can happen, because the BCFS is a provincial component of the CFS, so the CCSS has done their part in remitting CFS fees. The BCFS are holding on to the fees because the CFS owes the BCFS approximately $746,000, part of which is also Camosun students’ fees.
CFS bylaws state that a referendum cannot happen if there are fees outstanding. The bylaws also state that referendums cannot happen from April 15 to September 15 (during which time, Camosun students would continue to pay CFS fees).
BCFS chairperson Simka Marshall says that the BCFS has not received any communication from the CFS in the last few weeks regarding the money that the CFS owes them. A CFS spokesperson says that they have not received the fees that they claim are stopping the referendum from happening from the BCFS. CCSS executive director Michel Turcotte says that the CCSS replied to the CFS’ latest email and again confirmed that they can do the referendum on the March dates.
Camosun students pay $2.25 per month per student for membership in the two organizations; the amount is split in half, with half going to the CFS and half going to the BCFS. The CCSS now pays the two organizations separately.