A referendum question asking Camosun College students if they would like to be members of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) passed in the recent Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) elections, meaning that Camosun students may soon be part of a national student organization again.
Almost the exact same number of students voted in the fall CCSS elections, which happened in October, as in the April CCSS elections. 697 students voted this time; last time it was 694 students.
CCSS executive director Michel Turcotte and CCSS clubs and events coordinator Tagg Kelt agree that they want more students to be voting. Turcotte says the turnout was better than some of the CCSS’ traditional paper-ballot elections, in which the required five-percent voter threshold for the election to take place was sometimes a struggle to reach. Turcotte says that the CCSS thought the two referendum questions regarding student fees would create some buzz about the elections.
“We didn’t engage CCSS staff to promote the election widely,” says Turcotte. “We were sort of counting on the candidates largely for that.”
One of the two referendum questions asked Camosun students whether or not they were in favour of allocating to a CCSS fund Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) membership fees that have been collected from Camosun students since the CFS expelled the CCSS in June of this year. That money will be put into a temporary CCSS campaigns and advocacy fund. 485 students voted yes; 212 voted no. (If accepted into CASA, the CCSS will use money from that fund to pay CASA fees until the British Columbia Federation of Students [BCFS] raises its fees, which it is planning to do no later than December 31, 2019. The BCFS will be raising its fees by the amount that Camosun students used to pay to the CFS, so then the entire amount that used to be split between the CFS and the BCFS will go to the BCFS, and Camosun students will pay an additional 42 cents a month for CASA fees.)
“One of the main things that fund will do initially is pay the CASA membership fee and some of the costs related to other political/advocacy campaigns that we do at the CCSS. It increases our ability to do that,” says Turcotte.
The other referendum question asked students if they support joining CASA, a national student organization that campaigns to have students’ voices heard at a national level. 470 students voted yes; 227 voted no. (CASA and the CFS are the two national Canadian student organizations.)
Turcotte says that now that the referendum has passed, the CCSS is going to put in a request with CASA to join the organization.
“We will be applying to join the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, and if everything goes as predicted and they choose to accept us [we will be members],” says Turcotte.
CASA is having a lobbying week in Ottawa at the end of November, which Turcotte says CCSS intends to send representatives to; there will also be a plenary session during that week, at which time the CASA board of directors will decide on whether or not to bring the CCSS on as a member.
CASA executive director Manjeet Birk says that the CCSS voting to join CASA is wonderful news; she says that she would welcome the CCSS into CASA.
“We would love to have CCSS joining CASA, for sure,” she says.
CASA membership fees are lower than CFS membership fees: CASA membership is $0.42 per month, per student; the CFS’ was $1.14 per month, per student (the BCFS fee will be raised to a maximum of $2.28 per month, per student). Birk says CASA focuses solely on student advocacy, without “swag” or services like International Student Identity Cards, which the CFS does offer.
“Our focus is on student advocacy,” says Birk. “We don’t do anything else… We lobby around our priority area. That’s all we do.”
Turcotte says that being part of CASA gives Camosun students a better chance at being heard; alone, the CCSS is “a little bit more disadvantaged” due its size, he says.
“[CASA membership] will increase our ability to lobby federally. The federal government still spends a lot of money in the area of post-secondary education and controls much of the administration relating to student loans,” says Turcotte. “Our ability as a small college to lobby the federal government is very slim, but as part of a larger umbrella of organizations with greater resources, it enhances that ability to do that.”
The CCSS will also use a portion of the campaigns and advocacy fund to promote proportional representation in BC.
“Now that the municipal election is over, that’s what the big campaign is for the student society this semester,” says Kelt.
First-year general studies student Paige Kochanuk says she didn’t know about the student society potentially joining CASA, but thinks that it would be great for Camosun students.
“We are the future of our political climate. It’s important for our voices to be heard. It sounds awesome to me,” she says, regarding CASA membership.
Second-year Hospitality Management student Elyse Nguyen says she also hadn’t heard about CASA until she saw the email CCSS sent out to students about the elections.
“I think that it’s okay. I signed for it. I agree with that,” she says about the CASA referendum question.
Kelt says that there were a few technical issues during the elections because someone forgot to activate the voting software.
“Apparently, it needs to be manually started,” says Kelt. “There was just a lateness in clicking the button to start the election.”
But the elections were supposed to begin at 12:01 am on Monday, October 22, so Kelt doubts the late start impacted many people, given that few people would be voting at that time of day.
“I don’t think anybody, or very few people, are that engaged in our democratic process here at the college,” he says.
The wrong end date was also set, making the elections end on Tuesday, October 23, instead of on Wednesday, October 24. The student society added an extra day to the elections to account for the technical troubles.
In the election, Sacha Christensen was voted in as Lansdowne executive; Angela Chou is returning as pride director; Shayan de Luna-Bueno was voted in as women’s director.
Gurpreet Singh Bhollar, Max Walther, Hayley Lamb, and Gagandeep Baath all got in as Interurban directors.
Yara Abaza, Nishant Harmilapi, Malcolm McLaren, and Elvin Khankisbiev got voted in as Lansdowne directors.