As previously reported in Nexus, in June of 2017 Camosun students submitted a petition to the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) to have a referendum on whether or not to defederate from the CFS. However, the CFS is not allowing the referendum to happen because it claims Camosun students’ CFS fees are still outstanding.
The Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) collected those fees and remitted them to the British Columbia Federation of Students (BCFS), who then keep half and remit half to the CFS.
But the BCFS is withholding the CFS fees from the national organization because the CFS owes the BCFS money (part of which is also Camosun students’ money).
Every student at Camosun pays $2.25 per month into the CFS and the BCFS as part of their student fees; the CCSS now pays each organization those fees separately, but the approximately $200,000 of Camosun students’ CFS fees it gave the BCFS over a span of several years is still being held by the BCFS.
CFS bylaws state that a referendum cannot happen between April 15 and September 15. The earliest that students will be able to have a referendum is September 16, but if the fees the BCFS is holding are not remitted, the CFS says the referendum cannot happen because of a clause in its bylaws saying a member of the CFS cannot defederate with fees outstanding. The BCFS claims that because it is a provincial component of the CFS those fees have been remitted.
The CFS bylaws do not specify what the financial relationship is between the CFS and BCFS regarding student fees. The BCFS and CCSS feel that students should be able to have the referendum. A spokesperson for the CFS told Nexus that there has been no correspondence with the BCFS in regard to the outstanding fees since the referendum was cancelled by the CFS in March.
Camosun students will keep paying into both the CFS and BCFS while this dispute continues.