This story originally appeared in our August 29, 2018 issue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTurcotte says that he believes that if the CCSS joined CASA, it would show that the CCSS supports students working together across the country. However, Turcotte also hopes that the CCSS will still be able to work with the CFS on certain things, such as issuing International Student Identity Cards (ISIC)s, which is done through the Canadian Federation of Students-Services (CFS-S), a branch of the CFS.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would still like the student society to be able to issue ISIC cards, and to be able to make a deal with the Canadian Federation of Students in that regard,\u201d says Turcotte. (A spokesperson for CFS-S declined to speak for this story but told Nexus <\/i>in an email that ISICs are available to all CFS members through membership and to any other students who are not members of the CFS for an annual fee of $20.)<\/p>\n
CASA executive director Manjeet Birk says CASA welcomes new members, and that she is open to working together with other student organizations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI think we\u2019re in a new day and age,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m a new executive director here at the organization, and I\u2019m very keen to see how we can be more supportive to students, and I think part of that is ensuring that all organizations who do advocacy for students are working together, and being on the same page so that we can provide the best, most coherent advocacy when we head out to Parliament Hill every year.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, CCSS external executive Fillette Umulisa says that the CFS and CASA working together would not be a good idea, considering the history of the national student movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt turns out the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations was actually born from the CFS; it was members that were displeased with the CFS that formed CASA,\u201d says Umulisa. \u201cThe idea of them working together as a collective organization, it\u2019s kind of not clicking for me. It doesn\u2019t click at all.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nUmulisa admits that what the future holds is anyone\u2019s guess, but she says that for her, right now, the CFS and CASA are not compatible.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as I can see, these organizations would not work as a collective; not in the near future, at least,\u201d says Umulisa.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBirk says it was apparent from a brainstorming session at CASA\u2019s last conference, held in Vancouver in July, that student needs these days are different than they have ever been.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe need to approach things in a unique way to build upon the advocacy that we already do,\u201d says Birk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe July meeting focused on many things, including disability and access issues, access to meaningful employment through apprenticeship programs, and reducing tuition. Birk says CASA is looking to use a grant-based model to help lower tuition for students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still in the research phase,\u201d says Birk. \u201cThe board of directors, the membership, and our home office staff continue to research and determine what the best leveraging point will be to go to Advocacy Week [where CASA members meet with government officials] this year.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBirk adds that it will be a couple of months before she will be able to verify how much CASA is aiming to get tuition lowered by, but students from coast to coast, she says, have very similar concerns. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe got to see [at the meeting] some of the ways in which their college concerns mimic each other across the country and the ways that they are very similar in different places and then the ways that they are dissimilar,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
One concern Nexus<\/i> has heard from students is the fact that there is no governing body or board that oversees the organizations that make up the national student movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe aren\u2019t formally observed by anyone else,\u201d Birk confirms. \u201cWe don\u2019t answer to any other organization or association.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the provincial government\u2019s ministry of advanced education told Nexus<\/i> that the government does not typically intervene in situations of conflict between student organizations. The spokesperson said the government has no oversight or authority on the matter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBirk says that CASA is \u201cstrictly in compliance\u201d with the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act<\/i>, which ensures that financial statements are available online; CASA provides its statements through an external auditor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been some concerns around how finances are used in organizations such as this one, and we are absolutely transparent in that, and support the continued transparency in that for both us as well as any other organization that is using student money to advance federal advocacy. Right off the bat, that would be my number one priority: to ensure that student funds are not being misused,\u201d says Birk, adding that she would not be opposed to having a governing financial body or federal agency in place.<\/p>\n
A matter of fees, a matter of focus<\/strong><\/p>\nTurcotte says CASA\u2019s student fees are \u201cconsiderably less\u201d than any student organization the CCSS has been a member of.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cJoining CASA would be affordable,\u201d says Turcotte. \u201cYou join organizations like the Canadian Federation of Students or CASA or the BCFS because you want to engage in that political work and engage in advocacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Birk says CASA\u2019s membership fee structure is very different from the CFS\u2019, as it\u2019s based on the student enrolment rate and on the size of the institution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe have a cap,\u201d says Birk. \u201cNo member association ever pays more than $55,000 [per year].\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the CASA website, CASA has a fee of $2.89 per student per fiscal year for institutions with enrolment numbers between 12,001 and 20,000 students (for the last fiscal year, Camosun\u2019s enrolment was 18,650, according to a college spokesperson).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nCamosun students remain part of the BCFS despite the fact that they were expelled from CFS. BCFS chairperson Aran Armutlu says the CFS expelling member locals in BC doesn\u2019t affect how the BCFS operates in the province. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe will be operating basically the exact same way as we have been,\u201d says Armutlu, \u201cand providing all of the member locals in BC the representation, services, and the advocacy that we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armutlu says the BCFS will also be advocating for student issues at a federal level; this is done, he says, in similar ways at a provincial level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s meeting with the federal MPs, the provincial MLAs, and taking the time to be giving our feedback,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s things like submitting to the Select Standing Committee on Finance [and Government Services] so that our submissions are being heard when the federal government is making their budget.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nArmutlu says there are a lot of student issues beyond the cost of tuition and interest rates on student loans. One concern that has been raised to Nexus<\/i> is the CFS\u2019 increasing focus on identity politics over student issues.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Student\u2019 is such a term that\u2019s encompassing in so many ways,\u201d says Armutlu. \u201cSo many different types of people can be a student. The principle of our organization is to advocate for accessible, high-quality, public post-secondary education. That\u2019s what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
But \u201caccessibility\u201d can mean a wide variety of things, says Armutlu, from cost to safe spaces for students on campus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe have our campaign work against tuition fees, and working to see more grants in BC, and wanting more funding to our institutions\u2014looking at textbook costs and those things. We also work on issues like equity and consent culture, because they are important issues,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is a balance that needs to be struck there, and I think\u2014at least for our organization\u2014we\u2019ve been pretty good at being able to find that balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armutlu says the BCFS will continue to operate the way they have in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t just do work on tuition fees,\u201d he says. \u201cAccessible education means more than just the cost of education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armutlu says he would like the national student movement to focus on fighting for post-secondary education.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhat their priorities are going to be is up to them. I think a lot of how we do our work\u2014and how a lot of other student organizations do their work\u2014a lot of that is brought up by the membership,\u201d says Armutlu. \u201cWe have our general meetings where the business of the federation is discussed, and it\u2019s really set and mandated by the members. In my eyes, I hope that the national student movement is also operating at that level, where it\u2019s students and the members of those organizations that are really helping prioritize what those organizations are working on.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nCamosun fourth-year Accounting student Caitlin Le says that as long as student organizations help students get what they are promised, then paying to be members of those organizations is a good idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s actually helping, then we should be paying for it,\u201d she says. \u201cBut if it\u2019s not that effective, then, no, I wouldn\u2019t pay for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nFor first year Nursing student Fatuma Abdullahi, membership in national organizations comes down to keeping post-secondary accessible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cYes, I think we should pay it,\u201d she says. \u201cI believe they should be paying for more accessibility.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSecond-year Business Administration-Accounting student Christine Comrie says that she definitely feels the CCSS should be part of a national student organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s extremely important for student-organizing lobbying efforts,\u201d she says, \u201cbut, given our history with the CFS, I would say no [to joining the CFS]. I don\u2019t know much about [CASA], but I\u2019d be very interested and excited for them to possibly pursue that option.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSpeaking of fees… they\u2019re going up<\/strong><\/p>\nArmutlu says the BCFS membership fee will be changing; he says the new amount will include the amount that Camosun students previously paid to the CFS. The new amount of a maximum of $9.14 per semester came about, says Armutlu, from a resolution passed at a January 2016 BCFS general meeting (according to those meeting minutes, available online, the increase will take effect no later than December 31, 2019).\u00a0 <\/span>As mentioned above, the CCSS collects $2.25 per month (scheduled to go up to $2.29 per month as of September 1, 2018) from each Camosun student; they split that money in half, and half goes to the BCFS for membership fees, while the other half went to the CFS for membership fees. <\/b>The full amount will go to the BCFS when their fee increase comes into place. Armutlu says that the fee change will result in a net zero change for students, as the amount they pay per month will stay the same.<\/p>\n\u201cThat fee increase is due to the members recognizing that we want to continue doing a lot of this work that we\u2019re doing, and also there\u2019s new work that they want us to be doing, so that fee increase is sort of reflective of that,\u201d says Armutlu, adding that the BCFS has always done federal work. \u201cIt\u2019s a combination of continuing to do that work, but then also because the BCFS now are able to operate on our own, and we can take on new things that members want us to take on, and it gives that freedom to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Umulisa says that it doesn\u2019t make sense for the BCFS to receive the combined amount of CFS and BCFS fees collected by the CCSS, considering that the BCFS is going to keep working the same way it always has.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, I feel like it\u2019s a rushed decision,\u201d she says. \u201cJust because you think unions have money that should be spent on something else doesn\u2019t mean, \u2018Oh, give it to us!\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nUmulisa says that the fee raise would be fair if the BCFS were bringing students new services or plans to justify it. She says that if there were a conference or if the BCFS were expanding, it would make sense to raise Camosun students\u2019 membership fees. But Umulisa says that the BCFS\u2019 services, to her knowledge, are remaining more or less the same.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cAs of right now, in my knowledge, it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, this is the money you were paying to the CFS; it\u2019s not being put to use, so we\u2019re just going to double our fee.\u2019 Right now I feel like even if they double their fee, everything\u2019s going to be the same.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nCCSS board members voted on the BCFS fee increase at the aforementioned 2016 BCFS general meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat [January 2016] bylaw change was supported by the majority of the delegates from the Camosun College Student Society that attended the meeting,\u201d says Turcotte.<\/p>\n
Turcotte adds that it would benefit students if the national movement developed in such a way that it became normal for the CCSS to work with both the CFS and CASA, and that breaking down those barriers comes down to a cultural shift.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t think that students should be siloing themselves in terms of who they work with, and I look forward to a day where students can break down those various barriers between various groups and find ways either for those groups to work together, or for students within those groups to work together in order to protect the interest of students both nationally [and] provincially,\u201d he says, adding that an international student movement is not out of the question.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
As with all things in this world, the national student movement is forever changing; CASA\u2019s fees are quite a bit lower than CFS\u2019 fees, but if the CCSS does join CASA, it remains to be seen what differences or similarities will be in store for students at Camosun.<\/p>\n
Right now, most students\u2014a group of people who are typically smart and hard working\u2014stare blankly when asked about the national student movement. Allegations of corruption are behind us, rising fees are ahead of us, and the future of the movement is about to take a turn, but no one knows which way just yet.<\/p>\n
Although Umulisa is opposed to the national student organizations working together, she says that both the CFS and CASA could benefit Camosun students if they work separately from one another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cAs much as we\u2019ve been expelled from the CFS, I would personally love to work with those guys on some of their campaigns because they match our needs as Camosun College students and the student society.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIf differences could be put aside, says Umulisa, it wouldn\u2019t be that big of a deal to work together toward achieving a common goal, which is why the CCSS will be having a referendum in the fall on whether or not to join CASA.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a student union,\u201d she says, \u201cit\u2019s best to work collectively to achieve our common interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an example of the unpredictable tides of change, Turcotte looks at what\u2019s taken place just this year with the national student movement and Camosun students\u2019 place in it. He says that times and politics can change, often with unpredictable results.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought that the Camosun College Student Society would not be a member of the Canadian Federation of Students,\u201d he says. \u201cI never thought that I would live to see that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Correction: We originally reported in this story that BCFS chairperson Aran Armutlu said the BCFS fee is being increased because Camosun students are no longer members of the CFS. We also reported that Armutlu said the aim with the fee change was to have a net zero change for students; he in fact said neither. We apologize for the mistakes.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It wasn\u2019t that long ago that each student at Camosun College paid $2.25 a month to the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) in membership fees for national and provincial student organizations. The CCSS would give half that amount to the national student organization the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and half to the provincial student […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,215],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-august-29-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16280"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16380,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16280\/revisions\/16380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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