I am working on a project with the University of Regina Students’ Union for the referendum on continued membership in the Canadian Federation of Students. I am the chair of the ‘No Vote’. For this post not to have a complaint filed against it, I have to post material that has been approved by the Referendum Oversight Committee (ROC) or risk having it ordered to be taken down or face consequences:
Frequently Asked Questions about the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS):
How much do we pay?
Collectively the UofR pays $89,000 per year or $11 per full time student and $5.50 per part time student to make up the combined national and provincial membership fee to the CFS.
What does CFS do for U of R students?
If you go to their website over the past ten years they have 544 press releases, four are about Saskatchewan and two are about the U of R.
What does the CFS do Federally?
They will tell you that they lobby government and fight for students but the reality is that post-secondary education is administered at a provincial level. Whatever the CFS lobby’s for will affect the UofR the same regardless if we are paying into CFS or not.
What does the CFS do provincially?
Since 2007 the CFS has not hired a provincial organizer for Saskatchewan.
Why is it so hard to leave the CFS?
When multiple schools circulated petitions to hold a vote on continued membership changes were introduced to increase the number of signatures required on a petition from 10% to 20%, every 3 months only two schools are permitted to hold a referendum, and a member school is only permitted to hold a referendum once every five years.
Are any other schools voting on continued membership?
In the past two years, 12 others Schools from across Canada submitted petitions to request a vote on continued membership.
Why are we paying if the UofS isn’t?
The University of Saskatchewan Students Union (representing the largest body of students in Saskatchewan) do not consider themselves members.
Who are some of those people on campus that are promoting the CFS?
The CFS flies people in from all over Canada to campaign on their behalf. Obviously this costs an absurd amount, but the bylaws of the referendum state that they do not need to disclose what they spend campaigning.
