By Alanna Rizza and Jacob Dubé
The Canadian Federation of Students Ontario (CFS-O) Semi-Annual General Meeting took place this weekend from Jan. 19 to 22. The CFS is Canada’s largest student-advocacy group that represents students on a provincial and national level.
Here are the highlights from the closing plenary, where motions from various committees were up for debate:
Motion to reduce percentage of signatures needed to decertify from 20 to 15 per cent – PASSED
A similar motion was initially passed at the CFS National Semi-Annual General Meeting that took place this past November. A petition to decertify has been circulating around Ryerson’s campus since the beginning of this school year, and campus protest groups have been started such as RU Aware.
Motion to have online and paper voting to certify and decertify – DEFERRED
After a long debate and the most contentious vote of the meeting, the motion to add online voting and other methods for certifying and decertifying from the CFS-O was relayed to the next provincial executive and constituency commission meeting. Members were citing that they needed more information on the matter before putting it to a vote.
Motion to require delegates at CFS General Meetings to be a representative from their member local – REJECTED
Members cited their reasoning for rejecting this motion as it excluded potential delegates that weren’t official representatives to participate in CFS General Meetings, which limited the ideas and experiences that could be shared.
Emergency motion to make CFS release information on their secret bank account – OUT OF ORDER
Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) vice-president education Victoria Morton proposed an emergency motion near the end of the meeting, requesting the CFS-O advocate that the CFS* publish documents pertaining to a secret bank account.
In the CFS national SAGM, it was announced that a bank account was found that had about $500,000 withdrawn from it over the past five years, and currently contains about $600,000. However the national executives would not provide further information on the account because of human resources concerns.
The motion was ruled out of order because it was not presented timely enough to be considered an emergency motion.
Elections
This SAGM was the last for Rajean Hoilett, former RSU President and outgoing chairperson for the CFS-O. Here are the results for the upcoming CFS-O executive:
Treasurer: Trina James**
National Executive Representative: Sami Pritchard
Chairperson: Nour Alideeb
*CLARIFICATION: An original version of this story stated that Victoria Morton proposed the CFS publish documents pertaining to a secret bank account. However Morton requested that the CFS-O advocate this to the CFS.
**CORRECTION: An original version of this story stated that Hadi Wess was the treasurer of the CFS-O. However it is Trina James. The Eyeopener regrets this error.
undercoverkity
What, the CFS does not want to make public details of a secret bank account no one was supposed to know about / The same bank account that was filled wit student money/ The same bank account that student money was being hidden so the CFS can have a private slush fund ? SHOCKING I telz ya , SHOCKING i sez.