François Picard moves on

Francois Picard taking part in the Canadian Federation of Students' AGM Rally on Parliament Hill - November 2010

It's official: Francois Picard, the former SFUO VP Communications, has vacated the position of SFUO Executive Coordinator. The following job posting advertising the SFUO Executive Coordinator position recently appeared on a slightly unconventional website (if/when the job posting is taken down, see the image below). However, it seems as though the SFUO couldn't even be bothered to post this job opening on their own website. Who's left out of the current executives' friends who hasn't been hired to work somewhere in the SFUO? Well, sadly, it looks as though that insider culture will continue: where the SFUO hiring process isn't based on experience, competency or merit but on who you know and what your political beliefs are (in other words, if you're a member/supporter of the New Democratic Party - NDP, that's half the battle).

Rumour has it that he has been hired by the recently elected NDP MP Mylène Freeman. She recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Political Science from the McGill University. Picard has been working behind the scenes at the SFUO since his mandate as VP Communication ended in May 2008. For example, he has been the Secretary at a number of SFUO BOA meetings at the beginning of the 2008/2009 academic year. He has also frequently present at numerous conferences to which the SFUO executive has participated: many Canadian Federation of Students' AGMs and workshops (see the images below). He was also present at a City of Ottawa Interim Transit Commission meeting, that took place during the February 2011 reading week, which I in fact attended. That meeting was dealing with the cost of the U-Pass pilot program. For most of the meeting, he simply stood at one side of the meeting room and observed.

All in all, nobody really ever clearly understood exactly what he did during his tenure as the SFUO Executive Coordinator. It's apparent that he wasn't much help to the 2010/2011 executive when the internal unrest broke out which placed Tyler Steeves, Ted Horton and Alex Chaput on one side and Amy Hammett, Sarah Jayne King and Paige Galette on the other. In fact, some whispered that it was Picard's overly active participation during executive meetings that was the root cause of the executive infighting. A former LaRotonde journalist, Antoine Trépanier, published this article back in February 2011. The article title's English translation: An employee taking up a lot of space. The article outlines Picard's involvement in everything from attending executive meetings, alleged election interference, and more. Well, now we wait and see who will be hired to replace ol' Franky.

#cfsfcee #fcee11 in la Belle Province

The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) semi-annual general meeting, which started yesterday, 31 May, 2011 and goes until Friday, 3 June 2011, is taking place at the Palais du Congrès in Gatineau, Québec.

Just when the University of Victoria Student Society (UVSS) thought the CFS's SAGM wasn't going to deal with the results of its recent referendum on continued membership results, in which students voted to leave the CFS, the Anglophone Canadian University Press (CUP) journalist, Briana Hill (all quotes are copied, including typos, directly from Hill's LiveBlog) quoted David Molenhuis, the outgoing CFS National Chair, as having said:

Local 44, UVic Students Society voted to decertify from the CFS, Molenhuis "surprised, saddened but respectful" of that result

However, a motion, which was passed by the delegates shortly after Molenhuis' comments, stated that the UVSS's referendum to leave the federation will be ratified pending their payment of outstanding fees. These alleged "outstanding fees" were brought up by the CFS, out of the blue, seemingly in an attempt to block the UVSS's right to hold a referendum on continued membership. The CFS petitioned the British Columbia Supreme Court (BCSC) in an attempt to have the court force the UVSS to pay $129,058 in outstanding membership fees. The BCSC ruled against the CFS which cleared the way for the referendum to take place. To quote directly from the ruling:

[3] The petitioners, the UVSS and José Barrios, have now applied for consequential and ancillary relief seeking an order scheduling a referendum on March 29, 30 and 31, 2011. The petitioners say that such relief is necessary because the respondent, CFS, has agreed to the above dates on a contingent basis only, pending the petitioners' payment of alleged outstanding membership fees in the amount of $129,058.

[4] The petitioners submit that the respondent is precluded by the doctrine of res judicata from raising the issue of outstanding fees, as the respondent could have but did not properly raise this issue in a timely manner in the proceeding.

[5] The respondent subsequently filed a notice of application, which has been heard concurrently with the petitioners' application for further relief. The respondent seeks orders and declarations that the UVSS owes the CFS membership fees in the above amount and that there can be no referendum pursuant to the CFS bylaws unless all outstanding membership fees are paid.

[13] The petitioners submit that the court has already determined that the respondent failed to raise its allegation of unpaid fees in a timely way and that the respondent was well aware that this claim could have the effect of depriving the petitioners of the main relief they were seeking, the scheduling of referendum dates.

[20] I note that the petitioners clearly pled the relief of scheduling a referendum in the proceeding specifically by requesting an order that the referendum be held on January 31, February 1, 2, 3 and 4, 2011. In spite of that, the respondent did not raise, and the parties never properly joined, issue respecting the respondent's alleged entitlement to outstanding membership fees.

An important section of the ruling must, however must also be highlighted:

[23] The order now sought by the respondent that there can be no referendum unless all outstanding membership fees are paid is therefore barred by the doctrine of res judicata. However, as the main issue in this proceeding was limited to the validity of the petition, to avoid any potential injustice, I grant the respondent liberty to seek recovery of the alleged outstanding membership fees in a separate proceeding. In this way I also avoid the unfairness to the petitioner Barrios that would flow if the referendum were not to proceed as presently scheduled. It will also afford the petitioner, the UVSS, an opportunity to properly defend the claim.

This leads me to the CFS Constitution and Bylaws, Bylaw I, Section 7c which states:

The decertification shall take effect on June 30 following the ratification of the vote to decertify provided that all outstanding membership fees payable to such date shall have then been received by the Federation.

The UVSS could potentially be stuck as members of the CFS for the upcoming 2011-2012 academic year if this whole "outstanding membership fees" issue is not resolved (presumably by the BCSC) before June 30, 2011. This could also mean that the CFS petition the Court to not only include the alleged amount of $129,058 but ALSO the membership fees for 2011-2012 if the UVSS referendum has not been ratified by June 30, 2011. However, due to the lack of evidence that the UVSS owes these alleged outstanding membership fees, I can see the BCSC throwing out the CFS's claims which would then see the UVSS set free from the guillotine. All this to say that it is highly likely that the CFS will be digging into its well padded coffers (membership fees are automatically pro-rated to the rate of inflation on a yearly basis - without consulting its membership and without any justification for such increases) in order to get the UVSS to pay up what the organization thinks it is rightly entitled to.

Just a final note on this whole situation: an article entitled CFS referendum date set by court has only one comment at the bottom of this Web Exclusive. The author, Kelsey Hannan, who is the UVSS's director of finance, wrote:

Just to clarify for interested students: The UVSS has paid the CFS every cent that students have ever paid to the organization. The CFS's claim of debt originates from the early 1990's when the CFS unilaterally increased its membership fee. In the 1990's, the UVSS responded by trying to get the money in good faith via a fee referendum twice. Both times students democratically voted against raising the fee that the CFS imposed on them. In 1999 the UVSS finally succeeded by passing a referendum that increased the CFS fee while decreasing the capital fee.

The CFS has never brought up this issue publicly since. Now all of a sudden, when students finally attempt to hold a referendum on CFS membership, the CFS waits until literally two days before our court hearing to bring up a claim over this supposed debt.

The CFS is trying every method it can think of to try to stop UVic students from having vote on their CFS membership.

In the end, this organization has been (for many, many, many years) and will continue to be corrupt beyond repair. I take little comfort in knowing that after I finish my bachelors degree at the University of Ottawa, students will continue not knowing what the CFS is, that they pay into this toxic organization run by "students".