Un nouveau rapport concernant la Fédération canadienne des étudiantes et des étudiants (FCÉÉ)

Voici un nouveau rapport, composé par Titus Gregory, intitulé « Solidarity for Their Own Good: Self-Determination and the Canadian Federation of Students. » Je vais passer à travers celui-ci et je vais ressortir les points importants dans les semaines à venir. Vous pouvez consulter le rapport directement ci-dessous!

Solidarity for Their Own Good: Self-Determination and the Canadian Federation of Students

An open letter to all those who "hate" on "free speech"

Welcome to the University of Ottawa, an institution of higher-learning that welcomes international students from all over the world! Its beautiful campus is situated in the heart of downtown Ottawa just minutes from Canada's highest governing institution: the Parliament of Canada. In a country that takes pride in its Charter of Rights and Freedoms which promotes, among other things, the "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression" and the "freedom of conscience and religion", something quite strange took place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The U of O's campus, which was thought to be accepting of all walks of life... some might even characterise it as a "safe space" (whatever that's supposed to mean), was supposed to be host to the American Conservative political pundit Ann Coulter. What in fact took place our campus was quite frankly shocking. After a group of "campus activists" showed up to Marion Hall to protest the event, Ms. Coulter's security team decided that it would be in fact "physically dangerous" if the lecture was in fact allowed to proceed (these of course are the words of Canadian Conservative extraordinaire Ezra Levant).

That's right folks! What started out as an event largely targeted at an audience of possibly a couple hundred Conservatives was deemed unacceptable to the "lefties" of our campus. Let me also point out: some of the same people who wanted Ann Coulter banned from the University of Ottawa campus on Facebook denounced the Conservative government's apparent decision to ban George Galloway from entering the country. Hypocrites!

Sadly, some people only support the right to free speech when it advances THEIR own ideologies. Just goes to show how closed-minded, ignorant and ideologically-driven they all are. To protest is one thing... but to embarrass our renowned, diverse campus on an international scale is something on a whole different level. Our very own SFUO president Seamus Wolfe even made a point to appear on Canada AM and, oddly enough, showed solidarité with the Mr. Houle in calling his letter "fair". I'm disappointed in the continuous ideological stances taken by Mr. Wolfe. This story has garnered up some pretty interesting reactions in Canadian and American media.
Here, don't take my word for it; Many professor from across Canada have weighed in on the embarrassment. Joseph A. Novak, acting chair, Department of Philosophy, University of Waterloo had this to say in a National Post opinion piece.

In another National Post "Full Comment", University of Toronto professor Ed Morgan goes through the whole legal aspect of so called "free speech" in Canada and past cases where "tarnishing the image of a group" has been considered "fair game".

Don't worry, I won't be biased; here's what University of Toronto law professor Brenda Cossman was quoted as saying in an article that appeared in the Toronto Star:

"I think her views are completely beyond the pale, offensive, obnoxious, uninformed, provocative, all of those things – except she should be allowed to say them and she shouldn't face criminal prosecution,"

Convinced yet? Of course you aren't because that radical ideology that you try so hard to keep alive has blinded you from accepting the truth. When asked to weigh in on the cancellation of Coulter's lecture, University of Ottawa law professor Errol Mendes told Ottawa Citizen's Matthew Pearson that "while he disagreed with Coulter, her many writings and public statements didn't meet the definition of hate speech under Canadian law."

Robert Fisk, who obtained a Ph.D. in Political Science in 1985, is a British foreign correspondent for The Independent. He had this to say about the whole debacle.

In a Boston Globe op-ed piece entitled Canada's clampdown on free speech, Jordan Michael Smith argues that "Canada’s treatment of the right-wing instigator is only the latest in a disturbing line of clampdowns on offensive and unpopular ideas. Though in some ways the left-wing utopia many American liberals imagine it to be, Canada is, on matters of free speech,deeply wrong."

Another pertinent opinion piece in this case appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, penned by Mark Mercer, a professor of philosophy at Saint-Mary's University.

Rex Murphy, a Canadian author and weekly commentator in the National Post, argues, in his always thought provoking pieces, that the fiasco that took place on our campus surrounding the Ann Coulter speech "was another vivid illustration of how elastic and feeble, at least in certain quarters, the Canadian understanding of free speech has become. The idea, evidently held by certain of the protesters, that merely to call something “hate speech” licenses an attempt to halt that speech is depressing because it has become so common."

Finally, the biggest slap in the face has came from media mogul Conrad Black in his regular Saturday opinion piece in 3 April National Post. At the end of his piece, Mr. Black quotes Ms. Coulter:

"I demand that on my next visit, I be heckled in French, as is my right, and am looking forward to testifying at the Human Rights Commission against [University of Ottawa provost] Francois A. Houle, but request it be at the time of the Calgary Stampede," she says. "And I want a framed and formally printed copy of the resolution of the Ottawa students' federation against my violation 'of the unwritten code of positive space.' "

Needless to say that not only has this opened up an important, long overdue free speech debate all across Canada, but it has unleashed an international media feeding frenzy that is quick to characterize our well-respected institution as a radical, oppressive university where free speech is only valued when it is self-serving. Let's hope this serves as a lesson for all those who enjoy protesting pretty much anything and everything that has the slightest scent of politicalness. By all means, get out and protest things that you believe in; it's your right! But to protest "hate speech" with more "hate speech" definitely defeats the purpose. If you're going to reserve YOUR right to protest, then allow other people to reserve THEIR right to hold an event on our campus that some may not agree with. That is all... for now.

Think before you act... or you'll be made fun of on Fox News

Do you think the student protesters who caused for Ann Coulter's security team to cancel her speech on our campus thought that their actions would lead to our university being ridiculed on Fox News?

CFS ALERT - Trying to defend what is already outdated

On Sunday March 27th 2010, CBC's The National filed this report regarding the Canadian Federation of Students.

Shortly after, I stumbled upon this interesting report, authored by Titus Gregory, entitled "Solidarity for Their Own Good: Self-Determination and the Canadian Federation of Students". This is definitely a must read! It reveils many things that I personnally already knew but I'm sure it will get some awkward reactions from the "radical lefties" on campus.

THAT'S RIGHT, I SAID IT!

By the way, when does Katherine Giroux-Bougard (pictured above) finish her term. Whenever it is, I'm sure whoever has been chosen to replace her will have already been studying their outdated talking points and know them by heart.

UPDATE: A must read from a University of Victoria student regarding many disputes within the CFS, between the national body and its provincial counterparts:
http://eyeontheuvss.blogspot.com/2010/03/twilight-of-cfs.html

La Fédération Canadienne des étudiantes et des étudiants-Ontario (FCÉÉ-O) publie un nouveau rapport

Le lundi 22 mars, la Fédération canadienne des étudiantes et des étudiants — Ontario (FCÉÉ-O) a publié un rapport s'intitulant « The Final Report of the Task Force on Campus Racism ». Je n'ai pas encore eu la chance de le lire, mais je vais prendre le temps, dans les jours à venir, car c'est un sujet de débat intéressant.
Par contre, lorsque j'ai tenté d'ouvrir ce même rapport en français, il n'y en a pas un. Le rapport le plus récent du site français s'intitule « Rapport final du Groupe d'étude sur les besoins des étudiantes et des étudiants musulmans » qui fut publié le mercredi 21 mars 2007.

Est-ce que ce rapport est censé être la version française du nouveau rapport publié en anglais cette semaine? Sinon, est-ce la FCÉÉ a l'intention de publier la version française de ce nouveau rapport?

Will you "Vote Fail"?

My fellow blogger, Ken Joly, has began an interesting campaign via Facebook called "Votez Fail /Vote Fail". This campaign is directly geared towards Social Science students who will be asked, for a second time, to vote for who will represent them on the SFUO Board of Administration (BOA) during the 2010-2011 academic year. According to Joly, this campaign was spearheaded because of "the gross inconsistencies in the management of recent SFUO Elections and the seemingly autocratic and unprofessional behaviour of current-SFUO President Seamus Wolfe..."

He goes on to encourage all Social Science students who "are not happy with the way “democracy” exists at the SFUO..." to place a "Vote Fail" sticker on their ballot instead of spoiling it. I have thought this whole process over for a couple days now and am left with a few questions which I will put forward in this blog posting:

1. If students in fact place a "Vote Fail" sticker on their ballots, thus demonstrating their disapproval of the SFUO's failed "democratic" process, how will the student body then find out how many of the "spoiled" ballots actually contained one of these stickers?

2. As of March 16th at 8:20 pm, this Facebook group has 195 members; Assuming it continues to grow at the same pace until voting days, will this campaign gain enough steam to force realistic changes in the way the SFUO manages its elections?

I also feel the need to condemn the disqualification of three Social Sciences' candidates who ran in the original elections (Amanda Iarusso, Amanda Marochko and Matika Lauzon) due to the fact that they had "invalid" signatures (meaning one or more students having signed their nomination forms were not recognized as being apart of the Faculty of Social Sciences). I personally think that it's ridiculous that they weren't given an extra 24 hours to get the required number of valid signatures. Who could possibly argue against that? When you're trying to encourage a diversity of students to participate in student politics (more specifically the "Amandas" being women and Matika being a francophone), I think it's quite counter-productive to take such drastic measures as to disqualify these individuals. Let me be clear though in saying that regardless of the categories that these specific individuals fall under, ANY candidate being disqualified on such a pitiful technicality is frankly preposterous.

(Not a very) Bottled Water Free Day at the University of Ottawa

I'll personally start by saying that I stopped drinking bottled water awhile back after having read many different sources stating that the composition of the plastic, in the long-term, is harmful to your health (but what isn't these day, right?). I am also personally in favour of the winding down of bottled water as a commercialized product.

What I'd be curious to know is who exactly paid for the posters that are plastered everywhere on campus. I wouldn't be too impressed if I were to find out that the SFUO spent (our money) on useless posters that promotes the day. Whoevers money was spent, it didn't seem to have much of an impact because I can tell you that it certainly didn't stop people from being spotted all over the U of O campus drinking water from those clear plastic bottles that were supposed to be boycotted for the day. It'd be interesting to see how much money was spent on promoting today's symbolic boycott.

I visisted the Canadian Federation of Student's (CFS) website to see what efforts were put into promoting Bottled Water Free Day. Possibly some information, some suggestions on encouraging students to participate, etc. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any such information on the website (other than 2 press releases).

This is an interesting campaign... but the publicity shouldn't be funded (if it in fact is) with student's money!

Board of Administration of the SFUO - Sunday February 28th 2010

Note: I appologize about the audio at certain points in the video; my thumb was covering the microphone.