The Québec Student Strike and The "Maple Spread" phenomenon

The Ontario Students Mobilisation Coalition (OSMC) logo -  http://osmc.ca/

The current Québec student strike (or rather a student boycott, legally speaking) had been fermenting since March 30, 2010. On this day, Québec's minister of finance, Raymond Bachand, introduced the province's 2010-2011 budget. In his budget speech, Mr. Bachand said:

Our universities play a more crucial role than ever in our economic, social and cultural development. Québec has recognized this by ending the freeze on tuition fees that had been in place for more than ten years and, in particular, by reinvesting massively in our network of universities. From 2003-2004 to 2009-2010, university transfer expenditures rose an average of 5.9% a year–as rapidly as those for health. Of all the Canadian provinces, the Québec government is the one that funds its universities the most. Taking into account the growth forecast for 2010-2011, the government’s annual contribution to university funding has climbed by $1 billion since 2003. But more must be done. Our universities must compare favourably with the world’s best institutions. To fully play their role, they must have the necessary resources. To that end, I am announcing that our government will raise tuition fees as of fall 2012 (Bachand budget speech, March 30, 2010, p. 24)

Personally, I have been intrigued by the massive movement that has come together to oppose the Québec government's decision to increase the province's tuition fees by $1778 spread out over a 7 year period or an increase of 82% (originally, the tuition fee increase was $1625 spread out over a 5 year year period or an increase of 75%). Student activists from coast to coast have watched in amazement as Québec students gathered in their respective faculty association general assemblies and held the first strike votes in mid-February 2012. These general assemblies are a form of participatory democracy which occur on a regular basis on university and cégep (college specific to the province of Québec) campuses throughout Québec. The following videos are only a few examples of what such general assemblies look like:

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois à l'assemblée générale extraordinaire du Cégep Édouard-Montpetit - 17 avril 2012 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyGP3FdE27w

Assemblée Générale au Cégep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu - 8 mars 2012 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYeGuNwvWQ4

Cégep Bois-de-Boulogne en Grève Générale Illimitée! - 26 mars 2012 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5QmpEoE0wU

In the third video (Cégep Bois-de-Boulogne), you can see that the gymnasium is pretty packed. Students gathered to vote on whether or not the next general assembly to extend the strike should be held ONLY once the minister of education and the student associations negotiated a deal. The reason behind such a vote is as follows: If students were to vote against the above proposition, the student association would continue to hold general assemblies to extend the strike mandate on a much more regular basis (some SAs held a general assembly every 7 days). After having voted by what appears to have been a secret ballot, the chair of the general assembly announced the results: 917 in favour (64%), 464 against (33%) and 36 abstentions (3%). Thus, following an offer, made by the minister of education Lynne Beauchamps on April 5, 2012, a general assembly was convened by the executive of l'Association générale des étudiants de Bois-de-Boulogne and convened on April 12, 2012.

Ontario activists lend their voices in solidarity with strike Quebec students

Now, after this long-winded introduction on the Québec student strike, let me get to the topic of this post: students organizing outside of Québec, in "solidarity" with the striking québécois students. This section will focus on events that have occurred in Ontario. However, numerous actions have taken place in other areas across Canada and as far as the France, the United States and in Chili.

Let's start with Occupy Toronto activists whom, during a May 21, 2012 general assembly held at Cloud Garden, heard from "Laura", a student activist from Québec. The outcome of this meeting led to one of the first actions undertaken in Ontario which was a protest held in Toronto, Ontario on May 22, 2012. This protest was held in conjunction with the massive student protest held in Montreal to commemorate the 100th day of the student strike. Approximately 300 people showed up to this first solidarity protest.

A call for support from 4 Québec student activists (Max Silverman, Andrée Bourbeau, Émilie Breton-Côté and Émilie Charette), all member of the Coalition large de l'Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (CLASSE), was published on May 22, 2012.

Ontario Activists Form the Ontario Student Mobilization Coalition

On May 24, 2012, a group of student activists, labour union reps and community organizers gathered at Ryerson University and formed the Ontario Student Solidarity Network (OSSN). Those present agreed to the following statement of principles:

1. We stand in solidarity with Québec students.

2. We will fight to defend affordable, accessible and free public education.

3. We oppose the oppressive Bill 78 of Quebec, other municipal laws and police actions.

4. We understand that our struggle is linked with a broader agenda of austerity and oppose this broad agenda. 

From left to right: Benoit Dupuis (Ontario Public Service Employees Union), Sandy Hudson (chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario) and Xavier Lafrance (former spokesperson for l'Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante)

A press conference was held in Toronto on May 25, 2012 which announced the creation of the new group. Present at the press conference: Sandy Hudson, the chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, Xavier Lafrance, a former spokesperson for the Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ) and current PhD student at York University and Benoit Dupuis, an Ontario Public Service Employees Union representative.

On May 25, 2012, Here and Now Toronto's Laura Di Battista spoke with Nora Loreto, the former communications and government relations coordinator for the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, about the Québec student strike and how students in Ontario might "import"  the strike movement into the province with the highest tuition fees in Canada. You can listen to that interview below:

Another student group has also been created: The Ontario Student Mobilisation Coalition (OSMC). Student activists coined the term "Maple spread" (on Twitter, #maplespread) to describe the phenomenon of "spreading" the Québec student strike to Ontario. The OSMC defines #maplespread as follows:

Maple Spread: awareness spreading across the nation. Knowledge and outrage spreading through our minds, inspiration spreading through our hearts. Rallies, coalitions, demands, all spreading across the Quebec border.

The OSMC's website states:

Through groups such as the OSMC, we hope to spread the word that all Canadians are concerned about the future of our education. #MapleSpread, or the Maple Spring movement, is about demonstrating solidarity with a free education movement. (On twitter at @OntarioSMC or with #maplespread and on facebook at the Ontario Students Mobilization Coalition)

The organization's "living goals" are:

1. Free postsecondary education 

2. Decolonize education 

3. Work to see student unions recognized under the Labour Law like in Quebec, rather than the Corporations Act; this is to secure our legal right to strike through general assembly

Finally, the organization's call to action can be found here.

Actions Elsewhere in Ontario

Closer to home, students at the University of Ottawa barricaded Alan Rock's office on May 24, 2012. In a press release, Nicole Desnoyers, the organizer of the occupation, denounces the University of Ottawa's Board of Governors for having approved a 5% tuition increase during its April 2, 2012 meeting.

The so-called "Casseroles" protests first began in Ontario on May 25, 2012. One of Ottawa's first 'casseroles' protest occurred on May 29, 2012.

London, Ontario also got in on the Casseroles action on May 29, 2012:

This led to what was dubbed "Casserole Night in Canada" on May 30, 2012 which has become a recurring event in big cities as well as smaller towns and villages across the country.

The next major protest, organized by the OSMC, occurred on June 5, 2012 with George Brown College as its starting point.

Mobilize to Take Back our Education, Toronto, Ontario - June 5, 2012 - Photo credit: Anna Crooke

Many events happened on June 22, 2012, once again, in conjunction with the monthly protests in Québec. The following list of events is obviously not exhaustive.

Casseroles
- St-Thomas, Ontario
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Brantford, Ontario
- Kapuskasing, Ontario
- Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
- London, Ontario

You can see more events by checking out this special 'Casseroles' Google Maps!

The OSMC organized an event dubbed La Masquerade Solidarité on June 22, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario.

Rally during La Masquerade Solidarité - Toronto, ON - June 22, 2012 - Photo credit: Jessa McLean

As has been the tradition on the 22nd day of each month, July 22, 2012 was filled with protests. CLASSE organized the protests in Québec and dubbed it Dehors les Néolibéraux!

In the nation's capital, the Munch and March: Support Free Education took place at Confederation Park.

Since this post has become quite long, I will simply make mention, for the time being, of the Ontario Student Solidarity Tour. The speaking tour included an appearance by the co-spokesperson of  la CLASSE, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, on the first stop of the tour at the University of Ottawa. Other student activists included: Jérémie Bédard-Wien, an executive member of la CLASSE, Hugo Bonin, an activist with la CLASSE, Marianne Breton Fontaine, editor of the Québec Young Communist League's newspaper Jeunesse Militante and Audrey Deveault, the Chairperson of the Dawson Student Union. Sarah Jayne King, the chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario was also present to moderate the discussions. The tour was sponsored by the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, Jeunesse Militante and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. To find out more about tour, visit www.solidaritytour.tumblr.com. 

Finally, during the weekend of July 28 & 29, 2012, the University of Toronto Graduate Students' Union (UTGSU) hosted the Ontario Student Strike Training Camp. Pictures of the weekend events can be found here. 

It goes without saying that Ontario and Québec are completely different in so many ways. Knowing what you now know about what has been going on in Ontario in terms of "importing" or "spreading" the Quebec student strike into this province, what do you think? Are Ontario student organizers too optimistic in attempting to organize a student strike as soon as this fall (September 2012)? What are the chances that a widespread student strike ever occurs in Ontario...? in any other Canadian province/territory...? I look forward to hearing what your thoughts are on this issue! Don't be shy! Les commentaires en Français sont aussi encouragés!

Assez avec les comparaisons aberrantes!?!

Écoutez! Il y a quand même des maudites de limites!? Les gens dans les photos ci-dessous devraient tous et toutes avoir honte. Certaines personnes tentent de défendre l'utilisation du "Hitler salute" ou le "Nazi salute" en disant que c'est simplement pour se moquer de la Service de police et des tactiques dites oppressives des policiers. Oui, il est vrai qu'il y a eu plusieurs, plusieurs, plusieurs actes discutables de la part de certains policiers. Souvent, des journalistes ont été détenus arbitrairement même si leurs cartes de presse étaient clairement affichées.

Source: The Gazette - Jewish groups decry Nazi salutes at Quebec student protests; Photo credits: Steeve Duguay, Agence France Presse

Source: Canadian Press - Huffington Post - Quebec Student Federation Says Sorry For Nazi Salutes; Photo credits: Peter McCabe, Canadian Press

Photo credits: Steeve Duguay - Agence France Presse 

Source: Montreal Gazette - A myopic and dangerous world view; Photo credit: Vincenzo D'Alto, Montreal Gazette

Photo credits: Benoît Liard - © Tous droits réservés

Source: CTV Montreal - Nazi salute apology falls short

Source: Robin Edgar - Striking Quebec Students Taunt SPVM Riot Police With Nazi Salute

Un autre vidéo, cette fois-ci de la part de la Presse canadienne, se trouve ici. Frank Dimant, le Directeur général de l'organisation B'Nai Brith Canada, une organisation qui milite pour les personnes juives, condamne l'utilisation par certains manifestants du symbole du Nazisme lors des manifestations étudiantes : "...to equate the actions of police in Montreal to Nazis is totally inappropriate." Il continue : "It trivializes the whole Holocaust experience and the pain that the people who are survivors of the Holocaust. When they hear the usage of phrases 'this is a Nazi', 'this is like a Nazi', well, thank God there is nothing in this country that is like Nazism or Nazis."

Bon, il est important de constater que Martine Desjardins, présidente de la Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) s'est excusé directement à M. Dimant par téléphone. La Coalition large de l'Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (CLASSE) a aussi condamné l'utilisation du symbole du Nazisme via le compte Twitter de l'organisation. 

Nous avons tous vu comment l'opinion publique au Québec peut fluctuer de façon importante quant au conflit étudiant. De tels gestes sont insensés et n'ont aucune place non seulement au sein du mouvement étudiant, mais nulle part, point final. 

Je vous invite à commenter ci-dessous! 

Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) donates 30 000$ to Quebec legal defence fund

Delegates at the CFS semi-annual general meeting used #fcee12 as their Twitter hashtag

Before I begin, I would like to welcome the newly elected Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) executive. Ethan Plato (President), Adam Gilani (Vice-president Finance), Anne-Marie Roy (Vice-president Communications), Kate Hudson (Vice-president Student Affairs), Jozef Spiteri (Vice-president Social) and Elizabeth Kessler (Vice-president University Affairs) began their mandates on Tuesday May 1, 2012.

Also, outgoing SFUO Vice-president Finance (2010-2011, 2011-2012), Sarah Jayne King, recently began her mandate as the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario (CFS-O) chairperson replacing two-time CFS-O chairperson, Sandy Hudson. Here's a video of Ms. King speaking in Toronto, at George Brown College, during a "Casserole March" on Tuesday June 5, 2012. Her speech is pertinent to this post.

I think it goes without saying that I have been following the Quebec student strike (or boycott) very closely. I have been working on a comprehensive historical timeline of events which led up to the beginning of the current strike which began in the middle of February 2012. I will attempt to complete it within the next few days so stay tuned! If you follow me on Twitter (@climbrandon) you will see when I publish new blog posts!

The infamous "carré rouge" which became the symbol of the 2005 Quebec student strike

Now, during the recent Canadian Federation of Students' (CFS) semi-annual general meeting, which took place in Gatineau, Quebec from Thursday May 31 to Sunday June 3, 2012 at the Palais des congrès de Gatineau, a number of motions were passed by the delegates. I would like to point out one motion in particular which I found to be of great interest which easily passed during the closing plenary. The CFS delegates voted in favour of making a $30 000 contribution to the Independent Legal Fund in support of the Quebec Student Strike (Fond légal indépendant de soutien envers la Grève étudiante du Québec) which is managed by the Dawson Student Union (Local 108 of the Canadian Federation of Students). The "bylaws" governing this legal fund (only available in French) outline its objectives:

a) To collect financial donations for the purpose of support the Quebec student strike;

b) To seek out new sources of financial support;

c) To administer the Fund's resources;

d) Give, or lend, partially or in full, the resources associated to the Fund.

I will be attempting to get more information on this so-called "independent fund" in the days to come and will update this post as needed.

In the years since the SFUO joined the CFS, I have been particularly interested in the way this organization manages students' money. It is quite interesting that the only member local left in Quebec, Dawson Students' Union, will be receiving such a significant amount of money to help fund the legal defense of people who, in many cases, have broken the law. This is not to say that every single person that has been arrested since the beginning of the student strike has committed a criminal offense. To the contrary, many have been written up after having been at the wrong place at the wrong time. However, myself having attended a protest in Gatineau, Québec a few weeks back, I witnessed behavior that was disappointing to say the least. People dressed in black CFS "Drop Fees" t-shirts who had their faces nearly completely covered (some of which hold prominent elected positions within the uOttawa governing bodies) attempted throughout the rally to impede police cruisers from following the crowd. They did so by moving orange construction barricades into the path of the police cruisers. Some even decided it would be smart to grab the large construction pylons and throw them in the middle of the road or even into the ditch. I also witnessed these same protesters (clothed in black) grab cans of red spray paint from their backpacks and begin to draw red squares on government building signs. This type of behavior is completely unnecessary and, in fact, was quite out of place that night considering the festive nature of the protest. In my opinion, if students' money is to go towards defending people who have been accused of committing such criminal acts, the CFS should not have donated a cent to this legal defense fund. Of course, delegates passed another motion condemning the infamous Bill 78 (which was wise, in my opinion). The same motion also called on students to engage in "direct action and civil disobedience" in order to contest the law. Since both these concepts could be defined differently by different people, some may conclude that the motion is calling for people to break the law. If someone disagrees with a particular law and question its constitutionality, there exists ways by which to legally contest the law as have done the FEUQ, FECQ and CLASSE.

All this to say that the CFS has had little influence on the events that have taken place in Quebec since the beginning of the student strike. This, for an organization that purports to be a national student organization must put the leadership in a very uncomfortable situation. At least there appears to be some sort of admission that the rest of Canada is nowhere close to being prepared to initiate such a strike/boycott, never mind make it last over 100 days. I don't believe that such a strike will ever occur elsewhere in Canada and, in my opinion, the chances that students in Ontario will initiate a strike in September 2012 is even less likely than in other provinces. My reasoning behind my last statement is relatively simply but will not be addressed at the present time.

As always, your comments/questions are welcome and encouraged!

Hammett resigns to apply for SFUO executive coordinator

Amy Hammett is (apparently) at it again!

It's been quiet as of late... too quiet. The student press is no longer printing yet "student politics never sleep". With less than a month left in their mandate, you may have thought that the current SFUO executive might go out quietly. But no, while a majority of students are busy studying for exams and scrambling to hand in their term papers, some students would rather raise Hell. Don't get me wrong, that's not necessarily a bad thing at all. However, the tactics being used have led some to question the effectiveness of these protests. There was this stunt that the SFUO executive helped facilitate last week: the "occupation" of Allan Rock's office in Tabaret Hall. See pictures below:

Amy Hammett and Marie-Claude Noël providing pizza to the students occupying Allan Rocks office.

Amy Hammett and Marie-Claude Noël providing pizza to the students occupying Allan Rocks office.

Not to mention the stunt the SFUO also encouraged during the University of Ottawa board of governors' meeting on April 2, 2012. This is how some students believe things should go down when they disagree with what is going on.

Marie-Claude Noël puts on her best face for Allan Rock while Iain Brannigan toots away on his "Drop Fees" whistle in the elevator of Desmarais Building

Now, let's get to the reason why I'm writing this current post. I have learnt, throughout my years of observing the SFUO executive, to never underestimate the ability of these people to lower the bar even lower than before when it comes to ethics. To add context, this job posting appeared on CharityVillage.com on April 4, 2012. I received this email yesterday evening from an anonymous email address:

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Ottawa Student studentottawa@gmail.com
Date: Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 12:21 PM
Subject: SFUO news
To: editor@thefulcrum.ca, executive@thefulcrum.ca, news@thefulcrum.ca, president@larotonde.ca
I would like to make the student medias aware that the current VP student affairs, Amy Hammett, has officially resigned from her elected position as of April 14th. She has done this so she could officially apply for the SFUO Executive coordinator position. VP finance, Sarah Jayne King, (her known ally and friend) is in charge of interviewing and hiring at the SFUO and the current Executive coordinator, Shawn Phillip Hunsdale, also sits in on the interviews for this position. I find that it is a huge conflict of interests and really sketchy that they are doing this during exam period and while the medias are no longer printing, and the current executive is taking advantage of their situation and doing all the hiring before May 1st, when the new exec would start, so that they can stack the SFUO with people they approve of (AKA their friends) and who share their views. 

UPDATE: It has been confirmed that Amy Hammett sent out a message to her staff announcing that she was resigning from her position as the SFUO's vice-president student affairs.

To be fair, I have not attempted to communicate with Ms. Hammett to ask her. However, I don't envy the journalists that will be tasked with trying to get her to comment on this one. I mean, Hell, she didn't see fit to reply to my last blog post. If Amy Hammett has in fact resigned as vice-president student affairs in order to apply for the position of SFUO executive coordinator, I feel sorry for the incoming executive. Not so much Elizabeth Kessler, incumbent VP university affairs, as she has worked with Amy for many years and is used to her way of doing things. Not even Adam Gilani, incoming VP finance, nor Anne-Marie Roy, incoming VP communications, as they are also both affiliated with Hammett's crew. No, I'm referring to the three individuals who were elected in the February SFUO elections who were unaffiliated with the above-mentioned group: Ethan Plato, Jozef Spiteri and Kate Hudson. Those who were elected to bring about change to the SFUO rather than the same old hire-your-friends-behind-closed-doors and keep-all-information-about-anything-to-ourselves mentalities which have been prominent over the past few years. 

Shawn Phillip Hunsdale's shady past in student politics

The famous Shawn Phillip Hunsdale, the media story that never was. The outgoing executive coordinator has quite the history in student politics. He was elected President of the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) for the 2006-2007 academic year as part of the "Common Sense" slate and is said to have been heavily involved in with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). Coincidentally, in 2008, the SFSS held a referendum on continued membership in the CFS. A former SFSS President, Clement Abas Apaak, wrote this letter to fellow students with regards to the CFS referendum. In it, Apaak wrote:

AS we now know, he (referring to Hunsdale) used underhanded tactics, and concocted charges, in collaboration with his lover and right hand woman, Margo Dunnet, to dismiss one of our long and outstanding staff people at the SFSS, Hattie (Aitken). Why, because she was a staff person who was not seen as loyal to the CFS (and) was regarded as an obstacle in the bid of a CFS-owned company to take over as the broker for the grad health plan.

Rather than go on and on about his past, I suggest that you simply Google "Shawn Hunsdale". His apparent crusade was to change the SFSS' health plan from Gallivan &Associates to the National Student Health Network (NSHN), a service created by the CFS (SURPRISE!). You can also visit the following links to get a better understanding of Mr. Hunsdale's interesting past.

The Peak - Simon Fraser University's Student Newspaper - July 31, 2006

SFSS Democracy Now - IssueGate

SFSS Democracy Now - SFSS Official Response sent out by Shawn Hunsdale - August 9, 2006

SFSS Democracy Now - A Dissection of Hunsdale's Official Response

The Georgia Straight - SFU firing draws its own fire -  August 17, 2006

Video Documentary of the SFSS Special General Meeting which drew approximately 800 students. This is the Special general meeting at which Shawn Hunsdales and 6 other members of the SFSS executive were impeached by an overwhelming majority as can be seen in the video (This group of 7 was often referred to as the "G7" in student media). Before being impeached, the G7 purportedly hired Ms. Angela Regnier who, at the time, was the CFS National Deputy Chairperson.

The above image was purportedly taken during vote on whether or not to impeach Shawn Hunsdale. These people were voting IN FAVOUR of impeaching the former President of the SFSS.

This image was also taken during the SGM from a higher view point.

François Picard during a Canadian Federation of Students' Annual General Meeting

All this to say, the position of SFUO executive coordinator was brought in by Ms. Pam Hrick when she was the SFUO President during the 2007-2008 academic year. It was rumoured at the time that she created this position just for Mr. François Picard who held the position until he was hired by the newly-elected Quebec NDP MP Mylène Freeman. That is when Hunsdale came into the picture although he had been in charge of running the SFUO health plan before being hired to replace Mr. Picard. If Hammett is in fact hired as to replace Mr. Hunsdale, this would ensure the kind of "continuity" that her and her crew require to ensure that the SFUO remains in-line with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) "policies". You see, Sarah-Jayne King was elected as the Chairperson of the CFS-Ontario and will thus be well informed about anything and everything that occurs on our campus. If you haven't yet read about the unrest that has begun at Carleton University with regards to the CFS, I encourage you all to read some of the articles/letters in The Charlatan.

Such patronage hiring (if Hammett does in fact get hired as the new SFUO executive coordinator) is simply another example of a long list of shady practices by the current SFUO executive. 

As always, your comments are welcomed and encouraged!

Responding to Amy Hammett

At last month's Student Federation of the University of Ottawa Board of administration (SFUO BOA) meeting, I was asked by Brendan Andrews to sit in as his proxy. Since I had already planned on attending the meeting as a spectator, I gladly accepted his request.

Having blogged about a recent comment made by the SFUO's VP Communication, Paige Galette, on her personal Facebook page, I took the opportunity to ask her if she was prepared to publicly apologize to both The Fulcrum and LaRotonde for having used her position of influence in an attempt to influence the content of our independent, student-run newspapers. I also pointed out that she had made those comments on Thursday February 9, 2012. To give you a bit more context, on that very day, The Fulcrum published its second edition out of a total of three and LaRotonde had only published one out of a total of three editions during the month of February. Ms. Galette very much disagreed with the premise of my question and went as far as to suggest that it was the newspapers' staff who should apologize to the students who were, according to her, absolutely outraged that they had failed to cover Black History Month events up to that date (February 9, 2012) and in particular, the Black History Month Gala. To be clear, I'm not in any way attempting to defend neither The Fulcrum nor LaRotonde. However, I am saying that, as an elected official on the SFUO executive, one should not be using their position of influence in an attempt to dictate what the independent, student-run newspapers.

Now, as the title of this post suggests, the main reason for this post is to respond directly to remarks that the outgoing Vice-President Student Affairs, Ms. Amy Hammett made to me personally, after the meeting had concluded. My presence at yesterday's SFUO BOA meeting once again reminded me of what she had said to me. I am more than happy to address her remarks and to shed light on the behaviour of many of the board members during the February 26, 2012 SFUO BOA meeting.

But first, of course, context is important. At this time, it should be noted that journalists from both The Fulcrum and LaRotonde were present at the start of the February 26, 2012 meeting. Something occurred during the first part of the meeting that appeared to frustrate (and I'd even go as far to say enrage) many board members sitting around the table. Once question period period had concluded (after executive updates and before the beginning of consideration of new business), two journalists from LaRotonde, who were present in the gallery, made their way to the exit. Once they had exited the uOttawa Senate Chambers, the Chair was forced to bring the meeting to order as many board members seemed to be speaking amongst themselves. When the Chair asked what all the commotion was about, David Eaton responded that the two journalists from LaRotonde had distracted him as they exited the room. Many board members then began to question why the journalists from LaRotonde had left and, in particular, I recall Ms. Hammett asking aloud why the two journalists had left the meeting. Once the consideration of business continued, I recall Ms. Hammett asking me directly if I knew why the two journalists had left. Not having received my credentials as a professional psychic, I answered that I had no idea why they left and went on to suggest that she address such questions directly to the journalists themselves or that she speak with LaRotonde's editor-in-chief. Ms. Hammett then indicated that she had already in fact tweeted at LaRotonde and that she had not yet received a response. The following exchanges took place on Twitter (in the order in which they appear):

Alright, so you kind of get the idea. Along with this back on fourth on Twitter, many board members ensured to take every possible opportunity to voice their disappointment in LaRotonde throughout the meeting (in particular, I can recall Amalia Savva, Paige Galette (who referred to LaRotonde as a "tabloid" newspaper) and Adam Gilanni having made such comments along with numerous other board members going out of their way to point out LaRotonde's absence to the point of hostility). Some claimed that LaRotonde's journalists were ignoring the important motions that were being discussed. In particular, a motion dealing with accessibility and others bringing forward various amendments to Bylaw 13 (governance of 101 Week):

Section 13.3.3.7

Section 13.5.3.7.4

Section 13.7.9.2.1

Section 13.11

For readers who may not be familiar with the procedures of the SFUO BOA, I would now like to explain the process which each motion must go through in order for it to become official policy of the SFUO. Most importantly, I would like to point out that every motion presented to the SFUO BOA must be "read" twice before passing.

1) A motion is introduced by the board member who brought it to the board
2) The board member then motivates (giving reasons as to why the board should should support the policy)
3) Question period: board members who wish to ask questions about the motion are then allowed to do so;
4) Debate: Self-explanatory
5) Vote

Therefore, the above 5 steps must occur twice before any given motion becomes official SFUO policy.

As readers will notice in the February 26, 2012 SFUO BOA meeting agenda, all 5 motions were to be read a first time. Therefore, if all 5 motions passed first reading, they would be read a second time at yesterday's SFUO BOA meeting (Motion 13.11 did not pass first reading on February 26th and was sent back to committee which is why, on yesterday's SFUO BOA meeting agenda, it was once again at first reading stage).

Now that that has been explained to the best of my ability, I would now like to paraphrase the exchange between Ms. Hammett and I upon the conclusion of the February 26, 2012 SFUO BOA meeting: 

Amy: What are your thoughts on the fact that LaRotonde's journalists left early?

Brandon: I don't understand why so many board members appeared seemed to be disturbed by this.

Amy: Well, LaRotonde's journalists didn't bother staying to cover the discussions surrounding the important motions that we dealt with.

Brandon: I'm not attempting to defend them but maybe they had to leave because they had other commitments.

Amy: I really am starting to question your ability to think critically about organizations other than the SFUO.

That last line is the one that really caught my attention. Near the end of our short exchange, she said she looked forward to reading my criticism of the perceived issue on my blog. Upon completion, I will personally post a link to this post on Ms. Hammett's Facebook page to ensure that she knows that I didn't forget about her! In fact, I strongly encourage Ms. Hammett to forward me her response and I commit to publishing it as a standalone post.

First of all, I would like to say that I did not share the feelings of hostility that many board members appeared to have towards the early departure of LaRotonde's journalists. The assumptions that they appeared to be making as to the journalists' motivations were completely unfair and, in my opinion, unfounded. These board members were not in any position to know whether or not, for example, the journalists were ill or had if they had other obligations (such as homework, family, etc.).

Secondly, The Fulcrum and LaRotonde are independent from the SFUO. This means that their respective journalists are accountable to each newspapers' editor-in-chief, their respective teams of journalists and, most importantly, their readership. Thus, the SFUO executive has absolutely no say in what our student newspapers write about and rightly so.

Thirdly, as I have already pointed out, all 5 motions presented during the February 26, 2012 SFUO BOA meeting were at first reading. This means that they were to be discussed again, as they were, during yesterday's board meeting (March 18, 2012). Both The Fulcrum and LaRotonde journalists were present throughout yesterday's meeting thus covering the discussions surrounding those motions. Accordingly, students will be will have the opportunity to read about yesterday's meeting today in LaRotonde and on Thursday in The Fulcrum.

Lastly, and this isn't the first time I've said this, the SFUO executive has a responsibility to inform its membership that such meetings occur and that they are open to anybody who wish to attend. On February 26, 2012, the gallery consisted of one journalist from The Fulcrum and one or two other students. At yesterday's SFUO BOA meeting, other than myself, there were two journalists from LaRotonde and one journalist from The Fulcrum in the gallery. That in itself appears to be telling.

Accordingly, I strongly reject Ms. Hammett's suggestion that I somehow lack the ability to think critically simply because I refused to participate in the collective bashing of LaRotonde undertaken by board members throughout the February 26, 2012 SFUO BOA meeting. Read on...

So, why aren't students attending SFUO BOA meetings you ask? Take a look at the online calendar found on the SFUO website:

Sunday March 18, 2012: empty. Yesterday the SFUO BOA met at Roger-Guindon Campus for its second last meeting of the 2011-2012 mandate. It should be noted that the online calendar had been utilized initially to advertise the monthly BOA meetings (i.e.: months of January 2012, December 2011, November 2011, October 2011, September 2011). Kudos! If you happen to figure out where the SFUO BOA web page is, you WILL find this list of meeting dates:

Fair is fair: the meeting dates appear on the website. However, as I previously mentioned, yesterday's meeting took place at the Roger-Guindon Campus. Let's just say that someone did happen to notice that there was a meeting taking place yesterday. If that person also somehow knew that SFUO BOA meetings usually take place in the uOttawa Senate Chambers (Tabaret Hall, Room 083), that person still would have been out of luck. The tools that the SFUO should be using in order to inform its membership about such meeting are not and have rarely ever been used to publicize SFUO BOA meetings: The SFUO's Twitter account (@SFUO_FEUO) has been inactive since Friday March 16, 2012 (as of 11:30 am on March 19, 2012). The SFUO's Facebook page has also been inactive since Friday March 16, 2012 (again, as of 11:30 am on March 19, 2012). And finally, let us not forget the Ohhlala app which has been adopted by the SFUO as yet another way to connect with its membership. And again, this tool has not been utilized either.

Now, don't get me wrong, I completely agree that our student-run newspapers have a duty to inform uOttawa students about campus news and events. However, before elected members of the highest decision-making body of the SFUO start complaining about our independent, student-run newspapers, maybe they should have been questioning the current Vice-President Communications, Ms. Paige Galette, as to why the communication tools at her disposal have rarely been utilized to inform students about motions being introduced and debated during board meetings. But no, this year's board has not, in my opinion, asked the tough questions and HAS lacked the capacity to think critically about the organization that it purports to oversee. I say this having attended every board meeting with the exception of the January 15, 2012 meeting. Rarely has a board member ever questioned what such and such a motion may entail in terms of financial cost. Rarely has a board member asked about the U-Pass negotiations. And, while not hesitating to denounce the uOttawa administration for a lack of transparency, rarely has a board member ever asked that SFUO BOA documents and/or SFUO executive meeting minutes  be made available online in order to ensure that board members/executive members can be held accountable to their members and are as transparent as possible. I can only hope that the incoming board members will take a hard look at the opportunity that they have been given by their peers and will take their role as board members seriously.

I will conclude by once again strongly encouraging the outgoing Vice-President Student Affairs, Ms. Amy Hammett to forward me, in due time, a response to this post. I have gladly taken the time to answer her charge and would very much like to know what she thinks about what I have written in this post. And, as always, your comments are always welcome and encouraged!

My thoughts on the 2012 SFUO elections results and future reforms

Hey everyone! It's been awhile!

I've received a couple emails from readers pointing out that I've been noticeably absent throughout the past month or so. I apologize to my faithful readership but school has undoubtedly taken up nearly every waking moment of my time. Since I've been absent for an extended period of time, you can forgive me if this post is a little longer than usual! I've got A LOT on my mind!

My thoughts on the 2012 SFUO elections results

So, now that that's out of the way, let me start by saying I was extremely pleased with the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa's (SFUO) elections! What I will call the "pro-Canadian Federation of Students" (CFS) team was, by all accounts, OBLITERATED on elections' night. I say that because out of the four races in which there were two or more people running (President, VP Student Affairs, VP University Affairs and VP Social), only one of their team members was elected. The other two team members had it pretty easy as they ran unopposed. This team consisted of Presidential candidate Amalia Savva, VP Finance candidate Adam Gilani, VP Student Affairs candidate Tasha Peters, VP University Affairs candidate Elizabeth Kessler, VP Social candidate Marie-Claude Noël and VP Communications candidate Anne-Marie Roy. It just goes to show how allowing candidates to work together in teams doesn't always assure a swift victory for that said team. To be honest, I didn't think it would turn out the way it did. 

Before I go any further, I would like to share with you my election predictions (which I finalized on upon arriving at 1848 on Election results' night). 

Voter turnout: 17.6%

President: Savva by 1.2%

VP Social: Spiteri by 5%

VP University Affairs: Kessler by 30%

VP Student Affairs: Peters by 8%

VP Finance: 95% Yes

VP Communication: 98% Yes

U-Pass Referendum: 59% No

Photo Credits: La Rotonde © 2012 (Facebook Group link while it lasts)

I'm glad that Ethan Plato (2364 votes or 51%) and Jozef Spiteri (2218 votes or 55%) pulled off what I will characterize as an "upset" by winning the positions of president and VP Social respectively. It should also be noted that Plato and Spiteri ran as a team as well. Presidential candidates Amalia Savva (the leader of the pro-CFS team; 1778 votes or 38%) and Philippe Mulet (an independent; 538 votes or 11%) did not do as well as I thought they would. This was Savva's third election campaign in which she ran for the SFUO presidency. Her first kick at the can came in 2010 when Tyler Steeves was finally elected (after having himself ran twice before for the SFUO presidency unsuccessfully). Then, last year, Savva faced a formidable opponent in Nathan Boivin who, in the end, lost by only 53 votes. It's also worth noting that Savva received more votes this year (1778 votes) than she received in her successful bid last year (1676 votes). Spiteri's opponent and incumbent VP Social Marie-Claude Noël seemed to be out of ideas during the debates. She read from a prepared speech which was filled with nice, comforting words but had little substance.

I was even more shocked to learn that Kate Hudson had beat out the outright favourite, Tasha Peters for VP Student Affairs. I honestly expected Peters to win without much trouble. So, in the end, only 50% of the pro-CFS team was elected with two out of three candidates running unopposed: Anne-Marie Roy (3645 Yes votes) and Adam Gilani (3593 Yes votes) were elected to the positions of VP Communications and VP Finance respectively. Please note that I have communicated with Julia McDonald (SFUO Chief Electoral Officer) and Crystel Hajjar (SFUO Chief Returning Officer) requesting that the number of spoiled/disallowed votes for each position be made available as well as the number of No votes for the positions which were uncontested. These numbers have yet to be added (Friday March 2, 2012).

UPDATE (Wednesday March 7, 2012): Julia McDonald replied to my inquiry on Tuesday March 6, 2012:

Hi Brandon,

Below are the numbers you requested.

VP FINANCE
GILANI, Adam: Yes votes 3593; No votes 857

VP COMMUNICATIONS
ROY, Anne-Marie: Yes votes 3645; No votes 773

It is not possible for me to provide you with percentages as it would be far
too time consuming to determine the number of spoils for individual races.
This is because of the way the counting machines functioned.

And as an aside, in light of your previous email, I want to mention that I
will bring to the BOA's attention the option of putting my final elections
report online.

All the best,

Julia McDonald
Directrice Generale des Elections / Chief Electoral Officer
Fédération étudiante de l'Université d'Ottawa - Student Federation of the
University of Ottawa
309-85 University Pvt.
Ottawa, ON     K1N 8Z4
613-562-5800 x. 2625

Lastly, VP University Affairs incumbent Elizabeth Kessler managed to squeeze passed her opponent, Christopher Clarke, by a mere 198 votes. This year, Kessler, a member of the pro-CFS team and the SFUO's representative to the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, fumbled on a major issue which will likely leave uOttawa students with $70 less in their pockets. She was responsible for negotiating with the City of Ottawa council and OC Transpo with regards to the Universal Bus Pass (U-Pass). A group of students from uOttawa and Carleton University, which included Kessler, made a submission back in November 2011 (November 16 to be more precise) to the City of Ottawa's Transit Commission. During that meeting, the group of students presented a commissioned study (prepared by two PhD students from Carleton University) which refuted the City's numbers when it came to the price of a revenue neutral U-Pass (at the price of $145/semester, the City of Ottawa subsidizes the U-Pass to the tune of about $3 million). The City claimed that in order to eliminate this taxpayer subsidy, OC Transpo must charge $180/semester ($360 U-Pass; an increase of $70). To make a long story short, the students were asked some tough questions by some of the Commission's members and, in my opinion, demonstrated that they hadn't done their homework. Questions such as "Is this information that you've presented in the report based on empirical evidence?" were met with unclear answers from the student delegation. You can listen to this meeting via the City of Ottawa's website (jump to 42:22 for the student delegations' presentation).

When Kessler was asked during the elections' debate why she hadn't informed students about that meeting, she insisted that it was the student media's fault for not having covered the meeting. The "commissioned study" can be found here. I also covered that Transit Commission meeting in a post that can be found here. It should be noted that this report was never made available to students on the SFUO website. I finally found the document on the Carleton University Graduate Students' Association's website. Although Clarke brought some new ideas to the table, his spoken French wasn't where it needed to be. Add on the fact that he took a few long pauses during the debate and you begin to understand why he was ultimately defeated.

Future Reforms Possible?

I would now like to deal with some issues that, in my opinion, should be looked at in terms of reforming the SFUO and the SFUO board of administration (SFUO BOA) which could have become very contentious had there been any major complaints filed and later appealed. I'm referring to the composition of the Elections Committee (a three-person body which is tasked with hearing appeals of rulings made by Chief electoral officer. The Elections Committee members were Sarah Jayne King (current SFUO VP Finance, current CFS-O Treasurer, CFS-O Chairperson-Elect), Paige Galette (current SFUO VP Communications, current Francophone student representative on the CFS national executive) and Jesse Root (Amalia Savva's former campaign manager). Does anybody else see a problem here? Luckily, as far as I'm aware, no major issues have arose from the election campaign and the Elections Committee wasn't required to rule on any serious complaints. Regardless, there should be no way that people with such obvious biases should be allowed to sit on the Elections Committee in the future. When your only defense is "There is nothing in the SFUO Constitution that states that I'm not allowed to sit on the Elections Committee", you begin to wonder what this person's motives really are. This is a major problem which should be avoided at all costs in future elections. We have seen what could happen in 2011 (disqualification of Tristan Dénomée and instalment of Sarah Jayne King as VP Finance without a by-election) and in 2010 (resignation of SFUO Chief Electoral Officer, Julien de Bellefeuille; then-SFUO President Seamus Wolfe, also a member of the Elections Committee, became both judge and jury when it was decided that a replacement CEO would not be hired).

I do hope that Plato was sincere when he brought up the fact that he would be open to conducting a review into the way the SFUO is governed (i.e.: SFUO BOA, electoral administration, etc.). Now, for starters, the SFUO does not have a conflict of interest policy. Such a policy, if implemented correctly, could potentially alleviate many contentious issues which have arisen throughout the years (that I have been very critical of on this blog and at BOA meetings). Even though it should go without saying that elected officials should always act with the utmost integrity and be held to the highest standards of ethics and morality, this has sadly not always been the case, in my opinion, of the SFUO BOA nor of the SFUO executive in the past.
My recommendation: That the SFUO BOA task the Policy and By-laws Committee with reviewing various conflict of interest policies that have been implemented by other elected bodies (City of Ottawa, City of Toronto, other student unions, etc.) and present a report outlining its recommendations and that the SFUO BOA (finally) implement a conflict of interest policy. 

The SFUO is a member of the Canadian Federation of Students. This organization meets twice a year at the national level and twice a year at the provincial level for its respective general meetings. The SFUO executive and staff attend these meetings. If the reason for attending these conferences that members of the SFUO executive attend throughout the year is to bring various student unions together and learn from others' experiences, then the new SFUO executive should take the opportunity to learn from others and actually bring those ideas back to our campus. This would be much more beneficial to the student body at large than simply stating "I attended such and such a conference and it was great!" as was the case during the last SFUO BOA meeting on Sunday February 26, 2012.
My recommendation: I would strongly suggest that each executive member prepare a summary of their activities during the conferences that they attend as representatives of the SFUO and that they present a  comprehensive report to the BOA outlining the things they learnt. 

Another issue that has only recently been brought to my attention is the fact that the uOttawa Archives has in its possession a number of SFUO records. Documents from past executives have been collected and are easily accessible during regular business hours in the basement of the Campus Pharmacy building. It is my understanding that it has been difficult for the uOttawa Archives to obtain documents from the SFUO in the past few years. If true, this is both bizarre and troubling. The SFUO has very little available on its website in terms of institutional memory. For example, if I wanted to find out who the SFUO president was in 1990, I can't simply go onto the SFUO website to get this information. I must then search on Google to see if such information was ever documented on a blog or elsewhere on the World Wide Web. And if I do manage to find this information, it becomes a question of "How am I to verify that this information is actually correct?" I'm obviously not familiar with what kind of record keeping/archiving system the SFUO currently has in place, but it seems to me that the uOttawa Archives should be receiving certain documentation every year from the outgoing SFUO executive in order to keep at least some of the SFUO's fascinating institutional memory alive and accessible for years to come.
My recommendation: Add "She will, at the conclusion of each mandate, provide any and all relevant SFUO documentation produced throughout the year to the University of Ottawa Archives" under Section 3.3.1 (SFUO President Duties) of the SFUO Constitution. 

These are only some of the things that I've had on my mind and thought it would be useful to write them out in hopes that anyone who was elected this year might be inspired by these recommendations. Do you have any recommendations on how to improve the governance of the SFUO? Do you think my recommendations have merit...? are useless...? If you have any thoughts on this or on anything else which pertains to student politics, I want to hear from you! Leave you comments below!