CSU taking CFS to court

Concordia Student Union is taking the Canadian Federation of Students to court. A motion will be filed Thursday asking the CFS to recognize the CSU as no longer a member.

Students overwhelmingly voted to leave in a referendum last year. However, the CFS refused to recognize the vote due to unpaid fees. 

Previous CSU president Keyana Kashfi signed an acknowledgement agreement in 2009. She was agreeing to pay over a million dollars in fees. Thursday’s motion will also ask for that to be declared null and void because she signed without consulting the council.

The CSU is also asking for punitive damages of one-hundred-thousand dollars due to a violation of its right to disassociate. 

Thirteen schools have held referendums to defederate in the past two years. Only three of those have had their referendums recognized by the CFS. Those three also happened to be the only schools that voted to stay in the CFS. 

As the student representative signed on to the case, Hassan Abdullahi says he doesn’t expect the fight to be easy. Simon Fraser University in BC filed a similar case in 2008. They have yet to have their day in court.