Canadian Federation of Students/Fédération canadienne des étudiant(e)s v. Cape Breton University Students’ Union, 2015 ONSC 4093
COURT FILE NO.: 09-47252
DATE: 2015/07/10
ONTARIO
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE
BETWEEN:
Canadian Federation of Students/Fédération canadienne des étudiant(e)s
Plaintiff
– and –
Cape Breton University Students’ Union
Defendant
Todd J. Burke and Joel Reinhardt for the Plaintiff
John Westdal and Dennis Myers for the Defendant
HEARD: January 19-21, 2015 (at Ottawa)
DECISION
BEAUDOIN J.
Overview
[1] This is a dispute between the Canadian Federation of Students (“CFS”) and the Cape Breton University Students’ Union (“CBUSU”) with respect to a vote conducted by the CBUSU in March 2008 on the issue of the CBUSU’s continued membership in the CFS.
[2] The CFS claims that the vote which took place in March 2008 was not a valid referendum, as the CBUSU failed to comply with the applicable Bylaws of the CFS which are binding upon the CBUSU. The CFS seeks: (1) a declaration that the vote conducted in March 2008 was not a valid referendum held in accordance with the CFS Bylaws; (2) a declaration that the CBUSU continues to be a full member of the CFS; and (3) payment of unpaid membership fees owed by CBUSU.
[3] CBUSU maintains that it has complied with the requirements of the applicable Bylaws and that the referendum was validly held. It maintains that there was a valid notice of the scheduled referendum and, for that reason it claims it is no longer a member of the CFS. In the alternative, CBUSU asserts that any non-compliance with the Bylaws is a technicality and the courts should recognize the result of the referendum where 92% of the participating students voted to defederate from the CFS. CBUSU further disputes the quantum of damages claimed.
These facts are admitted
The CFS is a not-for-profit corporation incorporated under the laws of Canada, with its head office located in the City of Ottawa, in the Province of Ontario.
The CFS and its members have a binding contractual relationship pursuant to the Constitution and the Bylaws of the CFS.
The CFS maintains binding contractual relationships with local campus student associations referred to as voting member local union or voting members.
Each voting member is responsible for:
(a) supporting the objectives of the CFS and abiding by all provisions of the CFS’ bylaws;
(b) communicating information from the CFS and the provincial CFS components to its students; and
(c) communicating and working cooperatively with CFS staff and members of the National Executive of the CFS
At all times material to this action, the CFS and its voting members were regulated by the Constitution and Bylaws of the CFS, as amended from time to time (“the Bylaws”).
Bylaw 1 regulates the membership of local student unions in the CFS, including their admission into and their withdrawal from the CFS.
The CBUSU had the opportunity to participate in the formulation of policy of the CFS as Canada’s largest student union for students attending post-secondary educational institutions.
The CFS has subsidized travel and accommodation and other related costs for the CBUSU to attend general meetings. The CBUSU exercised the power to vote at CFS general meetings, including on the elected leadership of the organization. Delegates of the CBUSU were entitled to seek elected office in the CFS.
The CBUSU participated in the bulk ordering of notebooks/day planners, which was facilitated and subsidized by the CFS.
The CFS first received a copy of the petition which CBUSU claimed was submitted in support of a decertification referendum on November 23, 2007.
By letter dated February 11, 2000, CBUSU advised that it still intended to proceed with a vote in March 2008.
A referendum was held by the CBUSU on March 11, 12 and 13, 2008.
Three hundred and sixty-six (366) students voted in the referendum, with 92% indicating they wished to withdraw from the CFS.
The total number of votes in the referendum was less than the number of students who had signed the petition.
The CBUSU destroyed all ballots associated with this referendum.
The CBUSU has not remitted membership fees to the CFS since the 2008/2009 academic year.
The Defendant further admitted the authenticity of a number of documents.
The Evidence of the Plaintiff
[4] Lucy Watson has been the Director of Organizing for the CFS since 2008 and an employee of the CFS since 1996. She described the CFS as an alliance of university student unions whose primary goal is to advocate for a high quality accessible university education system for students. It represents approximately 600,000 students across Canada. Its principal activities are advocacy and public policy work on behalf of students on issues such as tuition fee levels, financial assistance for students and funding for colleges and universities. It is also involved in public awareness campaigns.
[5] Ms. Watson liaises with members of the student unions, elected representatives, individual students, provincial representatives, and she assists with the implementation of campaigns and services on campuses. In 2007 and 2008, she held the position as internal coordinator of the CFS and she was primarily responsible for this issue when it arose.
[6] There are two types of memberships in the CFS and these are set out in Bylaw 1. There are Individual Members who are the individual students at a university or college and there are Voting Members which are the local student associations or the local students’ union representing the individual members or students.
[7] The Constitution and Bylaws of the CFS were amended at the May 2007 national general meeting. The Definitions section defines a provincial component as follows:
A provincial component will be taken for all purposes as an organization within the Canadian Federation of Students comprised of all member local associations within a particular province.
[8] On becoming a member of the CFS, a member local association automatically belongs to the particular provincial component corresponding to the province in which the member is located. In 2007-2008, there was an active provincial component in Nova Scotia; namely, CFS Nova Scotia (“CFS-NS”). The provincial components implement the campaigns and services of the CFS within that particular region and implement campaigns specific to provincial issues.
[9] On becoming a member of the CFS, a member local association automatically belongs to the Canadian Federation of Students-Services (“CFS-S”), a sister organization to the CFS. The CFS-S focuses specifically on the provision of services or programs that saves students and student unions money on a daily basis.
[10] Bylaw 1, section 2 describes Full Membership. Section 2 (a) (ii) provides:
ii. A written application for full membership submitted by an eligible local student association will be considered as a binding contract to accept the rights and responsibilities of full membership in the Canadian Federation of students, the Canadian Federation of Students-Services, and the applicable provincial component.
[11] On May 12, 2000, the University College of Cape Breton Students’ Union (“UCCBSU”) sought and became a prospective member in the CFS and the provincial component. A vote was held pursuant to Bylaws and the question of membership was put to the individual students in the fall of 2000. The vote was 614 “YES” and 7 “NO.” As a result, the individual students were accepted into membership as individual members. UCCBSU became a full member of the CFS known as local 95 of the CFS. As a result of that vote, the individual students automatically became members of CFS-NS. After the name of the university changed to Cape Breton University (“CBU”), local 95 became CBUSU.
[12] Ms. Watson said that the CBUSU was a very active member local union. Some of its elected representatives also held elected office within the CFS and CFS-NS throughout the 2000-2007 period.
[13] Membership fees are set out in Bylaw 1, s. 2 (a) (v) and (vi):
v. A local association’s application for membership, once accepted by the Federation, shall constitute a binding contract to collect and remit to the Federation all membership fees for the duration of the membership.
vi. Notwithstanding s. 2 (a) (vii) of this Bylaw, its fees for full member local associations shall be:
$3.00 per semester, or $6.00 per academic year, per local association individual member of the Canadian Federation of Students/Canadian Federation of Students Services, pro-rated as per the policy of the member local association: and
the applicable provincial component fee.
[14] A chart detailing the total damages claimed by the CFS was entered as Exhibit 4 and these are $293,159.13 and represent the amounts claimed from the 2008-2009 academic year to the date of trial and include amounts claimed under three categories: CFS Annual Fees per Student; CFS-S Annual Fees per Student and CFS-NS Annual fees per student.
[15] The Bylaws in place during the summer of 2007 and spring of 2008 further provided as follows:
- Membership Rights and Responsibilities.
a. Rights of Individual Members:
i. The individual members of the Federation collectively belonging to a member local association will have sole authority to make decisions through referendum on all questions of membership in the Federation, subject to the other provisions of this Bylaw.
ii. The individual members of the Federation collectively belonging to a member local association will have sole authority to initiate, by petition signed by not less than ten percent (10%) of the individual members and delivered to the National Executive, a referendum to federate as described in section 5 of this Bylaw.
iii. The individual members of the Federation collectively belonging to a member local association will have sole authority to initiate a de-federation referendum, as described in section 7 of this Bylaw, by submitting to the National Executive of the Federation the petition, signed by not less than ten percent (10%) of the individual members of the Association, calling for the referendum. (emphasis mine)
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