By: Denny Hollick — The Runner

SURREY, B.C. (CUP) — The Kwantlen Student Association now have the representation they pay for after winning a B.C. Supreme Court case against the British Columbian component of the Canadian Federation of Students earlier this week. Students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University who pay fees to CFS-BC have not been represented on the CFS-BC executive for nearly two years.

According to Derek Robertson, KSA director of external affairs, the case was brought forward to the courts by the KSA after the CFS-BC executive committee refused to recognize Robertson as a director for CFS-BC as required by the B.C. Society Act and CFS-BC bylaws.

The case sought to have Robertson ratified as a representative on the CFS-BC executive, and to recover funds remitted (paid by Kwantlen student fees) to CFS-BC since May 11, 2008, the period at which Robertson was no longer recognized by CFS-BC.

Shamus Reid, chairperson of CFS-BC, commented on the case stating that Robertson was not acting in the best interest of the organization when he removed himself as a director to campaign against the CFS-BC — for a 2008 KSA referendum to leave the organization — and immediately sought to be reinstated as a director after. While Robertson was re-elected and re-nominated by the school to represent the KSA to CFS-BC, its executive committee chose not to recognize him as a representative, considering his de-federation campaigning as an attempt to undermine the organization.

Reid noted that part section 3 of the B.C. Society Act states that “a director of a society must (a) act honestly and in good faith and in the best interests of the society, and (b) exercise the care, diligence and skill of a reasonably prudent person.” He further commented that Robertson clearly did not follow this section of the act while serving as a director, as he had voted in favour of hiring a campaign manager for the KSA’s CFS de-federation campaign, and joined the “Kwantlen Students who want out of CFS” Facebook group.

According to the KSA press release, Madam Justice Brenda Brown, who was ruling on the case, ruled in favour of the KSA, based on the fact that the CFS-BC was in violation of section 4 of the Societies Act and their own bylaws.

“The decision is that the ratification process has no power,” commented Reid. “He must be ratified if he has been selected by the Kwantlen Student Association.”

Robertson is disappointed that it “has taken a court order to make (CFS-BC) listen to the students that they claim to represent.”

“Sadly, the only governance ability that individual student members have (at Kwantlen) is their ability to elect their KSA representative to the CFS-BC board of directors,” and by disallowing him to sit on the executive committee, the CFS-BC hindered that individual student representation, Robertson claimed.

Reid, however, said that “it’s really ignored the fact that a super-majority of its members felt that Robertson could not represent their interests.”

As a paying member of the CFS-BC — paid by Kwantlen student fees — the Kwantlen Student Association is entitled to have a representative act on the CFS-BC executive committee to identify issues important to Kwantlen students, largely for lobbying purposes. As a result of the court ruling, Robertson must now be recognized as a director of CFS-BC, and costs of the case must be awarded to the KSA.