Politics plays an important role in the daily lives of everyone, even if we don’t notice it. On a broad scale, politics affects the way we live in so many ways, in terms of how we act, how we work, and more. But on a smaller scale, the politics on our campus impacts our education, in terms of policies and organizations that impact how this institution works.
The Canadian Federation of Students is an organization that was created as a way to represent students who are attending post-secondary education. A portion of our tuition goes towards funding the CFS and currently the UTSU is a member of the CFS. This relationship may change after a referendum that may occur to discuss whether or not the UTSU will continue to be a part of the CFS.
A student initiative called You Decide was created in order to discuss the partnership between University of Toronto and the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). This initiative involves a petition to decide whether or not the partnership between UofT and the CFS will continue.
I spoke with a UTSU representative, Jonathan Webb and asked him about the current involvement of the UTSU and the CFS and he stated,
At present, the UTSU as an organization is a member of the CFS. This was decided by a referendum which occurred in 2003. Their purpose is to provide services and representation for UofT students at a national level (and provincial level in the case of the CFS-Ontario).
I followed up by asking, what triggered the discussion of whether or not the UTSU and the CFS will continue their relationship and Webb said,
Yes, we are currently working on a petition to hold a referendum on continued membership in the CFS. I’d be impressed to find someone who was at UofT when we first joined the CFS still. I’ve met one or two grad students but that’s the extent of it. A lot of things have changed since that time. We pay a lot more into the organization due to CPI adjustments, and as of a recent bylaw change individual students are no longer members, only student unions themselves. It seems to me to be important that we discuss if this is something we still want to be a part of after all this time, and that type of conversation is best had when the question is on the table.
As students of UofT, we are automatically a part of the UTSU and it’s important for us as students to stay updated about what is going on with our student union. A referendum could result in changes in our student union that may have an impact on our education. It’s important to get involved in elections so that we can choose representatives of the student union that will have our best interests in mind.
If you are looking to find information about elections for the UTSU and UTMSU in order to find a way to get more involved in UofT politices, you can find information here: http://utmsu.ca/elections/ and here: http://www.utsu.ca/elections/. Every vote matters because it plays a role in deciding who will represent us in the student union as well as representing us in the CFS if the UTSU continues its relationship with the CFS.