www.canadafoi.ca/studentfoi (2024) stanleytromp@gmail.com
Editorial – Student Society Reforms Needed. Victoria Times Colonist and Business in Vancouver, Aug. 22, 2024
“I’m very concerned about the information you presented about what’s happening at Langara, as an advocate for open government and transparency at all levels.”
- B.C. Premier David Eby, then MLA, speaking to Langara College students at Legislative Special Committee to review the FOIPP Act, Nov. 18, 2015. (See students’ testimony, and my 2022 report).
See the histories of financial, electoral and other misconduct at:
= Langara Students’ Union (LSU), with news archive. / * Recent LSU news
= Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) / * Recent KSA news (including attempted shutdown of Runner student paper)
= Douglas Students’ Union (DSU)
= Other B.C. student societies (SFU, UVic, etc.)
= More Canadian student societies
SOLUTIONS
BACKGROUNDER
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The purpose of this website is to raise awareness of grievous financial and electoral problems in B.C. student societies, of systemic abuses of power dating back half a century, and the urgent need for a complete legislative reform to these societies.
In November 2024, Premier David Eby appointed a new Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, the Hon. Anne Kang. We welcome the new minister, and hope she can serve as the new broom that sweeps clean.
To do so also provides this NDP administration with a chance to regain some degree of public trust on transparency policy, which was decimated by its passage of Bill 22 two years ago, a bill so harmful to our FOI law, with its new $10 application fee, etc. The single best cure for these societies’ misconduct and students’ misery is full transparency.
The NDP wishes to be known as “the party of affordability.” B.C. families are under growing financial strain, and hard times have caused the layoffs of college staff and instructors, plus cutbacks to sports teams and other student services. Yet in this context, B.C. student societies are still unaffected and prospering at public expense, which renders their waste and misconduct even more intolerable.
Let us all now work to create an enduring legacy of justice, democracy, and fiscal responsibility for students in B.C. colleges and universities. For everything there is indeed a season, and we should welcome this opportunity for renewal.
- Stanley L. Tromp, graduate of Langara College’s journalism school (1993), author of Fallen Behind: Canada’s Access to Information Act in the World Context (2nd, FIPA, 2020)
[More to come…….]
You can speak or write about B.C. student societies to:
[1] Hon. David Eby, K.C., Premier of British Columbia
Parliament Buildings, Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
(250) 387-1715, premier@gov.bc.ca
Vancouver constituency office, Point Grey, 2909 West Broadway St., Vancouver, BC V6K 2G6
(604) 660-1297, david.eby.MLA@leg.bc.ca
[2] Hon. Anne Kang, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills
Room 346 Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
PSFS.Minister@gov.bc.ca, or Anne.Kang.MLA@leg.bc.ca
(250) 356-0179, or (604) 755-0565
[3] Michael A. Pickup, B.C. Auditor General
623 Fort Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1G1
250-419-6100, bcauditor@bcauditor.com
[4] Jay Chalke, B.C. Ombudsman
PO Box 9039, Stn Prov Gov’t.
Victoria, BC V8W 9A5
250-387-5855, info@bcombudsperson.ca
[5] MLA Sunita Dhir, NDP, Vancouver-Langara riding (which includes Langara College)
(250) 356-3655 (Legislature office)
[6] MLA Jessie Sunner, NDP, lawyer, Surrey Newton riding (which includes Kwantlen’s main campus)
(604) 597-8248 (Surrey office)
(250) 387- 953-3655 (Legislature office)
[7] MLA John Rustad, leader, B.C. Conservative Party
(250) 567-6820 (Vanderhoof office), (250) 387-3011 (Legislature office)
[8] MLA Korky Neufeld, BC Conservative Party critic of post-secondary education, Abbotsford West
(250) 387-3011 (Legislature office)
[9] B.C. Green Party legislative members.
Rob Botterell, MLA. (250) 665-5600 Rob.Botterell.MLA@leg.bc.ca
Jeremy Valeriote, MLA. Jeremy.Valeriote.MLA@leg.bc.ca
[10] Deputy Minister of Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills
(778) 698-4059
[11] Assistant Deputy Minister of Post-Secondary Education
PSFS.ADMPost-SecondaryPolicyandPrgms@gov.bc.ca
(250) 952-0697
[12] Alan Davis, president, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
12666 72 Avenue
Surrey, BC V3W 2M8
(604) 599-2078, president@kpu.ca
Kwantlen Board of Governors – boardofgovernors@kpu.ca
[13] Paula Burns, president, Langara College
100 West 49th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Y 2Z6
(604) 323-5827, pburns@langara.ca or president.office@langara.ca
Langara Board of Governors – ahsu@langara.ca
[14] Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF)
Carson Binda, B.C. director
(604) 719-1677, cbinda@taxpayer.com
[15] BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA)
Jason Woywada, executive-director – jason@fipa.bc.ca
Mike Larsen, president, and Kwantlen Criminology Dept. chair – mike@fipa.bc.ca
(604) 739-9788
[16] Other B.C. colleges and universities
For B.C. colleges and universities (e.g., in Nanaimo, Prince George) not on the list above, to find your MLA’s contact information, click on Election BC’s 2023 Location Index at this site. The college will be on this list, in Section 1 – with the electoral district name. Then go to this legislative website, to find the MLA who serves the electoral district of that name.
[17] Legislative Press Gallery, Victoria
(250) 387-1591, President – richard.zussman@globalnews.ca
[18] The British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal
The B.C. government says: “Any concerns you have about the governance and operations of a student society be addressed through the mechanisms that are provided in that [Societies Act] legislation under Part 8 – Remedies.
“Applications for remedies under the Societies Act, are done through the British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal, who has jurisdiction over disputes about BC societies, including issues about access to documents, meetings or voting, and enforcement of the constitution or bylaws of a society.”
To contact the Civil Resolution Tribunal:
https://civilresolutionbc.ca/solution-explorer/societies-and-cooperative-associations/
Phone (Toll free): 1-844-322-2292
Contact Form: https://civilresolutionbc.ca/contact-us/
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Over 500 students banded together in a gymnasium in 2011 and voted 352 to 0 to remove the Kwantlen Student Association board, in response to the misuse of $2 million of student funds. (Photo from The Link newspaper, story in the Langara Voice, Dec. 2, 2016) See KSA News Archive, pg. 8
Langara students Keshav Puri and Khushi Salwan say the Langara Students Union would not explain why they weren’t allowed to run for the elected positions they sought – such as VP Finance and Administration. (Photo by Emma Shular. Langara Voice, Oct. 18, 2023) See LSU News Archive, pg. 27
A group of Langara students protested the Langara Students’ Union annual election in October 2024 after their 250-name petition to cancel the vote as unfair was refused. Private security guards hired by the LSU – not the college – locked the doors and tried to confiscate the student journalists’ cameras. (Photo by Sofia Mohamed. See video. Langara Voice, Oct. 23, 2024)