Canada FOI Resource Website

By Stanley Tromp, Vancouver
Freedom of information policy, study, law reform, journalism

A non-governmental resource site


Student Society Transparency Reforms Needed

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

=  Kwantlen Student Association (KSA)

2024: KSA tries to shut down student newspaper, and quash democracy

=  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 February 2024, Premier David Eby appointed a new Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, the Hon. Lisa Beare. We welcome the new minister, and hope she can serve as the new broom that sweeps clean.

A provincial election will be held on October 19, 2024, and B.C. college students and their parents – who are also taxpayers and voters – may well reward those MLAs who have chosen to protect students from such harms.  (The problems are fully detailed in the seven links above.)

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 in the midst of spring this year 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…….]

 

CONTACTS

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. Lisa Beare, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills

Room 346 Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC  V8V 1X4

PSFS.Minister@gov.bc.ca

(250) 356-0179

Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows constituency office

104-20130 Lougheed Hwy.

Maple Ridge, BC   V2X 2P7

(604) 465-9299

lisa.beare.MLA@leg.bc.ca

 

[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 Michael Lee, BC United Party, Vancouver-Langara riding (which includes Langara College)

(604) 660-8380 (Vancouver office)

(250) 356-6171 (Legislature office)

michael.lee.MLA@leg.bc.ca

 

[6] MLA Harry Bains, former Kwantlen University board vice-chair, Surrey Newton riding (which includes Kwantlen’s main campus)

(604) 597-8248  (Surrey office)

(250) 953-0910 (Legislature office)

harry.bains.MLA@leg.bc.ca

 

[7]  MLA John Rustad, leader, B.C. Conservative Party

(250) 567-6820  (Vanderhoof office)

(250) 387-3011 (Legislature office)

john.rustad.MLA@leg.bc.ca

 

[8] MLA Coralee Oakes, BC United Party critic of post-secondary education 

(250) 991-0296  (Quesnel office)

(250) 356-6171  (Legislature office)

coralee.oakes.MLA@leg.bc.ca

 

[9] MLA Sonia Furstenau, leader, B.C. Green Party

(250) 715-2792  (Duncan office)

(250) 387-8347  (Legislature office)

sonia.furstenau.MLA@leg.bc.ca

 

[10] 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

 

[11] 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

 

[12] Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) 

Carson Binda, B.C. director

(604) 719-1677

cbinda@taxpayer.com

 

[13] BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA)

www.fipa.bc.ca

Jason Woywada, executive-director – jason@fipa.bc.ca

Mike Larsen, president, and Kwantlen Criminology Dept. chair – mike@fipa.bc.ca

(604) 739-9788

 

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.

 

Legislative Press Gallery, Victoria

(250) 387-1591

President – richard.zussman@globalnews.ca

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