(CUP) 8212; Canada’s largest student lobby group is still locked in a legal battle with its former Quebec branch, with over half a million dollars in student funds up for grabs.
The fight began in the summer of 2009, but its roots stretch back over several years. At issue is when the Canadian Federation of Students-Quebec, an incorporated not-for-profit company, stopped being recognized by the national CFS as its Quebec branch. On the line is over $600,000 in student fees.
But it could be a long time before either side can declare victory.
“We don’t know how long it’s going to take,” said Adrien Severyns, Concordia Student Union VP external and one of the directors of the Rassemblement des associations étudiantes 8212; the group formerly known as CFS-Quebec.
“Legal cases can take a year, they can take three years, if not more.”
In May, CFS-Quebec directors agreed to stop using the CFS name to settle a trademark lawsuit the federation had filed against the group. The CFS is still seeking $50,000 in damages from RAE.
While the CFS claims the Quebec company stopped being its official branch in the province in 2007, the Quebec group has maintained that because it was recognized by three of the four CFS members in Quebec it had official standing.
Between February 2008, when CFS-Quebec emerged from a bitter legal dispute over who would control the organization, which saw the organization’s assets frozen by court order, and July 2009, the group’s board of directors, registered with the Quebec government, was made up of student union representatives recognized by the CFS.
None of the three student unions with appointed representatives to CFS-Quebec since last summer still consider themselves members of CFS. Concordia University’s undergraduate and graduate students’ union, and McGill’s post-graduate students’ society all held referendums last spring that saw students vote to leave the federation.
None of those votes have been recognized by the CFS.
According to Severyns, RAE now only exists to continue the litigation.
“The student money involved is quite significant,” he said. “Because it is student money we’re talking about it would be outrageous to leave this case.”
RAE is seeking $400,000 in fees for membership in the provincial federation, which were paid to CFS national and which RAE claims should have been paid to CFS-Quebec; membership fees for winter 2010 from Concordia’s undergraduate and graduate students’ unions and McGill’s post-graduate society 8212; the fees are currently being held in trust by a court order; and membership fees from the Dawson College students’ union for the entire 2009-10 school year, which have been held by the union.
The two sides have until Sept. 30 to finalize their cases.
This is also not the only legal battle the two organizations are fighting: unpaid rent and salaries are also at stake.
The landlord of the former CFS-Quebec offices is suing both the CFS and RAE. Malbec Properties is seeking $23,895 in unpaid rent. Both groups claim the other is responsible for the bill and have asked a judge to decide who should pay. While the lease is with CFS national, both the national federation and CFS-Quebec paid rent at different times and are using those cheques as evidence.
Quebec’s labour board is also suing RAE, seeking just under $15,000 in unpaid salary and penalties on behalf of former CFS-Quebec organizer Steven Rosenshein. RAE claims that Rosenshein, a former student politician at Concordia, failed to show up for work, despite repeated requests, and was deemed to have quit.
Rosenshein was paid an annual salary of over $49,000. In a sworn statement filed with the court as part of a separate lawsuit he described the position as managing the office, “making sure phones are answered and bills are paid.”
Rosenshein is suing health plan broker ASEQ, who provides student health plans at all Montreal universities as well as several other schools in Quebec, and the company’s director, Lev Bukhman for defamation. He is seeking $130,000 in damages.
No court date has been set in any of the cases.