YFS Execuatives Take a Vacation at Ryerson

On Monday February 8th Ryerson students took to the voting booth to elect their new representatives for the Ryerson Student Union. But what most Ryerson students don’t know is that they may be receiving those nice laminated pieces of campaign material from elected York Federation of Student executives.

Last year the Varsity reported that then president of the YFS, Hamid Osman, and then Vice-President of the YFS, Gilary Massa, both took part in campaigning for the Demand Access slate, who went on to win the elections. This was received with some criticism when it was alleged that Hamid Osman used a fake name when confronted by a member of the opposing slate about his involvement in the Ryerson election. Furthermore, questions of student government sovereignty and interference from foreign student governments were apparent. Hamid Osman is now the Ontario representative for the Canadian Federation of Students. Gilary Massa is now a staff member for the Ryerson Student Union.

This year the story is the same, but this time the players are different. A confidential source informed The York Life that the same events would occur again this year. We were also told that many of the same people from the Demand Access slate are running again in this year’s Ryerson elections under the slate Students United. And some of the people helping campaign for Students United are YFS executives. It was confirmed that Steven Broadley, Zahran Khan and Darshika Selvasivam, three of six YFS executives, were seen handing out Students United campaign material. When they were confronted about their involvement in another student government’s election they said they were “acting as an individual”, were taking “vacation time” from their YFS duties, to “ask” the president of the YFS, “Krisna” Saravanamuttu about their involvement, or “no comment.”

It was also seen that the Executive Director of the YFS, Jeremy Salter, was at Ryerson during the same time near the polling stations. When he was asked for a comment he also said that it would be best to talk to the president. Jeremy Salter is also a former student from Ryerson University.

Naturally, the other slates aren’t too impressed by these foreign campaigners. The LEAD slate candidate for Vice-President of Student Life, Philippe Roy, was asked for his thoughts on this issue of election sovereignty. “When it comes to issues like support for Haiti it’s great that students can come together.” But he also said it’s a bit strange for York student government executives to be campaigning at another universities student election.

So what do York students think about this situation. Iann Mann, a former campaign manager for the York Forward slate during the 2009 elections at York criticized the YFS’s executives behavior. “This is the typical behaviour we’ve seen from Krisna and the former “Students First” slate. Gallivanting around the country, helping out Ryerson friends and the like, when they should be at York, participating in multicultural week, and making York students their number one priority”

This issue of foreign campaigners on vacation was also present at the YFS’s last election. During the voting period Carleton University Students’ Association president, Brittany Smyth, helped hand out campaign material for the Students First Slate. Steven Broadley, Zahran Khan and Darshika Selvasivam are all a part of the Students First slate, which won by a landslide in the election and is now the current YFS administration. The debate grew more complex when it was observed that Smyth wore a sticker saying “I Voted Students First.” She also claimed to be on vacation while handing out campaign material for Students First.

The common theme here seems to be that students help out students from other universities during election time. However, is this help appropriate when it comes from elected officials who do not inform their constituencies that they plan on campaigning at other universities, and does such help make a difference anyways? Furthermore, are their explanations for foreign participation in student elections valid? I guess that’s up for students to decide in this years coming YFS elections.

CUPE 3903 A Year Later

On Friday January 29th, one year after the day CUPE 3903 was legislated back to work, the democratic committee of the union organized a small event to commemorate the one year anniversary, while also bringing to light some of the issues that the labor union still face. Members peacefully demonstrated in Vari Hall as security officers looked on with administration official’s video recording their every move.

They then voluntarily moved to the student center where they briefly made musical noise and then continued by voicing their opinions on the current relationship CUPE 3903 has with the York administration. During one speaker’s presentation Alex Bilyk, the director of university media relations, came out of the underground and waved at the CUPE 3903 members as they shouted “shame”. Alex was a controversial figure during the strike since he was seen as the mouth piece for the administration.

I was able to sit down with Xavier Scott, one of the organizers of the event, and have a brief conversation with him about issues surrounding the strike and labor relations. You can see that conversation and more footage from the demonstration in the video below.

York student government elections are coming soon, see the video above for an explanation on The York Life’s plans to cover the elections. For regular updates of the day to day happenings during the elections please consider joining the following facebook group. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=266017272110&ref=ts

For more on this here is part two – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX_AngKC2HI

Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament

On January 23rd thousands of Canadians across the country protested against the Conservative government’s move to prorogue parliament. The protest was organized by a Facebook group called Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament. This group over the weeks quickly grew to 200000 members. All in all, 10000 people showed up at Dundas Square and marched through the streets of Toronto while thousands more in Ottawa and across Canada did the same. For footage of the protest at Dundas Square and a small commentary of the prorogue issue see the video below.

In addition, on January 25th Tony Clement came to York University to promote stimulus spending. However he was met by a small crowd of CAPP protesters who he told in response to their criticisms, “all you have to do is vote us out.” For more one Tony Clements visit to York University visit a eye witness account on Robert Cerjanec’s here.

Michael Ignatieff Goes Back to University

Across the country this month Michael Ignatieff is visiting students at eleven universities. The York Life caught up with Michael on January 13th at the University of Toronto at Mississauga where students put him in the hot seat.

The event was mainly question and answer based where students and community members brought up issues on renewable energy projects, sustainability, air quality, nuclear power, Michael’s values and beliefs, the Israel and Palestine file, racial and religious profiling, prorogation, the afghan detainee issue, democratic reform, “King Harper”, proportional representation, the disaster in Haiti, copyright and file sharing, and student tuition fees.

To see the highlights with a commentary of the event see the video above. If you would like to watch the entire video of the event see the several links below. Enjoy.

Part 1 youtube.com/watch?v=EMjQg4P4e0w

Part 2 youtube.com/watch?v=RqV-qTLL_xs

Part 3 youtube.com/watch?v=1ZZ4fzsy2VQ

Part 4 youtube.com/watch?v=-KPVgIwpqhg

Part 5 youtube.com/watch?v=Y60JpIlJhuE

Part 6 youtube.com/watch?v=mGjX8PsGMfI

Part 7 youtube.com/watch?v=M_FRfD5BTK0

Part 8 youtube.com/watch?v=CoL06PJrXxw

My Opinion – Fall Semester Review

The following is a short review of the events The York Life has taken an interest in at York University and abroad during the fall semester of 2009. Included in the vlog are some events that you can expect TYL to cover in the future, such as the coming student government elections. In addition, there is a short opinion piece which tries to grade the York Federation of Students on how well the current administration is running their ship with the 1.5 million dollar budget, paid for by students.

Please feel free to leave a comment, or video response that disagrees with my position and i will be glad to host it on this vlog. After all, opposition is a good thing. If you have an opinion on anything york related and want your voice to be heard then feel free to contact TYL and we will be happy to feature your voice in one of our episodes.

Happy holidays everyone.

OMG JUSTIN TRUDEAU…will not be attending!

At york university last week Justin Trudeau and Ken Dryden were invited to speak by the PPASA and GPSA for December 3rd at Vanier College. However, the event was canceled at the last moment when it was learned that the speakers could not attend since they were required to be present in Ottawa for an important vote on the HST.

In any case, the hope is that the event can be rescheduled for January sometime and who knows, he may bring Micheal Ignatieff along, since it has been reported he will be touring Canadian universities in 2010. So instead this week The York Life showcases the new design concepts of the plans for the TTC Subway extension that were hosted in Vari Hall.

Enjoy, and make sure you look out for the next video to come on what we have seen these past few months in student politics and what york can expect in the next few months for student activism and politics.

Canada’s Secret Genocide with Kevin Annett

On November 30th Kevin Annett, a former minister of the united church and long time advocate for the recognition of the genocide against aboriginals in Canada, came to York University to talk about the subject of Canada’s participation in genocide and to screen a documentary called “Unrepentant” in which he is featured.

During Kevin’s lecture he outlined how the churches, who were empowered by the government through the Indian Act, were the main perpetrators in instances of abuse, torture, murder, ethnocide, cultural degradation and ultimately genocide. He described how the government through the Indian Act made it the law for aboriginal children to be forcibly taken away from their parents and be placed in residential schools, sometimes miles away, where they would stay year round and were not allowed to see their parents. This was done for the purposes of “assimilation” and “Christianization.” In many cases children never saw their parents again. In cases where parents would refuse this process of “Christianization” they were either imprisoned or fined. In addition, the Indian Act empowered the residential school principles to be the legal guardians of the aboriginal children who were forcibly displaced into these schools.

Kevin latter went on to describe the conditions within in these schools as horrific. Children were not allowed to speak their own native language or conduct their own native practices or were severely punished for doing so. In many cases children were beaten, sexually abused, murdered, and arbitrarily tortured through the use of electric shocks for no apparent sane reason.

In addition, evidence was presented that the use of the deadly disease, Tuberculosis, was used to actively kill aboriginal children. In many cases healthy children were forced to play and socialize with sick children who had TB. This allowed for the disease to spread throughout the entire school population. Quarantine was actively discouraged and treatment was minimal if any. This led to a mortality rate of 50% in some residential schools in one given year.

Many more instances of the abuse against aboriginal people were talked about in Kevin’s lecture, including the malicious sterilization of native men, woman and children. In the film “Unrepentant” he describes his own personnel experience of how the united church maliciously attacked Kevin’s reputation and personnel life for excavating the very details of the churches involvement with Canada’s genocide.

For the shortest version of the presentation please see the video above. For the complete presentation see the video links below. If you would like to know more about this topic then please see Kevin’s Website here or I highly recommend watching the documentary, Unrepentant, here.

Kevin’s website – http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/

The Documentary “Unrepentant” -  http://video.google.com

Lecture one – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btw_x5rSOxz

Lecture two - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hZGWUbwiyk

Lecture three – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-u2ImcUuHM

Lecture four – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf33C-Dvpno

Lecture five -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGVD_HhIUQk

Lecture six – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyEFBRBUaIA

Ending Violence Against Woman at York

On December 2nd there was a day of action and remembrance of the 1989 massacre where 14 woman were targeted because they were woman and murdered. The YFS, GSA, OPIRG and the Centre for Women and Trans People hosted this event to try and lobby the york administration to adopt more accountability and awareness in regards to multiple instances of sexual assault on campus this year. The aim of the lobbyists is to use the video warning system, that has been used in the past to make students aware of bomb threats on campus, to make students immediately aware of any cases of sexual assault on campus.

Actions and events on campus included the tying of white ribbons to trees and polls with short descriptions of cases of violence against woman, a showcase in Vari Hall hosted by the YFS, a panel discussion hosted by OPIRG and a candle vigil outside of Vari Hall.

Even though it rained during the candle vigil, students endured and pulled through by speaking, performing and by vocally chanting their opposition to violence against woman.

for more on the rally you can see the following two videoes for speeches from the YFS President and vice president, OPIRG, GSA and performances by york students:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0RCFKFiGMQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL0FmIVb0-c

The YFS’ Democratic Oligarchy

In student politics at York University this week, on Monday the YFS held a meeting on a few motions including motions to fill three vacancies on the board of directors. Three directors from Winters College, Osgoode College and the Arts all stepped down within in the past month for reasons that are unknown. However, it has been confirmed that one of the former directors graduated from York University recently.

In any case the meeting to elect these three new board members was advertised around the campus, but not to the extent to which other YFS events have been advertised in the past, and not in a student friendly way as seen in the document below. An average student passing by would not take note of such an advertisement. In fact, it is actually a bylaw requirement for this type of meeting to be advertised across the campus two weeks prior to the meeting. This begs the question, would this meeting be advertised at all if it was not a bylaw requirement, considering the lack of student friendly advertising.

In any case the meeting took place on Monday the 23rd of November at 4pm. Motions were passed in regards to a reserve fund for the YFS in case of certain circumstances. However, these circumstances were not defined and thus the use of the reserve money is open to interpretation. Another motion was passed that designated a new presidential commissioner, whose duties are basically those of a personnel assistant to the president of the YFS.

Furthermore, there were three students who applied for the Arts position, Halgan Ahmen, another unknown student and me, Kriss Bacon. Two students applied for the Winters position, Kevin Morris and Tom Cochrane. However, for the Osgoode position only one student ran, Burton Taylor.

The nominees gave a short presentation on why they thought they should be elected. In the arts case the unknown student described his experiences and involvement within the community at York. For myself I described my involvement with the York community based on The York Life project. Halgan Ahmen gave her name and which program she was in. To my second hand knowledge, the votes were 5 in favor of me and 9 in favor of Halgan Ahmen.

In the case of the Winters nominees the debate was much more interesting. Kevin has been a long time active member of the York community but has often taken an opposition stance to the current YFS regime in terms of his association with York Forward. Tom Cochrane has been a dedicated volunteer with the YFS since the start of this school year. At one point it seemed that Kevin had more experience with student governance than Tom. However, this was soon trumped when Krisna Saravanamuttu interjected by suggesting that the Winters student council, of which Kevin is an active member, is “out of touch with Winters students.” Thus this signalled the executives stance on how the voting should go. For much more information on this specific case then check out Kevin’s blog, it’s a very good read. In any case, Tom Cochrane was elected.

As for the Osgoode position, it was filled by Burton Taylor, whose loyalties at this moment are not yet known.

In any case I would much rather have had the students of York choose in a by-election who the new Directors would be, instead that choice went to the YFS board members. Maybe that’s a section of the YFS bylaws that can be an election issue coming this winter. But, in closing The York Life would like to say congratulations to all our new YFS representatives and we hope you do York students proud by representing us.

The Bravest of Woman: Malalai Joya at York U

On November 19th Malalai Joya, an outspoken and controversial MP in her country of Afghanistan, came to York University and spoke in depth about her perspective on the situation in Afghanistan. She discussed Human and Woman rights in Afghanistan, drug and war lords, the Afghan government, democratic elections in Afghanistan, NATO involvement and occupation, George Bush, and President Obama.

For a condensed version of the public event see the video below for highlights. If you want to see the complete 5 part filming of the event then view the links below.

part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZYEwCs-vKs

part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x59wXOKUp1s

part 3 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bpHTNi9Xks

part 4 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIPiTLZeM-k

part 5 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PPew_kySJo