On Monday, the B.C. Supreme Court upheld the impeachment of seven directors
of the Simon Fraser Student Society. The “G7,” former leaders of the student
union for the Vancouver area’s Simon Fraser University, were voted from
office at a special general meeting of SFSS in October, called by a group of
students whom the G7 said had no legal authority.
The G7 filed the lawsuit hoping to reinstate themselves.
In his ruling, Judge William F. Ehrcke stated that, even had the SGM been
called through “irregular” (technically invalid) means, he would have upheld
its results, as the directors should have called an SGM after receiving a
student petition with almost double the needed signatures. Justice Ehrcke
rebuked the G7 for using every strategy they could devise to block the SGM.
The judge ordered court costs, reportedly between $28,000 to $56,000, be
paid by the seven plaintiffs personally, rather than with SFSS funds.
Titus Gregory, a former SFSS director and backer of the impeachments,
believes the G7 will accept the judgment. “Given the lopsided nature of the
judgement, I think it’s unlikely [the G7] will try to appeal it,” he said.
