The Simon Fraser Student Society and the British Columbia branch of the Canadian Federation of Students have been battling it out before the Supreme Court of British Columbia for the last two weeks to determine whether the SFSS is still a part of the CFS-BC.

SFSS members voted to leave the CFS-BC last spring. The federation, however, has refused to recognize the referendum, insisting that the union owes them $430,000 in membership fees for the academic year.

“It should have been over by now,” said SFSS president Joe Paling. “We had a vote last May and 69 per cent of students took part in that referendum. It should have been resolved that day, but [the CFS-BC] said that they wouldn’t recognize the referendum results.”

“CFS happily recognized the referendum while it was happening because they had 30 people or more, including some people from the University of Toronto, flown over the country to campaign on the CFS side of the referendum,” said Paling. “Even though they said they weren’t going to recognize the vote, they still actively campaigned hoping that they would get a result that was favourable to them.”

CFS claims that its own procedures were not properly followed in the referendum. The Referendum Oversight Committee, consisting of two representatives each from the CFS-BC and the SFSS, fell apart during the referendum. According to Paling, the group was ill-prepared and “basically broke down” despite lengthy notice given by the SFSS some six months in advance of the referendum date.

Paling is optimistic about the forthcoming proceedings. “We feel that this can be a summary trial without a jury because we think it’s fairly clear-cut. There’s no reason for it to go to trial when the students overwhelmingly voted to leave.”

“Since the Simon Fraser Student Society filed suit against the CFS-BC the legal process initiated by the SFSS has followed its normal course and it is my understanding that it has not been a lengthier process than a similar suit of this nature,” CFS-BC chair Shamus Reid told The Varsity. “The CFS-BC continues to vigorously represent the interests of Simon Fraser students.”

If the case does to go trial, it may remain unresolved until 2011.