Letter to International Students in Canada

Dear All,

Below is an e-mail to me from the Ministry of Advanced Education of BC .It
is in response to a letter I wrote to the ministry last month regarding
International Students and Board of Governors.

For your further information, SFU rejected my appeal to run for the Board of
Governors of SFU on the basis of section 23 (c) of the University Act of BC.
I am currently exploring options that could make it possible for me run in
this election; by getting the election suspended via a court action.

Given that the ministry agrees with our complaint and is optimistic that the
section 23 (c) could be amended in mid May, if SFU were to let me stand as
a candidate, I could take up a seat, should I win. For this reason, I see
merit in getting the election suspended, and will try to do so.

Regards

Apaak

Forwarded message ----------
From: "ADM Student and Strategic Services, AVED" <AVED.A
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:47:57 -0800
Subject: Our Ref. 56468 - Re: International Students and University Act

March 16, 2006
Our Ref. 56468

Clement Abas Apaak
E-Mail Address: caapaak@sfu.ca

Dear Clement Abas Apaak:

Thank you for your e-mails of February 10 and 12, 2006, sent to Dr.
Moura Quayle, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Advanced Education, in which
you discuss the challenges that international students face as a result
of section 23(1)(c) of the University Act (the Act), which requires
persons to be either Canadian citizens or permanent residents under the
Immigration Act (Canada) (the IAC) in order to sit as university board
members. Your e-mail has been forwarded to me for response. I
apologize for the delay.

In your e-mail, you also state that international students at Simon
Fraser University (SFU) plan to seek a court injunction to prevent SFU’s
Board of Governors elections occurring this spring if section 23(1)(c)
of the Act is not repealed or suspended.

Please be advised that the Ministry of Advanced Education has examined
the issues surrounding section 23(1)(c) of the Act, and does not oppose
the removal of the Act’s citizenship and residency requirements for
board members. It is also our understanding that The University
Presidents’ Council, representing the institutions, and university
student governments, are supportive of this change.

The removal of the Act’s citizenship and residency requirements for
board members requires an amendment to the Act that repeals section
23(1)(c). An amendment to any legislation, including the University
Act, involves an enactment of the legislature, and cannot be
accomplished by an executive order such as an Order in Council.

The Legislative Assembly began its Spring 2006 legislative session on
February 14, 2006, and is scheduled to sit until May 18, 2006. The
Ministry remains optimistic that the legislature will be able to address
the issue you have identified during this legislative session.

Although the Ministry cannot comment on the plans of international
students at SFU to seek a court injunction to prevent SFU’s Board of
Governor elections from occurring, I am hopeful that the barriers that
international students face as a result of section 23(1)(c) of the Act
will be removed in the near future.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write and share your concerns.

Sincerely,

Tom Vincent
Assistant Deputy Minister
Student and Strategic Services Division
Ministry of Advanced Education

pc: Honourable Gordon Campbell, Premier
Honourable Murray Coell, Minister of Advanced Education
Honourable Wally Oppal, Attorney General
Mr. Harry Bloy, MLA, Burquitlam
Mr. Gregory Robertson, MLA, Vancouver-Fairview
Mr. John Nuraney, MLA, Burnaby-Willingdon
Dr. Moura Quayle, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Advanced
Education

=================================================

Original Message-----
From: Clement Abas Apaak [mailto:caapaak@sfu.ca]
Sent: Fri, February 10, 2006 3:25 PM
To: AVED Deputy Minister AVED:EX; Coell.MLA, Murray LASS:EX; Oppal.MLA,
Wally LASS:EX; Bloy.MLA, Harry LASS:EX; OfficeofthePremier, Office
PREM:EX; president@nugss.com; Robertson.MLA, Gregor A LASS:EX;
Nuraney.MLA, John LASS:EX
Cc: chairperson@cfs.bc.ca; bgrant@sfu.ca; MRoberts@png.canwest.com;
ggkoroma@sfu.ca
Subject: Urgent Action Needed: International Students in BC and
University Act, section 23(1) (c).

Dr. Moura Quayle, Deputy Minister
Ministry of Advanced Education
Province of British Columbia
PO Box 9884, Stn Prov Govt,
Victoria, BC V8W 9T6

Urgent Action Needed: International Students in BC and University Act
section 23(1) (c).

Dr. Quayle,

I write on behalf of international students in Simon Fraser University
(SFU) and the rest of our colleagues in British Columbia’s universities.
The purpose of this letter is to remind you of the above issue, which
has been brought to the attention of your government, and members of the
NPD opposition. May I add that this issue has been on the table for the
last three years and action needs to be taken before the Board of
Governor elections of SFU (slated for March-April 2006). Just last
month, an international student at UBC, Lyle McMahon, was not allowed to
run for a board of governor position because of the restriction in the
Act. We plan to take our case even further.

This time, we, international students at SFU plan to seek a court
injunction to prevent the Board of Governor elections of SFU from taking
place if section 23(1) (c) of the University act, which prevents me and
other international students from running for board of governor
positions is not
repealed or suspended. If that fails, the international student group
of
SFU will get its members to fill nominations for the upcoming election
as a protest for the inaction on the section of the act prohibiting us
from seeking positions on the board. We have done so in the past and
will continue till the change is made.

We cannot understand how this change has not been done, when all
stakeholders now agree that the prohibition is no longer justified and
is discriminatory based on national origin. In fact, the University
Presidents Council, university student governments of BC (the Alma Mater
Society of the University of British Columbia, the UBC Students’ Union -
Okanogan, the Simon Fraser Student Society, and the Northern
Undergraduate Student Society, the University of Victoria Student
Society), the Canadian Federation of Students, your government and the
NDP opposition have agreed in principle that the inclusion of
international students on the Board of Governors of post-secondary
institutions in BC is overdue. Yet, no action has been taken to make
this possible for over three years.

I am the current president of the Simon Fraser Student Society. Since I
started my PhD in Simon Fraser University in 2001, I have filled and run
for the senate of my school and have been elected on all occasions,
this is my fourth term as a student senator. In the same period, I have
tried to run for one of the two students Board of Governor spots, but
have been disqualified, much like what has happened Lyle McMahon,
because of the above stated section of the Act. As has been
highlighted, international students are already eligible to sit on the
academic senates of post-secondary institutions in British Columbia.
International students comprise 11% of UBC’s student population and
about 10% of the SFU’s population.

As was stated in the letter sent to you last year by the student leaders
of BC’s universities, the necessary amendment could be achieved by
repealing section 23(1) (c) of the University Act (RSBC 1996) Chapter
468 which
states: 23 (1) The following persons are not eligible to be or to remain
members of the board: (c) a person who is not a Canadian citizen or is
not a permanent resident under the Immigration Act (Canada);

The provisions of Section 23(1) (c) of the University Act, in addition
to being discrimination on the basis of "national or ethnic origin,"
this portion of the Act has already demonstrated adaptability in its
recent inclusion of part-time students and out-of-province students as
groups
eligible to sit on the Board of Governors.
My own investigation shows that this section can be repealed at the
committee level or through Order-in-Council.

As you may know by now, the BC Progress Board recently proposed ways in
which BC can attract and retain high quality international students,
more recently my own university, Simon Fraser, has been considering ways
to attract and retain international students. May I state that
repealing the discriminatory section of the Act: 23(1) (c) will be a
move towards increasing the confidence, comfort and faith of
international students in BC’s universities. As well, speeding up the
process to extend off campus
employment opportunities to international students in BC will help.

Again, let me remind you that the university elections to select
students to Simon Fraser University’s Board of Governors will be held in
March-April, and we, international students in SFU intend to fill our
nominations.
Please repeal the noted section, so that I and other international
students
in BC can fully participate in the governance of our institutions.

Sincerely Yours,

Clement Abas Apaak, On Behalf of International Students in BC President,
Simon Fraser Student Society.
Student Senator, Simon Fraser University

CC:
MLA. Gordon Campell, Premier of BC
MLA. Murray Coell, Minister for Advanced Education MLA. Wally Oppal,
Attorney General MLA. Bill Barisoff , Speaker MLA. Gregor Robertson,
Opposition Critic for Advanced Education MLA. Harry Bloy MLA. Jenny Kwan
MLA. John Nuraney MLA. Richard Lee MLA. Al Horning MLA. Raj Chouhan MLA
Dr. Don Avison, President TUPC Dr. Michael Stevenson, President, SFU Dr.
Brandt Louie, Chancellor, SFU Hon. Allan McEachern, Chancellor, UBC Dr.
Martha Piper, President, UBC Lisa MacLeod, CFS BC Chairperson Penny
Beames, Chairperson Uvic Student Union Spencer Keys, President, AMS, UBC
Colin Phillips, President, UNBC Student Society Terry Monteleone,
President, CSS, Caribou Ramin Shadmehr, President, International Student
Group, SFU