GEMMA KARSTENS-SMITH
The Martlet (University of Victoria)

VICTORIA (CUP) — After years of battling with the University of Victoria Students’ Society over club status and funding, pro-life group Youth Protecting Youth is taking the fight to court.

YPY filed a petition with the B.C. Supreme Court against the UVSS on May 3.

“What we’re asking for is that we’re treated like any other club and that means being granted status and funding, and being allowed to share our beliefs with students on campus,” said YPY president Anastasia Pearse.

She explained that the group has “exhausted multiple means of appeal” through the UVSS and the situation has only deteriorated further.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is supporting YPY and seeking intervener status in the lawsuit. Joseph Arvay will be representing the club in court.

“The position of the (UVSS) seems to be that all pro-life advocacy is inherently a form of harassment and discrimination against women, and hence YPY is appropriately denied the status and privileges of an official student club,” said a press release issued by BCCLA.

The lawsuit asks that YPY’s status and funding be restored, as well as the funding they have been denied since October 2008.

They are also seeking a declaration that “past and current refusals to fund and/or ratify (YPY) were and are unlawful” and an order saying that YPY can be a club with status and funding as long they operate the same way they have in the past and do in the present, and that amendments pertaining to pro-life groups in the UVSS’ recently revised harassment policy be eliminated.

YPY’s club status was questioned in September 2008 after the group put up Feminists for Life posters at the university. From 2008 to 2010, the UVSS board received several complaints that the group’s tactics constituted harassment and subsequently revoked and reinstated funding and status several times.

“We think it’s time we had a more official authority decide the matter and we hope this establishes a stronger precedent so, in the future, the UVSS will treat YPY fairly,” said Pearse.

In February 2010, the UVSS board revoked YPY’s funding until December 2010, and said the club would not be eligible for status until it signed onto a revised version of the UVSS’s harassment policy for clubs. The revised policy was to be developed by a UVSS committee in consultation with several concerned group, including YPY.

Pearse said YPY was against the policy amendments from the beginning because they initially targeted pro-life clubs. Members of YPY attended the first two or three meetings of the committee, but eventually decided not to participate.

“We felt it would be a waste of our time to join in on the meetings because some people were determined to go ahead with making those policies,” said Pearse.

Amendments to the harassment policy were passed by the UVSS board on April 21, 2010, including a new definition of harassment and a new process for how the board deals with harassment complaints.

The UVSS board also voted to restore YPY’s club status at the April 21 meeting. Pearse said YPY was shocked by the board’s decision, especially because the club was told that they would not have to sign the new harassment policy right away.

“It seemed like a goodwill thing on their part,” she said.

However, the new harassment policies would censor the group when they are required to sign.

“Really, we can’t sign it in good faith knowing that it prevents us from a lot of pro-life advocacy,” she said.

The UVSS board of directors met with legal counsel on May 17.

“The UVSS will be filing our statement of defence for this Wednesday, May 19. Concurrently, we will also be putting forward a settlement offer which should be ready by the end of this week,” said UVSS chairperson James Coccola.

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image: Scott Shi