All Posts Tagged With: "Angela Regnier"
Student cash to fund legal fees for staff
U of T exec was arrested at Toronto Tamil protest
If a university staff member is arrested at a protest, should students be expected to pay for her defence? That question is being hotly debated at the University of Toronto, where students are being asked to contribute to a legal defence fund for Angela Regnier, the executive director of the U of T Students’ Union (UTSU).
Joey Coleman: Should students pay the legal fees of Tamil protester?
Regnier was arrested while participating in a Tamil demonstration in Toronto in May. She was released on bail and after appearing in court three times, the charges were withdrawn. Now she’s trying to cover her legal bills, and UTSU president Sandy Hudson has been appealing to local student unions for donations. Hudson says the money will “support the constitutional rights of individuals to demonstrate peacefully and participate in civil disobedience.”
In an email to the U of T student newspaper the Varsity, Hudson wrote that the union should support Regnier because “anyone can be randomly targeted and arrested at any demonstration.” Several student unions and other organizations have made funds available, and the U of T Mississauga Students’ Union is expected to donate $1,000.
However, the assumption that all students support Regnier’s actions has angered some, especially since she is a paid student union staff member. “I expect my student union to work in my interest,” says Maria Robson, a fourth-year student, noting that the money originally came from student membership fees. “I’m greatly disappointed when it uses students’ money for advocacy or other purposes that don’t benefit us.” Robson adds that student money is not for “legal battles that have nothing to do with us.”
But Regnier counters that it is common for labour and union movements to establish legal defence funds. This fall, for example, the University of Guelph Central Student Association expects to set up a fund for activists pursuing indigenous land rights in Caledonia, Ont. There is a “shared concern for our constitutional right to demonstrate and the right to a fair defence,” she says.
Should students pay the legal fees of Tamil protester?
Student unions give money to fund legal defense of UTSU executive director. Should they?
This is the question being raised as Toronto area students’ union consider a request from the president of the University of Toronto Students’ Union to assist in covering the legal costs of Angela Regnier, who participated in the blockade of a major Toronto highway on Mother’s Day.
Regnier was protesting the Sri Lankan government’s offensives against the Tamil Tigers, which resulted in civilians being caught in the middle. On May 10, Tamil protesters marched onto Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway and shut down this vital artery of the city’s transit grid. The protesters placed women and children in front of themselves in order to prevent police from ending their blockade.
Three people were charged with mischief and “interference with property” including Angela Regnier. Regnier works as Executive Director of the University of Toronto Students’ Union, a position she took soon after ending her terms as National Deputy Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students.
The University of Toronto – Mississauga student newspaper The Medium reports UTSU president Sandy Hudson has requested other student unions to assist Regnier in covering her legal costs stemming from her decision to participate in the blockade.
UTSU president Hudson claims the donations are to “support the constitutional rights of individuals to demonstrate peacefully and participate in civil disobedience.”
The University of Toronto – Mississauga Students Union voted to give $1,000 to Regnier’s legal costs.
The question I ask, should students be funding the legal defense of Regnier in this case?
It depends if she was at the blockade officially representing the University of Toronto Students’ Union engaged in an act of “civil disobedience” authorized by the students of the University of Toronto. If she was there as Executive Director of UTSU, the answer is yes; the students of the University of Toronto should be footing the bill. If Regnier was there as a private citizen, I do not see it has the responsibility of students to pay her fees.
What do you think?
UToronto student exec. arrested during Tamil blockade
Student union staffer faces charges after participating in blockage of Toronto highway
The executive director of the University of Toronto Students Union was arrested recently while participating in a blockade of a busy Toronto highway earlier this month, reports The Varsity.
Angela Regnier, a former national vice-chair of the Canadian Federation of Students, was arrested on Mother’s Day as she participated in the blockade of a major Toronto highway to protest against the actions of the Sri Lanka government during fighting against the Tamil Tigers.
Regnier is charged with mischief and “interference with property.”
