The Canadian Federation of Students celebrated their 25th anniversary Nov. 25 with a gala hosted at the Museum of Civilization.
     
The gala featured a keynote speech by noted TV commentator Avi Lewis, who lauded the federation’s integral role in the fight for progressive education policy and against concepts like income-contingent repayment plans for student loans.
     
CFS was launched in 1981 at a meeting at Carleton University. Starting from a base of just a few student unions, CFS is now Canada’s largest student organization with more than 500,000 members at 80 associations across the country. CFS has been the principal voice of students in Canada lobbying for increased government funding, lower tuition fees, reduced students costs and increased funding for research.
     
CFS also founded Travel CUTS, which is now the largest student travel company in the world.
     
“CFS has been a close ally of CAUT in all its efforts to secure accessible and high-quality post-secondary education,” said CAUT president Greg Allain. “We congratulate CFS on this important anniversary and look forward to a partnership with the federation over the next 25 years.”