Ottawa —The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa used student union dues to bus about 50 student protesters to June’s G20 Summit in Toronto, in what the president of the campus Conservatives says is a “blatant misuse” of student fees.

‘‘I highly doubt that every single student who has to pay those fees would be happy to know their money was being spent to send a few individuals to protest for the weekend,” Peter Flynn said.

Mr. Flynn said the decision to use student federation budgets to rent the bus was an example of a “cabal of certain individuals using student money-at-large to donate it to their own pet projects.”

The federation’s Student Appeal Centre, Foot Patrol, Women’s Resource Centre and Pride Centre combined resources from their student-funded budgets to come up with nearly $1,000 to rent the bus.

“What does Foot Patrol have to do with protesting?” Mr. Flynn said, adding that concern over the bus rental was raised at a federation board meeting on Sunday. “It’s mandated to get students home safe, not send them to Toronto.”

Federation president Tyler Steeves said the union was just doing its job by aiding student participation in the protests. “We try to capture the passions of our students and help students to pursue them, whether that means setting up intramural sports leagues or renting a bus so they can protest something they care about,” he said. “We’re helping them be involved in activities that make university special.”

The U of O group is not the only student federation facing controversy over sending protesters to the G20.

According to the Phoenix, the student newspaper at the University of British Columbia Okanagan campus, two members of the school’s student union, Grayson Lepp and Kirk Chavarie, used student funds to fly to Toronto to protest the summit.

The two were arrested on June 27 and charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. They are scheduled to appear in a Toronto court on Aug. 23.

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