John Wilson Award - Fall 2026

Dear Faculty,

Fall 2026 applications for the John Wilson Award are now open. 

To be eligible, the applicant must be a dependant or spouse of a regular faculty member or of a non‐regular faculty member who has two or more sections of work in the current academic year. The submission deadline is Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at 11:59pm. 

To apply, please review the full set of guidelines and download the PDF application form linked below. 

John Wilson Award Guidelines and Application. 

Please email any questions regarding this award to CFA@capilanou.ca

In Solidarity, 

Faculty Parking ePermit Application: Fall 2026

Dear Faculty,

If you arrive on campus between 8:45 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and require access to the designated "Special Permit" parking areas, please review the updated process and eligibility criteria below.

Eligibility & Process

• Eligibility: Faculty members with classes scheduled to begin before 8:45am are not eligible for this permit. Qualification criteria have been revised for this cycle; detailed requirements are outlined on the application form.

• Campus Map: View the official Capilano University Parking Map on the university website to locate spaces marked "Employees with special permit."

• How to Apply: Complete and submit the Online Parking ePermit Application Form. All requests must be submitted through this online portal.

Important Deadlines & Guidelines

• Submission Deadline: Applications are currently open and must be submitted by 11:59pm September 4, 2026.

• Review & Notification: The committee will review all submissions following the deadline. Assignments and approvals of ePermits will be communicated shortly thereafter.

• Parking Authorization: Please do not park in reserved areas until you have received official confirmation of your approval.

• Vehicle Registration: Approved license plates will be registered with University Parking Services. Only one registered vehicle per faculty member may be parked in the reserved area on any given day.

Frequently asked questions about CFA parking permits can be found here. 

If you have questions regarding the application or eligibility, please contact the CFA Parking Committee at facultyparking@capilanou.ca.

Thank you,

CFA Parking Committee

Our Collegial Model – a timely explanation

Recently, we have heard some members of the University administration describe the Capilano University Collegial Model (Articles 2.5 to 2.8) as if it is no more than a simple practice of being civil to each other. Some have reframed it as “collegial management.” We believe it is critical that we move together with a shared understanding of what a collegial approach to decision-making means here at CapU, so we want to correct these inaccurate statements. We will be exploring this further in upcoming workshops. 

While many post-secondary institutions subscribe to “collegial management,” the Collegial Model as codified in our Collective Agreement is unique. We have talked with chief stewards and bargainers from across the province who confirm that no other university or college has a model like ours. 

What makes our model unique is not the word “collegial”—it is that we have a decentralized Collegial Decision-making Model. This model delegates decision-making authority over a defined set of subjects to functional areas and coordinators. This approach supports the autonomy of faculty to manage their immediate spheres of influence. This statement from our Collective Agreement underscores the distinction of our approach:

“This model is predicated upon a belief that indicated recommending bodies are usually best positioned and qualified to make the following decisions and determinations." (Article 2.8.1.1) - In other words: for certain subjects, groups of faculty (departments and schools) are in the best position to make the decision.

The subjects are set out in article 2.8.2.5. On these subjects, the departments are the initial decision-makers. They pass their decisions to deans, who can object to the decisions if they have specific reasons to do so (valid reasons listed in 2.8.2.1). But the decisions begin with the departments, not the other way around. And they are decisions, not requests. If a dean refuses a decision, the dean must cite specific reasons. This enables two-way dialogue, but dialogue that empowers faculty.

It is vital to CapU that we move together with a shared understanding of what our unique collegial model means, and not let it get watered down as if it means only that we are nice to each other. While being civil or “nice” to each other often helps, it is not at the core of our decision-making model. Our framework fosters collaboration, autonomy, and trust, reflecting participatory values that are central to our faculty association's identity and our institution’s history. 

You may recall that, in the last round of bargaining, the administration proposed deleting the Collegial Model. They proposed replacing it with deans making the decisions, after consulting departments if, when, and how the deans chose. We refused to give up our model for that kind of managerialism. But if we forget what makes our model unique and accept the idea that it is merely about being collegial, we risk accepting in practice what we refused to accept in bargaining and will risk losing our decision-making authority..

We will be holding more workshops on the model in the spring term, starting with new employee orientation on 14 January, and as part of a set of workshops during reading week in February. We look forward to continued dialogue with you about how the model works, why it matters, and how to make it better.

In solidarity

CFA president Tim Acton and CFA stewards Michael Begg, Doug Alards-Tomalin, and Diana Twiss

Bulletin ~ Collective Agreement: Updates on changes to pay and benefits

Dear members: we are writing to update you on the implementation of the new Collective Agreement, focusing here on salaries (including retro pay) and benefits. The short version is that the administration expects that our February pay will be at the new rates and will include our retro pay; and that our Canada Life benefits have not been updated yet.

Our other Collective Agreement updates, including the effect of the change in the academic year, are in the document we sent last month (linked here).

 Salary 

The HR department has told us that the administration will be sending an announcement about salaries and retro pay. We have not seen the draft announcement yet and don’t know the timing, but wanted to update you with what we do know:

The Finance department has advised that they are implementing our new salary rates on our February pay. That pay deposit should also include our retro pay for April 2022 through January 2024 (they are doing final coding for this now). The retro will be included with our February wages as one payment. This will, unfortunately, make it difficult for members to check that the retro payment is accurate.

The good news is that in response to the CFA’s grievance about the lack of information on pay stubs, the employer has hired a computer programmer to create monthly pay descriptions that set out how our pay is calculated each month. This pay description will be provided separately from the pay stub itself, but we are expecting it to accompany our monthly payments—once it is ready. 

Finance tells us that they are hopeful that the pay description will be ready for our February pay, and that it will break down our normal pay and the retro pay. We have not yet received confirmation of whether the pay description will be ready for February. When the pay description is working, the administration says it will show faculty pay details going back approximately two years.

Regarding tax and other deductions: we asked HR and Finance again about options for minimizing a disproportionate tax deduction on our February pay due to the addition of retro. They have now advised that there are no options. Their only suggestion is for members to maximize their RRSP contributions. However, this won’t affect the amount of tax deducted on our February pay.

We have asked the Finance department to prepare an explanation of the calculation of deductions for taxes, CPP, EI, etc. and to post that along with a Q&A for faculty to read.

 Benefits

Although we are now entitled to the new benefits coverages (see again our summary of the changes), Canada Life won’t reimburse us based on the new benefits until the administration has updated the contract. 

Expenses you incur now that rely on the new benefits will be reimbursed, but not until the contract is updated.

The HR department has not notified us of the timeline for updating the contract. 

 In solidarity,

CFA stewards Michael Begg and Diana Twiss