National Federation of Canadian University Students

The National Federation of Canadian University Students (NFCUS) was a national university student organization founded in 1926. It is the oldest and first national student organization in Canada. It was the primary student organization in Canada during the 1920s, 1930s (except for the Canadian Student Assembly created in 1937), 1940s (NFCUS ceased operations from 1940 to 1946) the 1950s, and the early 1960s. NFCUS changed its name to the Canadian Union of Students (CUS) in 1963 and continued operations under that name until CUS ceased to exist in 1969. Several ad hoc committees operated on a national level for a few years until the National Union of Students in Canada was organized in 1972. The Federation was formed in Montreal in December 1926 with representatives from ten student associations. Its formation was encouraged by a former president of National Union of Students in England, Ralph Nunn May, who was touring Canada as a member of the Imperial Debating Team. NFCUS was initially established to facilitate student engagement in debating events, and to organize student exchanges, sports events, and discounts on train tickets. Although NFCUS was organized amongst other more politically involved student organizations, NFCUS remained largely apolitical in its early existence. In the 1920s and 1930s, university in Canada was the purview of the wealthy and upper middle class. University students were predominantly white males and were a minority amongst their cohort. In 1930, approximately 33,000 students attended Canadian universities full-time, which comprised 3% of college aged youth. Aside from regular university antics, university administrators during this time had traditionally succeeded in managing and socializing students. Paul Axelrod, professor and Dean of the Faculty of Education at York University, asserts NFCUS had been created amongst a common desire for peace and international harmony after the carnage and collective trauma experienced as a result of the First World War.