Last January members of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations told the Canadian University Press they were pushing to lay charges against FitzPatrick in Ottawa and New Brunswick. They alleged he misappropriated close to $40,000 in student funds.
The association's national director said Ottawa police agreed to investigate two charges ‹ writing a fraudulent cheque and theft of $2,225. But Staff Sgt. Tom MacKay says the Ottawa police never received any complaint.
Peter Nogalo, a former student councilor at Carleton University, which was a CASA member at the time, said he is shocked the association hasn't pressed any charges in Ottawa.
"They had a responsibility to their members to follow up on the issue," he said.
Alex Usher, then CASA national director, said recently that no charges were laid in Ottawa because "it would have cost more to pursue them than we'd have gotten [from winning the case]."
But MacKay said it would not cost CASA anything to file a case. He added CASA had the option of taking the case to small claims court where no lawyer is needed and there is only a $45 fee.
The new national director of CASA, Matthew Hough, said he wants to drop the issue.
"We've done what we could [and] I'm not going to lose any sleep over it," he said.
Most of the $40,000 is alleged to have been misappropriated in Fredericton, where FitzPatrick served as vice-president of the University of New Brunswick student council.
Fredericton regional police did conduct an investigation and the file has been turned over to the Fredericton Crown Attorney's office. According to New Brunswick law, until the Crown Attorney's office determines the likelihood of conviction, the police cannot charge FitzPatrick. The file has been in the Crown Attorney's office for about a month.
Paul Hawkins, Crown Prosecutor for the Province of New Brunswick, admitted that cases of this nature normally don't take this long to process, but he said there have been some unrelated delays such as employee vacations.
The Regional Crown Prosecutor's office in Fredericton said that if there are charges laid they will be made within the next month.
Although Hough said he is now working on other issues that are more pertinent to students, some member schools don't want to see this issue die. Carrie Ricker of the St. Thomas University student council is following the New Brunswick situation for CASA. She said she thinks she is "being given the run around [by the Fredericton police]."
"I've tried several times to contact the police [but] I'll keep pushing until I'm satisfied," she said.
Originally, CASA alleged that FitzPatrick, who directed the organization in the fall of 1995, used his position as coordinator of a conference on higher education to gain access to and misuse the funds. The money in question was collected by CASA from individual student unions at its 10 member universities.
FitzPatrick, who is now working a student paper at the University of New Brunswick, refused to comment on the situation.