TWO CANDIDATES ARE CLAIMING THAT DIFFICULTIES IN RECORDING THEIR ANSWERS LED TO FAILURE IN MEETING BILINGUALISM STANDARDS, AN “UNAPPEALABLE” STANDARD ACCORDING TO THE CHIEF ELECTIONS OFFICER, BEN CAMERON
Four candidates for the University of Ottawa Student’s Union (UOSU) General Election have been disqualified following failure to present sufficient proof of bilingualism. Three of these candidates – Norah Bello, Carly Huber, and Evan Macaulay – did not pass the French test; Benjamin Dennie did not pass the English test. Bello and Huber claim technical difficulties during the tests provided by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI) led to their disqualification.
Prior to the removal of these four candidates, the 2026 UOSU Executive Elections had four contested positions. However, the ballots for Operations Commissioner and Student Life Commissioner, will now each present one candidate as voting opens on Monday March 2. The Advocacy Commissioner position will be vacant, as candidate Jasmine Jin was disqualified on Feb. 22 due to “failure to present sufficient proof of bilingualism.”
The position of Francophone Commissioner went unchallenged prior to Dennie’s disqualification. The role responsible for defending the interests and rights of Francophone students will be empty until an interim executive is hired by UOSU.
Notification of disqualifications, sent by Chief Electoral Officer Ben Cameron, provided steps for candidates to argue against his decision to the Elections Board, but that “in [his] view, the decision is not appealable.”
According to Cameron, “the merits don’t stand up to scrutiny,” citing the Elections Code. Section 10.2., which outlines valid reasons for appeals, does not include arguing the accuracy of candidate requirements such as bilingualism.
Bello, who was running for Advocacy Commissioner, suspects technological problems omitted “half of her answers,” leading to her failure to meet the qualification. According to Bello, she could not hear the questions from the audio or confirm the recording of her oral presentation — despite highlighting her concerns to the OLBI staff, she was told to “not worry” and that an incident report would be taken into consideration by the evaluator.
Bello is a native English speaker who passed OLBI’s bilingualism test in the Fall of 2025 and is pursuing her studies in the French immersion stream. She calls the disqualification “ridiculous,” telling the Fulcrum that her “proficiency in French, has led [her] this far.”
Despite similar experiences being reported among two other candidates, Cameron clarified that as Chief Electoral Officer he “doesn’t get to see the test or hear the test” but is responsible to enforce the rules of the Electoral Code with the findings provided by the OLBI.
This will be the first time in UOSU history that the OLBI is being formally challenged, and next steps will be decided by the appeals committee.
Huber , who was running for Operations Commissioner, was born and raised in Saint-Jean-sur-Richeulieu and is a native French speaker. However, she did not meet the criteria for test exemption under Schedule A of UOSU’s constitution, which allows exemptions upon submission of “a certificate of English-French bilingualism or results from French or English-language testing that was conducted within the past two (2) years, or a high school or CÉGEP diploma.”
When Huber experienced similar recording difficulties during her French exam, the OLBI supervisor told her “this problem happens a lot,” and that she will “have to hope that [her answers] saved.”
When requesting an incident report be filed for her exam, Huber was told that she “seems bilingual” and the supervisor was “sure [she] will pass regardless.”
Bello and Huber have confirmed to the Fulcrum they are planning on filing an appeal — a process which candidates have 24 hours to complete, and gives the Electoral Board 72 hours for a verdict to be reached.
OLBI could not be reached for commentary at the time of publication.
Editor’s Note: This article was edited on February 27, 2026 at 10:40 p.m. An earlier version of this article misstated that four candidates had failed the French test; the article has been revised to state that three candidates failed the French test, and one failed the English test. The article has also been edited to clarify that that the Francophone mentioned in the headline is Carly Huber, not Benjamin Dennie. The Fulcrum apologizes for the error.
