The club invited self-described nationalist Tyler L. Russell to speak at an event
On Dec. 6, the Right Wing Politics Club lost their club status with the University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) and Campus Vibez (CVUO).
The official decision comes after the club attempted to have self-described nationalist Tyler L. Russell speak at an event back in October.
Amena el Himri, student services commissioner for the UOSU, said that the concern with the club’s activities began on Sep. 12.
“They [Right Wing Politics Club] invited Tyler L. Russell to speak on campus, and that is an individual that the UOSU condemns as he does not share the same values as the UOSU constitution and the equity section of the U of O clubs code,” explained El Himri.
Official club status was granted to the Right Wing Politics Club back in September 2019 after a two-step process, according to the president of CVUO, Hassan Ahmed.
Ahmed said, “the [event] was to be held on Oct. 2, yet was cancelled due to a change in COVID-19 restrictions by the UOSU.”
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UOSU Board of Directors (BOD) voted to suspend all in-person club activities on Oct. 1 in response to increasing cases in Ottawa and on campus.
Alongside the The Right Wing Politics Club, the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) club was denied club status in connection with the event. They had been connected to the event in its planning stages and had their application for club status denied due to this.
The Right Wing Politics club received $150 in funding from the UOSU for the fall 2020 semester according to files provided by Ahmed.
“Since their removal and the new clubs code, they’ve been asked to not spend any of the money they received that they already haven’t spent,” said Ahmed.
“[They] are [also] going to be asked to return [the funding] back to the UOSU.”
The Right Wing Politics club is currently undergoing an official investigation with the UOSU’s student services committee, chaired by El Himri.
The investigative report will be released later this week. More information to come.
Editor’s note (08/12/20, 4:07 p.m.): In a previous version, the subheading of this article misidentified Tyler Russell’s self-described political beliefs. Russell identifies as a “nationalist.” The body of the article remains unchanged.
