Board determined Ahimakin had not adequately completed duties according to Executive Work Manual
The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO)’s most recent Board of Administration (BOA) meeting, which took place on April 26, saw several important developments, one of which was executive pay. This was the last meeting of the 2016-17 board.
The final motion of the meeting was brought forward by Vanessa Dorimain, outgoing SFUO vice-president of university affairs and incoming executive coordinator. The motion, presented as an emergency motion, called for outgoing president Roméo Ahimakin to not receive his final pay cheque, on the grounds that his transition report to successor Hadi Wess was unsatisfactory.
This stems from the Executive Work Manual, a non-public document that governs procedure for executive members. According to a copy of the manual obtained by the Fulcrum, “Any member of the Executive who has not written a year-end report before the last meeting of the Board of Administration will not receive her last pay cheque.”
The board ruled that Ahimakin’s report was unsatisfactory and voted in favour of not giving him his final pay cheque.
By this time, Ahimakin had left the meeting.
A statement from Dorimain, relayed by current vice-president of services and communications Kathryn LeBlanc, said that Dorimain “presented the motion to dock (Ahimakin) of his last two weeks of pay to demonstrate that executives must fulfill their mandate in order to receive their pay cheque. (Ahimakin) failed to complete many of his responsibilities as President. Therefore, the BOA voted to dock his pay for the last two weeks of his term.”
Ahimakin could not be reached in time for publication.
Dorimain had received a notice of action for a possible defamation lawsuit by Ahimakin on March 22. The notice came following allegations made by Dorimain via proxy against Ahimakin at a March 5 BOA meeting. Ahimakin’s notice of action also named incoming president Hadi Wess, outgoing vice-president equity Morissa Ellis, incoming Faculty of Sciences representative Michel Antoun, Faduma Wais, Dorimain’s proxy at the March 5 meeting, and the Fulcrum.
As no media were present at the April 26 meeting, the Fulcrum has reconstructed the events that transpired based on testimonies by members of the SFUO executive, outgoing Faculty of Engineering representative Jeffry Colin, and confirmed with sources that have chosen to remain anonymous.
The Fulcrum also requested the minutes of the meeting from the SFUO, but was told they were not yet available. The minutes of the April 26 meeting have not yet been made public as of the date of this publication.
