“I serve on this board as a form of harm reduction” – Max Christie
The University of Ottawa Students’ Union’s (UOSU) Board of Directors (BOD) met for their monthly meeting on Sept. 17. Called to order at 1:07 p.m. and adjourning just after 5:45 p.m., the meeting was the shortest BOD meeting of the term thus far.
Motion A) Code of Conduct
The first and most controversial motion of the day was brought by Common law director and chair of the governance committee Gabrielle Muzychka. Debate on the motion arguably began in the days before the meeting when Max Christie began a social media campaign; he alerted students to sections of the proposed code of conduct that he believed would limit the freedom of expression of directors of the board.
Students responded to the proposed code of conduct with concern.
Christie took issue with sections 2.3.5.2, 2.4., and 2.6 of the proposed code of conduct, moving to amend the code and explaining that the original code would essentially force him to resign from the board.
Legal counsel for UOSU, Katie Black, was present to address some concerns and provide a well-versed legal opinion. Black shared, anecdotally, her own experience rejecting a spot on the board of an organization, claiming she wanted to remain able to criticize that board. Christie responded that his service on the board was “a form of harm reduction”.
Christie’s amendment passed and the amended motion was adopted.
Motion B) Committee assignment change
This motion was brought to remove Science director Abdur Rehman Khan from the elections committee due to unexplained absences. Another committee chair asked to amend the motion to include Khan’s removal from the clubs committee for the same reason. This motion passed with unanimous consent.
Motion C) Flying squad
Brought by Social Sciences director James Adair, this motion proposed that the UOSU Advocacy committee begin to investigate the feasibility of the Union establishing a volunteer “flying squad”.
Adair’s motion explained that the flying squad would be a response team of volunteer uOttawa students, who would be trained in effective counter-protesting, safety, and be alerted to respond to various groups and demonstrations that go against our values and positions in and around campus”.
This motion passed.
Motion D) Genocide denial position
Brought by Adair, this motion sought to adopt a position as a Union reading: “[UOSU] strongly affirms that genocide denial goes against its core values. This includes active denial and actions which seek to diminish or negate the horrors of genocide, including but not limited to false equivalencies, allegations of exaggeration, or dismissing it as part of history while ignoring their current modern effects. Genocides include those recognized by the Parliament of Canada, as well as the genocide of Indigenous people across North America.”
This motion was amended to broaden the definition of genocide to include “those recognized by significant scholars as genocides according to the legal definitions of the 1948 United Nations ‘Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide’, and the genocide of Indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere.”
Motion E) Recording of Board meetings
Brought by Christie this was a motion to record and make recording publicly available within seven days of a BOD meeting, passed with unanimous consent.
Omnibus of Motions H through L
An Omnibus motioned by Adair saw Motions H through L be voted on as a package, the motion to omnibus the meeting’s remaining motions passed unanimously. Christie made an attempt to externalize motion K (a motion to rename the Fall general assembly to the Autumn general assembly) but failed to receive a seconder for the motion to externalize. The motions voted on as one, passed unanimously with one abstention.
Upcoming for UOSU
By elections
The nomination period for UOSU’s by-elections has now closed. The campaign period will run from September 30 to October 13. The voting period will run from October 9 to 13 and will see the first offering of in-person voting in a UOSU election since 2019. Christie has staked his future with the union on the elections turnout, stating he will resign should the union’s election turnout not reach 5 per cent (the last general election had a 3.8 per cent).
Autumn General Assembly (AGA)
By-election results will be ratified at the union’s AGA is set to be held Nov 11.
– With files from Shailee Shah and Kavi Vidya Achar
