On Jan. 29, Antonin Mongeau attended his last meeting of U of T Students’ Union’s Clubs Committee, the group responsible for the allocation of long- and short-term funds for over 100 student clubs on campus. At the meeting, Mongeau was ousted in a secret-ballot process. He was replaced by Natalie Orelana of the Current Affairs Exchange Forum, who was not present at the meeting.
UTSU president Sandy Hudson said the meeting was in accordance with UTSU bylaws, which call for all committees to be re-struck for the new academic session after bi-elections.
Mongeau is not convinced that the decision was purely policy-related. He said the process was hastily put into practice without many of the committee members’ knowledge. He claims that when he asked the reason for secret ballots, his committee-mates responded it was so that they wouldn’t have to justify their decisions.
The Clubs Committee is made up of UTSU execs, board members, and three general members elected by the board. It is the only committee where members other than UTSU board members are allowed to sit. In its minutes, the Clubs Committee is consistently referred to as a commission.
“When you start asking questions that they (the union) don’t want to answer, they kick you out of the building,” Mongeau said.
On Jan. 20, Mongeau formally lodged a request for the UTSU’s bylaws, election procedures, and minutes. While Mongeau eventually received the 150-page packet on Feb 2, about two weeks following his request, he maintained his removal is related to his request for information.
“For the current UTSU, Athmika and them, any attempt to become better informed and more involved is seen as a threat,” Mongeau writes in an email to The Varsity. “So they run their little patch of sand like a fiefdom and cling meagerly to whatever power they have. Ironically, that power is relatively marginal, it is simply knowledge about the bylaws and policies themselves. That’s why they hide them.”
Mongeau was voted out by the UTSU’s directors present, including Executive Committee members Hudson, VP internal Adnan Najmi, VP campus life Athmika Punja. Hudson said Mongeau’s claims are completely unfounded. “It’s a rule,” she said. “We always have bi-elections. It’s to allow all board members to fulfill their duty of serving on a committee.” “We really wanted to keep him involved and stuff but he made everything much harder than it has to be,” said Punja.
Mongeau and Punja gave differing accounts of Mongeau’s comments on Chinese clubs. According to the meeting minutes, Mongeau stated that the Trinity Cantonese Christian Fellowship overlaps with the Chinese Christian Fellowship and suggested that both groups be funded equally.
“He said that there shouldn’t be so many Chinese clubs on campus because Mandarin and Cantonese were basically the same thing,” Punja said. That’s why I voted the way I did. Apparently it’s general knowledge, but it’s still a secret ballot.”
“That’s a lie. I did not say that there are too many Chinese groups,” Mongeau responded. “It’s true that we have many Chinese clubs at U of T. Given that we have many Chinese constitutents, it’s unsurprising.”
“I said there must be some way that we can reunite certain groups. My point about Mandarin and Cantonese is that they share the same writing system, so there must be some cultural overlap we can find,” Mongeau added. “I’d like to see one giant Chinese New Year [celebration] at U of T.”
At the Jan. 29 meeting, the board voted in two new members from the clubs—Black Students’ Association chair Daniella Kyei and Natalie Orelana, who was not present at the meeting.
Regnier, on staff at UTSU as executive director, said it was “threatening” and “inappropriate” of Mongeau to include campus media on his request for UTSU documents.
Hudson said, “I have no comment on his behaviour or anything—we’re fulfilling his requests. The only potential issue in the request is that he put a time limit on it that was physically impossible.” Mongeau responded that he gave two weeks, and that Hudson initially refused the request.
Punja, VP campus life, said Mongeau was disruptive to the committee. “He was pretty brash,” she said. “He tended to speak overtop of other people.” Mongeau ran for VP university affairs in November, to be beaten to the spot by the then-executive assistant Adam Awad.
Mongeau called the secret ballot “democracy through obscurity,” indicative of UTSU’s lack of transparency.
“I want a democratic and transparent student union,” said Mongeau. “The Clubs Committee has essentially run its course, so there’s no need for me to be reinstated—but there is need for reform in the student union.”
Natalie Orelana will join Vita Carlino, Lucas Lawrence, Athmika Punja, Admin Najmi, Sandy Hudson, and Marissa Derochers on the Clubs Committee.
With files from Jane Bao and Naushad Ali Husein
A previous version of this article reported that Athmika Punja accused Antonin Mongeau of racist comments. This article has been updated to give Punja’s specific accusation, Mongeau’s response, and what was recorded in the meeting minutes.
