Habon Ali is a fourth-year student studying Biology and Environmental Sciences running for Vice-President Equity as part of the Students United slate. Her position is one of two contested executive races.
Ali describes herself as “a social being” and her love of social interactions helped to develop her “passion for community building and youth participation.”
If elected, Ali plans to tackle issues of food security, the availability of multi-faith spaces, and racism, homophobia, and anti-Indigeneity on campus. She is also looking to implement mandatory training on consent for campus groups and workers.
When asked about the UTMSU’s voting system, which uses paper ballots as opposed to online voting, Ali is open to reforms to increase students’ abilities to democratically engage with the student union. She supports the establishment of a working group to propose improvements to the current system, ranging from advanced polling to mail-in ballots.
Faced with the separation of the UTMSU and the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU), Ali and the Students United slate remain committed to addressing local issues at UTM, while also taking every opportunity available to collaborate with the UTSU on student issues.
Off campus, Ali has experience as a member of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council and has worked on various initiatives including the Toronto Public Health’s Youth Health Action Network and the think tank Mosaic Institute. She has engaged on campus through Habitat for Humanity UTM and the Somali Student Association.
