On January 27, the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) held an emergency Board of Directors (BOD) meeting to address unapproved motions from the union’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on November 28. 

The UTMSU AGM ended abruptly due to time constraints, leaving many motions undiscussed. As a result, students were forced to refer the remaining motions to the emergency board meeting. During the meeting, the union got through most of the remaining AGM motions, pushed two to a future meeting, and approved the upcoming UTMSU election dates. 

Executive reports

Executive reports were kept brief to accommodate the unaddressed AGM motions. More detailed reports will be shared in the next emergency BOD meeting, which will be held on February 7. 

The UTMSU met with Cameron Miranda-Radbord — a student member of the Governing Council — to discuss and send a letter to Brian Hoppie, the operations manager of U of T’s Parking & Transportation Hospitality & Ancillary Services, to increase shuttle services between UTSG and UTM, as well as relocating the shuttle stop back to Hart House.

Vice-President (VP) External Daniel Ripoll addressed students’ concerns about travel times from Brampton, Vaughan, and Milton. Ripoll plans to continue advocating for more frequent services on the Brampton Transit 199 express bus during exam season and proposed new transit routes, including a new GO line from Milton, to address these service gaps, and mentioned that he was trying to set up meetings with Brampton City Council and Metrolinx. 

AGM continued 

Among the unresolved AGM motions was one to create the Committee to Indigenous Justice and Collaboration in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action, specifically Call to Action 80, which emphasizes public commemoration of residential schools through a statutory holiday. Many major educational institutions across the country — such as the University of British Columbia and Queen’s University — observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation statutory holiday on September 30, but U of T does not.

UTMSU President Joelle Salsa spoke to the motion, noting that the committee’s mandate overlaps with that of the Land Acknowledgement Committee approved at the AGM. She mentioned that she’s working with the student who originally moved the motion to suggest the two committees merge and collaborate on Indigenous advocacy at UTM. Ultimately, the motion was agreed to be referred to the Land Acknowledgement Committee. 

Another motion left unaddressed was for the union to lobby the university for larger multi-faith spaces for both men and women.

VP University Affairs Sidra Ahsan noted a lack of “sufficient space for people of all faiths to pray and fulfill religious obligations [for both men and women].” Currently, there are nine faith spaces at UTM. 

The board approved an amendment to the motion to ensure more inclusive language, changing “both men and women” to “all users” and rewording the motion to include “more” to emphasize the need for increasing the number of multi-faith spaces. The motion carried.

The next motion addressed was the creation of another committee for Palestine, called “Strike for Palestine,” which would focus on the “open and bold political organization of students.” Salsa clarified the redundancy of creating another committee to advocate for Palestine, given that an ad hoc committee has already been established and a ceasefire is in place. 

She mentioned that the ad hoc committee follows a need-based system, taking student concerns and bringing those issues to attention within the community. The committee used this system to remove Starbucks products from the UTMSU-run Duck Stop Convenience store.

Alternatively, Salsa suggested, “If students want to see a strike, they can bring it up to the ad hoc committee.” The motion failed to carry.

The proposal for an opposition student union to enhance the union’s accountability and representation was ruled out of order by the BOD Meeting Chair Kayla Weiler, who mentioned that the proposal was “outside the scope of UTMSU’s bylaws” and that bylaws already have “mechanisms in place for transparency” between board members and students. 

Another motion was for the UTMSU to lobby the university to maintain the current level of service of Brampton Transit Route 199 throughout exam season, as service ends when classes stop. After some discussion, the motion was carried. 

The following motions were pushed to upcoming meetings: investigating the feasibility and benefits of creating a ‘makerspace’ — a community hub designed for hands-on learning, sustainability, and innovation — at UTM as well as preventing the relocation of the Sexual Education Centre.

The meeting ended with Nagata mentioning the need for two more BOD meetings before the election season to “strike the hiring committee for the positions coming up” among other items of business. 

“There [are also] some policy amendments, for especially [the Election Procedural Codes], before the election starts,” said Nagata.

Election dates

Members also approved the dates for the 2025 UTMSU elections, held annually between February and March. The nomination period will run from February 24–28. Campaigning will begin on March 3, and the voting period will be from March 11–13. 

The MSA did not respond to The Varsity’s request for comment in time for publication.

Editor’s Note (February 10, 2:40 am): This article has been corrected to reflect that Cameron Miranda-Radbord is a student member of the Governing Council, not a member of the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council.