UVSS will have no President, anti-racism policy, or decolonization policy after lengthy AGM votes many motions down.
Photo by Belle White.
On Oct. 28, 2025, the UVSS held their annual general meeting — a yearly meeting where all undergraduate students get to vote on motions, rather than just members of the board of directors. The meeting agenda had five special resolutions, and two financial motions.
To reach quorum, the UVSS needed 0.6% of undergraduate students to be in attendance. According to AGM’s chair John O’Brian, quorum for this meeting was 112 students.
This year’s AGM significantly exceeded quorum, at one point hitting 264 attendees.
Land Acknowledgement
The land acknowledgement was given in the form of a pre-existing UVic territory acknowledgement video. The UVSS had technical issues during the land acknowledgment, which resulted in part of the video being played without audio.
The UVSS received criticism for this during the question period. The criticisms included the land acknowledgment feeling “impersonal” due to the lack of a representative giving it live, and that the UVSS not replaying the part without audio felt disrespectful.
Foster responded that the video was the official UVic land acknowledgement and that the intention was to keep the land acknowledgement neutral by not having a board member deliver it. Foster said the UVSS would look into getting input from the Native Student Union (NSU) before the next AGM.
Disabling of the chat
The UVSS disabled the chat function — the AGM was held on Zoom — leaving attendees unable to use it. Foster said the chat was disabled because UVSS policy generally does not allow for it. O’Brian later clarified that this decision was made to prevent “misuse” of the chat and that attendees still had the opportunity to participate verbally.
An attendee asked to move to vote on re-enabling the chat, but this vote was never held.
During question period, an attendee who identified as disabled said disabling the chat was an accessibility issue, and alleged that it went against the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Foster apologized for this, and said this issue represented a “significant oversight in policy,” adding that this was something they would work on for the SAGM.
The Presidential Policy
Foster, who previously put forward and advocated for a motion to change the five lead Board of Directors positions to President and Vice-President positions. The Director of Outreach and University Relations position, held by Foster, would become the President position. Foster withdrew his motion due to concerns from “his constituents.”
Some attendees opposed his movement to remove the motion. A vote occurred to remove the policy from the agenda. The result was 52 per cent in favour, 48 per cent opposed. The motion was removed from the agenda.
This was the only vote where the specific breakdown of votes was public. O’Brian later said future vote results would not be shown, and that he shouldn’t have displayed the results for this one.
Following this, the AGM’s agenda was approved, as were the meeting minutes of the last SAGM.
At this point, the attendance had dropped to 220.
Decolonization Policy
Katie King — Director of Student Affairs — introduced a motion to add a decolonization policy to the UVSS’ issues policy.
This policy was a carryover from the SAGM. Lindsey Andrew — Director of Events — said this policy was written by the last Board of Directors. Andrew specifically mentioned Bunni Williams, the previous director of outreach and university relations.
An attendee criticized the UVSS, alleging that the policy was not written with consultation from Indigenous students or student groups.
Andrew noted the policy was written by a board member who was Métis, and said that some consultation was done with the NSU Firekeeper. The attendee who criticized the motion said she had spoken with the Firekeeper, and that they alleged they were not consulted on the policy. Andrew then apologized for the “misinformation.”
The motion was then voted on and defeated, and the decolonization policy was not adopted.
Anti-Racism Policy
Foster brought forward a motion to update the UVSS’ anti-racism policy. Foster said this policy was also primarily developed by the last board, and said that consultation was done with the Students of Colour Collective (SOCC) board representative.
Roven Brooks-Stephenson, the current SOCC representative on the Board, said that she was not consulted by the last Board, and is currently the only person consulted by the current Board. She alleged that other SOCC members, the NSU, and UVic’s Equity and Human Rights office (EQHR) were also not consulted on this policy.
She also said that in order for her to vote yes on this policy, changes such as restoring the previous policy’s definition of whiteness would need to be made.
During this policy discussion, an attendee asked how mandate H. subsection g. — which specifically opposes apartheid, genocide, and crimes against humanity — was reflective of the UVSS’ decisions to allow certain clubs to exist on campus.
This question was not initially answered. The attendee reiterated the question, this time, specifically naming the recently ratified Students Supporting Israel UVic (SSI). Foster responded, saying complaints regarding the club have been received, and that the UVSS is working to address them in a respectful manner that “upholds their values as a society.”
Other attendees raised concerns about this club during this discussion.
Following a vote, the motion to update the anti-racism policy failed, and the policy was not updated.
For-Credit Courses
A motion to update the UVSS policy surrounding benefits allotted to undergraduate students was voted on and carried.
Foster previously told the Martlet this motion seeks to clarify that UVSS services are for undergraduate students who are enrolled in for-credit courses.
Replacing Faculty Representatives with Directors-at-Large (DALs)
Foster brought forward a motion to replace faculty representatives with DALs.
A former DAL said that faculty representatives only limited who could run, since positions were limited to specific faculties, and that they did not add “any new positions to the board.”
Foster previously told the Martlet that the roles of faculty representatives and DALs were largely the same, and that the current system of replacing these positions only lengthened the elections period for the UVSS.
An attendee against the motion argued that the UVSS should first try to advertise these positions more, before getting rid of them. The motion was then voted on and carried.
Financial Motions
During the financial motions, the meeting lost the initial quorum needed. However, Foster said that for financial motions, the UVSS only needed 20 attendees under the B.C. Societies Act. The financial motions were approved.
Adoption of the budget and approval of audits
Jonah Arnold — Interim Director of Finance — introduced a motion to adopt the 2025-2026 budget. Arnold also brought forward a motion to approve a third-party audit of the UVSS’ finances. Both motions were voted on and passed.
Reports
All of the board directors gave their own reports. Foster mentioned aiming for 1.5% turnout for the SAGM during his report.
Michael Caryk — Interim Director of Campaigns and Community Relations — noted his attempt to get $10 ferry fees for university students during his report.
Andrew talked about upcoming events during her report, including information on the UVSS clothing swap and winter holiday market.
King mentioned in her report working on ways to improve sexualized violence prevention training.
Question Period
During the question period, more questions related to UVic SSI were asked. An attendee asked how the UVSS board of directors came to their decisions regarding UVic SSI, and how they were moderating anti-Palestinian and antisemitic hate.
Foster said he could not elaborate on the specific actions they have taken, but that efforts to address the club were “in progress.”
Another attendee asked how the UVSS planned to consult with racialized communities, following the failure to pass both the anti-racism and decolonization policies.
Foster said it was something the UVSS would have to review in the “coming days, weeks, and months.”
During the question period, an attendee urged the board to adopt both pro-Palestine language and language discouraging antisemitism.
After the question period, the meeting was adjourned.
The meeting, which started at 4p.m., ended at 8p.m., totalling approximately four hours.
