The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council held its fourth meeting of the semester on Oct. 23, with 25 members present.
After the Steering Committee briefly presented a report, SSMU Black Affairs Commissioner Kendra-Ann Haynes gave a presentation. Haynes stated that the Black Affairs Committee is interested in opening a chapter for Black Future Lawyers and expanding the Black Equity Fund to post-graduate students at McGill.
Next was a presentation from Chief Officer Mike Lee of SSMU Elections. He outlined strategies to increase voter turnout for the upcoming Fall Referendum, including a raffle, flyers, and a stronger social media presence.
“People do vote [when] they feel related to a topic [and] when they feel that things are related to them,” Lee said.
The Conference on Diversity in Engineering (CDE) then presented its request for $25,000 CAD from the SSMU Campus Life Fund to balance its budget. The CDE’s Co-Chair Claire Levasseur stated that sponsors are especially difficult to find this year.
“Three out of the four major [engineering] conferences are being held in Quebec [in 2025], [so] we are all going for the same resources, which has been extremely difficult,” Levasseur reported.
After a unanimous vote in the CDE’s favour, the LC approved the CDE’s request for funding.
SSMU President Dymetri Taylor then gave an Executive Committee report. Among other things, President Taylor noted that the implementation of a new gender-affirming care student insurance model will be pushed back from the beginning of the Winter 2026 semester to the Fall 2026 semester.
“McGill required roughly six months’ notice to provide information of a secure nature to third parties, [which] is then pushing back implementation of gender-affirming care,” Taylor clarified.
The new hires to the SSMU Vice-President (VP) Finance and VP Internal Affairs positions were next presented to the LC. VP Finance Jean-Sébastien Léger and VP Internal Minaal Mirza both began their roles on Oct. 20.
The Executive Reports continued with SSMU VP External Affairs Seraphina Crema-Black confirming that she will be hosting a Montreal municipal election debate on Oct. 27 in the SSMU ballroom, with confirmed participation from Transition Montréal, Projet Montréal, Futur Montréal, and Ensemble Montréal. The debate will be moderated by McGill’s Associate Provost Angela Campbell. Crema-Black emphasized that there is a form where students can submit their questions for candidates as well.
After Crema-Black spoke, the Medical Students’ Society (MSS) of McGill presented a report. Among other things, MSS SSMU Representative Ling He announced that an emergency MSS General Assembly would be held on Oct. 26 regarding the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ) and Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) strikes.
The LC concluded by handling a series of motions. Notably, the Council voted unanimously to add Crema-Black and SSMU VP University Affairs Susan Aloudat to the SSMU Board of Directors.
Moment of the meeting: Chief Officer Lee warned that the consequences of not reaching a quorum of 15 per cent during the Fall Referendum means none of the campaigns on the ballot will move forward.
Soundbite: “We’re [trying] to e-mail professors of large courses for them to remind students [to vote], [while] identifying faculties and programs with the lowest voter turnouts [to] see how we can make sure the target groups can increase their voting.”—Lee on additional strategies SSMU is undertaking to help reach quorum
