On March 12, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council (LC) convened for its fifth session of the semester, with six members attending remotely through Zoom.
After making adjustments to the agenda, Speaker Acadia Knickerbocker introduced Steve Cameron to speak on behalf of GuardMe, a mental and physical health insurance company partnering with McGill’s Student Support Program. The program offers 24/7 confidential counselling services to students.
Science Councillor Benjamin Yu put forward a query regarding the advertising and distribution of the program, noting that he has not personally seen tangible impacts on students.
“This is actually the first time I’m hearing about this program,” Yu said. “I wanted to ask you what your day-to-day engagement is […] and what your strategy for advertising the service is, just because I know that there are a lot of students that are concerned about the Student Wellness Hub, but aren’t really mentioning this program.”
Cameron responded saying that actions are currently being taken to rebrand and remain visible for students.
Cameron also put forward for consideration a new facet of the program, Digital Doctor, which would provide students with more accessible primary healthcare. He emphasized its focus on students’ needs, comprehensive healthcare ownership, and existing success with the Post Graduate Students’ Society. The LC will consider the Digital Doctor program in a future session to discuss whether it can be made accessible to undergraduate students.
President Dymetri Taylor then announced the conclusion of SSMU’s eight-month hiring search for a new General Manager (GM), with the selection of Melissa Proietti. Proietti is a McGill graduate who has worked in higher education for seven years.
Following Executive Reports and Reports by Councillors, the council discussed two notices of motion. Taylor put forward the Notice of Motion for the Reprioritization of the Positions Book, which was articulated by Policy and Advocacy Coordinator Simone Brown. Brown presented Taylor’s proposal to consolidate all SSMU positions into the SSMU Positions Book, replacing aspiration policies with actionable positions.
Vice-President (VP) External Affairs Seraphina Crema-Black endorsed this notice of motion, describing the strain of putting vague policies into action.
“It’s really difficult to know which of these [policies] are actually projects that we want to focus our time on versus projects that are maybe outdated,” Crema-Black said. “This is going to make things much clearer, make the actionable steps and tangible steps much easier to execute and get to the goal that we’re actually trying to achieve.”
Brown then put forward the Notice of Motion Regarding Political Campaigns Addition in The IRS Rep & Advocacy on the Governance Reform Committee. It called for the reintroduction of the External Affairs Committee, which would place political campaigns under the authority of not just a single executive, but a group of diverse individuals with multiple perspectives.
Among the discussion items, Crema-Black proposed hosting the last leg of the Global Students for Palestine Network (GSPN) panel tour on March 30. The LC then discussed the management of ticket sales, logistics of the Q&A session, and student safety during the event.
After a thorough debate, Crema-Black drafted a Motion to Endorse the GSPN Panel Event in Collaboration with the Arab Student Network and the Palestinian Cultural Club. The motion passed with 14 in favour, two opposed, and three abstaining.
Moment of the Meeting:
Engineering Councillor Ben Mitchell raised concerns regarding student reception of the Discussion Item calling for the immediate annulment of the Ethical Partnership Policy. Mitchell cautioned the council about the potential confusion students may experience upon seeing the policy dissolve without a transparent explanation.
Soundbite:
“Make sure you exercise your democratic privilege to vote in the SSMU executive and referendum elections, really important stuff, really fun. Oh, yeah, you get stickers.”—VP University Affairs Susan Aloudat, on the importance of voting.
