KSA council debates internal investigation into the association

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Editor’s Note: This article has been updated for accuracy. The Runner regrets the error.

The Kwantlen Student Association held a council meeting on April 29 at 12:00 pm in a hybrid format where they tried to appoint the executive committee for a second time. All council members were in attendance. 

The executive committee coordinates the KSA’s day-to-day affairs, according to the association’s Regulations, and the committee should be appointed at the council’s first meeting taking place on or after April 1. Executive committee elections took place during the last council meeting on April 19.

During this meeting, Faculty of Arts Representative Yugveer Gill was appointed vice-president (VP) finance and operations, International Students Representative Paramvir Singh was appointed VP university affairs, Faculty of Arts Representative Jasmine Kaur Kochhar was appointed VP external affairs, and Cloverdale Campus Representative Yashanpreet Guron was appointed VP student life. However, the results of the election failed to pass. 

A motion to approve the election results from this previous council meeting was on the agenda, which needed a two-thirds majority vote. The vote was almost evenly split, so the motion failed. The KSA remains without an executive committee. 

Before the meeting started, council members were sent an email by their legal counsel in regard to the internal committee elections. Over the past month, council had been trying to appoint its internal committee before its executive committee, which some representatives had raised concerns about. 

Students of Colour Representative Ishant Goyal wanted to move the meeting in-camera to discuss the legal counsel’s email. 

“If I may. Did we not receive verification through email just recently that internal does not need to be appointed after external? I’m failing to understand why we need to further discuss or confirm this,” Faculty of Design Representative Levi Okrah wrote in the Microsoft Teams meeting chat box. 

After a discussion and 10-minute recess, council voted to move in-camera to discuss the email, after which, they put a motion on the table to move forward with the internal committee elections. After a vote, the motion failed. 

“We need unanimous consent to go forward with the internal affairs committee elections and we do not have unanimous consent,” Speaker of Council Amrinder Sandhu said. 

Another motion was put forward to appoint an experienced consultant by April 30 to investigate the internal operations of the KSA. The same motion was discussed at the previous council meeting on April 19, and was not approved.

On April 12, Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s VP, Students Zena Mitchell wrote a mass email to KPU students informing them of their rights regarding the KSA. 

“The recent email sent by the VP Student Zena Mitchell of Kwantlen Polytechnic University on April 13 states ‘As such, we are deeply concerned about allegations circulating regarding the Kwantlen Student Association,’ that email speaks a lot that the Board of Directors 2024-25 needs to consider,” Faculty of Science and Horticulture Representative Ranveer Singh wrote in the chat box. 

Some council members said the KSA needs to go forward with the investigation to earn KPU students’ trust back. 

“The allegations, rumours, false statements, etc, all need to be put to a full stop, that needs an evidence that is unbiased and fair and that Members of the society can rely on,” Faculty of Science and Horticulture Representative Bhoomika Seera wrote in the chat box. 

“This independent inquiry will serve as a legacy to future councils at KSA and put an end to all the balmes [sic] at KSA.” 

Faculty of Arts Representative Dishkila Gour also addressed Mitchell’s email and said the KSA needs to investigate internally to learn why KPU sent it to students in the first place. 

“If there is nothing to hide, this motion should proceed,” Gour wrote in the chat box. 

Other council members felt going ahead with the investigation was not within the council’s purview. 

“We are student representatives, not part of an investigative team, kindly understand the role of your title,” Kochhar wrote in the chat box. 

“Additionally, the funds that are required is what should [be] used for the betterment, with 11 months left are we going [to] spend it like this. I guess there should be rectification regarding how this council wishes to proceed.”

Ragavan said the investigation may cost $500,000 to $600,000 and would take a little over a year to complete. 

“I think a better way to earn the trust of KPU and the students is by doing our work as the council members. While the council can’t even agree on setting up an internal committee, an audit will not fix that,” Queer Students Representative Arnav Grover wrote in the chat box. 

Women’s Representative Suhana Gill also said council can earn students’ trust by getting on with their work. 

“If we are concerned about the Students trust, it is important we mend it by forming committees and getting on with out [sic] duties,” she wrote. “It is not a testament when nothing is being done but only wasting time and money on meetings, that is what is widening the trust – a waste of time!” 

KSA council members who are not part of the executive committee are each paid a $100 honorarium for every regularly-scheduled and special council meeting they attend, according to the association’s Regulations. 

Council took the motion to a vote, but it failed to pass. 

The next motion on the agenda was for the KSA to “post a request for proposals on bidsCanada and MERX to conduct a detailed governance review (foremost ByLaws and Regulations), including advice around board orientation, staff hiring practices, and councilor ethics and accountability.” 

This motion was previously presented at the April 19 council meeting but failed to pass. 

“This is something that’s going to probably be a good direction for KSA that whatever revisions are required from a governance point of view, and from someone who understands governance better, I’m speaking on my behalf here, that was the rationale to bring this motion forward to council,” Goyal said. 

Council voted on the motion but it again failed to pass. 

Students with Disabilities Representative Lesli Sangha said she’d support revising the motion if there had been no assistance from the KSA’s legal counsel to help prepare it. 

“In past years, Council has had ongoing support from legal council (Borins & Co.) whenever needed. I have not received any information about who the new KSA legal team is,” she wrote in the chat box. 

The KSA’s current legal counsel is Miller Thompson LLP, a national business law firm. 

Suhana gave a report about the Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan event on April 20 that the KSA participated in. She said over 500,000 people were in attendance and it was a great opportunity for the student association to get involved with the community. 

“KSA’s active participation in the Nagar Kirtan event exemplified our commitment to community engagement and service,” she said. “As a council member, I am proud of our team’s efforts and the positive impact we made. Moving forward, we remain steadfast in our mission to serve the community and promote cultural diversity and inclusivity.”

Suhana along with Grover are also working to host a community dialogue event to help support international students and provide them with resources they may need. 

“As international students are a minority in Canada, especially at KPU, we’ve been noticing a lot more aggression towards them, a lot more discrimination,” Grover said. 

“We felt it was [important] for us … to establish a community dialogue between the community leaders and international students at KPU to have a discussion of these topics.” 

Council passed a motion to approve $300 from the KSA events budget to run this event. A date and venue for it has yet to be set. 

During the reports of faculty representatives, there was a motion for Ragavan to bring a Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) membership proposal to the next regular council meeting. 

In February, the 2023-24 KSA council voted to end their membership with CASA during an in-camera meeting, which is a federally focused student advocacy organization. The KSA’s CASA membership ended this month. 

“It’s a great opportunity for KSA to be part of CASA because CASA takes students’ concern [to] the federal level,” said Business Representative Simranjot Sekhon. 

“The Runner article also stated that the president of the KSA was banned from CASA, and it raised concern among the students and should be addressed in KSA. By joining a KSA again, KSA can show dedication and commitment as representatives of KPU students.” 

Other council members said they need to focus internally first before rejoining CASA. 

“We need to advocate for students [and] for that we need to set up our committees first which we are unable to do so far,” Business Representative Yuvraj Bains said. 

Kochhar said the KSA is already part of two other advocacy organizations, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and the Alliance of BC Students (ABCS), which both equally advocate for students. 

Council voted on the motion and it failed. 

The next KSA council meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 3 at 1:00 pm. Students can email info@kusa.ca to join the meeting.