News brief: KSA adopts new confidentiality and council communication policies

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Editor’s note: This article previously stated KSA Women’s Representative Suhana Gill voted to approve the confidentiality policy. Gill abstained from voting on this policy. The Runner regrets the error. 

The Kwantlen Student Association approved two new policies during a council meeting on Nov. 8 — a KSA Confidentiality Policy and a Council Communication Policy. 

Each policy is a recommendation from the association’s legal counsel, Miller Thomson LLP, and will be implemented for a three-year term, according to the meeting’s agenda. 

The two motions for the policies called to approve them by a two-thirds resolution of council. Students of Colour Representative Ishant Goyal and Faculty of Science and Horticulture Representative Bhoomika Seera voted to approve the confidentiality policy while the rest of council abstained. Goyal and Seera also voted to approve the communication policy while the rest of council abstained. 

Students with Disabilities Representative Lesli Sangha said she abstained from both motions because she needed more time to review the changes. 

“I have not received any information about this,” she wrote in the meeting’s Microsoft Teams chat. 

Policy and Political Affairs Coordinator Diamond Obera expressed concerns about the policies as they will affect the whole association and not everyone had been introduced to them beforehand.

“Not to say that other folks … have a vote on it, but it’s ideal that there’s a policy consultation process where people are interviewed and feedback can be taken into consideration,” he said. 

According to the KSA’s bylaws, council should express opinions, sentiments, and principles in regard to particular issues through a policy.

“I just don’t understand how it’s a policy or how you would adopt it without telling anybody what it is,” Advocacy Coordinator John O’Brian said. 

Speaker of Council Sukhdeep Singh said the discussion segment in council meetings is intended for that type of conversation, and if anyone has questions or concerns about the policies they can email the council.

The KSA Confidentiality Policy has to do with requesting records and aligning these requests with what is outlined in the Societies Act, which the KSA is governed by, Goyal said. 

“There are certain records that are required in the Societies Act to be disclosed to members, and there are certain records that are not supposed to be disclosed,” he said. “It’s just a policy being put in place by our lawyers as to what we can disclose and what we cannot disclose.” 

This would include records such as membership, which is maintained by Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Under the new policy, record requests to the KSA regarding membership would be forwarded to the university. 

The Council Communication Policy will set out guidelines for providing council members with updates on meetings, training sessions, and events, Goyal said. 

“There was nothing put in place in the [KSA] regulations [stating] the whole council has to be informed,” he said. “So this is the policy that’s being adopted after addressing the council members’ needs to be informed.”

The KSA also had an executive committee meeting on Nov. 8 where it approved funding for club activities. The creation of two new clubs was also approved — the KPU Basketball Club and the KPU Marketing Association. 

Executives approved $4,000 to go towards KSA volunteer appreciation gift bags, which will be dispersed among 39 volunteers. 

The next KSA council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 22 at 11:00 am, with the executive meeting set to follow it at 1:00 pm. Interested students can email info@kusa.ca to join.