News brief: KSA acquires public relations services, reallocates $155,500 in funds

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The Kwantlen Student Association reallocated $155,500 in funds to the KSA Cares program from “unutilized” budget lines during a Dec. 6 council meeting to meet the growing demand for its grocery support programs.

The reallocation would also help fund Christmas baskets the student union is planning to distribute to students, which amount to $72,392.25. 

“That’s just the way of expressing gratitude to the membership of the KSA and celebrating the festival of joy, and also giving back,” Associate President Ishant Goyal said. 

The reallocation would also help address issues like food insecurity and expand the grocery program by collaborating with retailers like Walmart to help students, he said. 

A motion to remove Students with Disabilities Representative Lesli Sangha from the social justice and equity committee was deferred indefinitely.

Faculty of Arts Representative Jasmine Kaur Kochhar said the decision was initially made to practice committee rotation, where each councillor would get an opportunity to exercise their expertise as part of different committees. However, due to “confusion” within the committees, Kochhar said the internal committee proposed to defer the motion. 

In her report, Women’s Representative Suhana Gill said that “Empowerment in Every Sip,” which was a women’s tea party held on Nov. 28 at Grasroots Cafe for connecting and engaging in meaningful conversations about women empowerment, was successful. 

“The tea party provided a welcoming space for having conversations and about the importance of women supporting each other and bringing up any stigma, as well as celebrating one another’s achievements,” Gill said. 

“I would also like to say thank you to all the women who participated in this event and allowed themselves to be vulnerable and have these meaningful conversations.”

The KSA executive committee also held a meeting on Dec. 6 where it presented a passed non-meeting motion to dedicate $67,000 to the student union’s New Year Bash. Executives also approved $15,000 in legal and professional fees for the Vancouver-based public relations firm Talk Shop Media through a non-meeting motion.

Goyal said the firm is helping the KSA with training for advocacy on the provincial and federal level. 

“There is a new government coming up [in] B.C. and [there’s] the federal election as well,” Goyal said. “So KSA is looking for advocacy to have some help with the training for the council.”

In another non-meeting motion, the committee approved $2,200 to go towards the KSA Hot Meals and Warm Hearts initiative, which the association wrote on Instagram has served more than 700 students at the Richmond and Surrey campuses. 

The executive committee also attended the #450Challenge Blood Donation event on Nov. 26 at KPU’s Surrey campus, which was hosted by the Canadian Blood Services. B.C. Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon was also at the event.

On Nov. 29, the KSA held a special council meeting where it approved changes to electoral procedures in the association’s regulations ahead of the 2025 campaign period. 

The changes include requiring candidates to have 45 nominators instead of 25, increasing the fee for filing complaints and appeals to the chief returning officer (CRO) from $20 to $45, and prohibiting organizations from spending money on a candidate’s campaign. 

Complainants are now allowed to request that the CRO not disclose their identity to respondents, and the requirement that candidates provide a police information check has been removed. 

As per the KSA’s regulations, candidates who have made defamatory or derogatory remarks about the KSA can be disqualified from the election. The approved changes aimed to clarify what type of defamatory or derogatory remarks can make a candidate subject to disqualification. 

Defamation is false or misleading statements made to damage a person’s reputation, while derogatory remarks include hateful, discriminatory, or offensive comments, the new regulations read, which also mention partaking in protests. The CRO will determine whether a candidate has engaged in this type of activity. 

Sangha and Richmond Campus Representative Nitin Aggarwal abstained from voting on the changes. Sangha wrote in the meeting’s Microsoft Teams chat that she “needs more clarity” before voting in favour of them. 

Policy and Political Affairs Coordinator Diamond Obera asked what the council’s intentions of changing the regulations are, raising concerns that there could be confusion around the partial changes and that there should be a balance between what council considers to be fair and what is more accessible to students. No one answered Obera’s question.

The next KSA council meetings are scheduled online for Dec. 11 and 13 at noon, with an executive committee meeting slated for Dec. 13 at 1:00 pm. Interested students can email info@kusa.ca to join the meetings.