General elections
Winter 2022
Get Involved, Nominate Yourself Today
It’s now time to elect students to fill positions on the UOSU Executive Committee and the UOSU Board of Directors, as well as the University of Ottawa Senate and University of Ottawa Board of Governors!
Notice of General Elections
The University of Ottawa Students’ Union will hold its General Election from March 9 to 11, 2022. All members are invited to participate.
The nomination period is from Sunday, January 30 at 12:01am to Saturday, February 12 at 11:59pm. Send your nomination forms to the Chief Electoral Officer at ceo@seuo-uosu.com.
If you have any general questions, please email to: elections@seuo-uosu.com
**Please note that the General Election will be taking place entirely online.
Timeline
- Notice of Elections: Saturday, January 22nd
- Nomination Period: Sunday, January 30th at 12:01am to Saturday, February 12th at 11:59pm
- *Nomination Deadline Extension and Notice of Referendum: Thursday February 17 at 11:59 pm
- Candidate Information Session(s): Week of Monday, February 14th or Week of Monday February 21st
- Bilingualism Testing: Week of Monday, February 14th or Week of Monday, February 21st
- Campaign Period: Sunday, February 27th at 6:00pm to Monday, March 7th at 11:59pm
- Blackout Period: Tuesday, March 8th at 12:01am to Wednesday, March 9th at 12:01am
- Voting Period: Wednesday, March 9th at 12:01am to Friday, March 11th at 11:59pm
- Unofficial Results Released: Saturday, March 12th at 9:00am (At latest: Saturday, March 12th at 11:59pm)
- Ratification of UOSU Results by the Board of Directors: Sunday, March 20th at 4:00pm (ordinary meeting)
- Ratification of UOSU Results by the Extraordinary General Assembly: Prior to Saturday, March 26th 11:59pm
*The extension applies to UOSU Board of Directors, uOttawa Senate, and uOttawa Board of Governors positions only
Election Forms
Send your nomination forms to the Chief Electoral Officer at ceo@seuo-uosu.com
*Please note: Due to COVID-19 and our elections taking place online, we will accept three types of signatures from Supporters and Volunteers on the UOSU Nomination Form and Volunteer Form :
1) Physical signature
2) Electronic signature
3) Student Number with initials that appear in the Full Name (ex: 0123456789 AB)
Available positions
UOSU The Board of Directors
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1
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1
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1
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1
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2
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2
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3
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3
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3
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5
- Faculty of Education (1)
- Faculty of Law – Civil Law (1)
- Faculty of Law – Common Law (1)
- Faculty of Medicine (1)
- Faculty of Health Science (2)
- Faculty of Arts (3)
- Faculty of Engineering (3)
- Faculty of Sciences (3)
- Telfer School of Management (3)
- Faculty of Social Sciences (4)
UOSU Executive Committee
University Senate
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1
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1
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1
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1
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1
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1
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1
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1
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1
*One-Year Term, from 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2023
University Board of Governors
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1
*Two-Year Term, from 1 May 2022 to 30 April 2024
- President
- Equity Commissioner
- Francophone Affairs Commissioner
- Operation Commissioner
- Student Life Commissioner
- Advocacy Commissioner
- Student Services Commissioner
Notice of Referendum
In addition to general elections, the University of Ottawa Students’ Union will hold a referendum on March 9-11, 2022. All members are invited to participate.
This referendum is being held to determine if UOSU should raise its fees to fund certain programs and initiatives. Students will be asked to express their preference concerning each of the three questions listed in the panel to the right. The results will be binding on the UOSU.
If you wish to campaign for the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ side on any of these questions, you will need to register your campaign group. The referendum campaign and voting period will follow the same schedule as the general elections campaign and voting period listed above. The campaign group registration form is available in the list of election forms above, and you have until March 5, 2022 to register. Please submit your registration form to ceo@seuo-uosu.com.
If you have any questions, please email elections@seuo-uosu.com.
**the referendum will be taking place entirely online
- Do you agree to the creation of a new ancillary fee of $1.99 per semester to fund the Union’s membership of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) and fund other improvements to the Union’s advocacy efforts? The fee would be called the “Student Advocacy Levy.”
- Do you agree to the creation of a new ancillary fee of $0.84 per semester to fund Compass, an online mental health and wellness portal?
- Do you agree to establish an opt-outable UOSU Legal Support Services fee of $62.50 per student to be charged in the Fall semester for full year access (September to August), students who begin in the Winter semester will be charged a pro-rated fee of $41.67 to access the program from January to August, payable by all UOSU members to access the Legal Protection & Sexual Violence Care Programs?
See note 1 below for more information about question 3.
General Elections Results
The 2022 General Elections Results!
University
Ombudsperson
The Board of Directors
Faculty of Law - Civil Law Section
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Health Sciences
Final Round (Round 6)
Elected Nour Elmestekawy due to: highest 1st preference (Round 3)
Elected Kate Gilliland due to: highest 1st preference (Round 5)
Eliminated Aminah Bakhtair due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 4)
Eliminated Lorraine Pereira due to: lowest 1st preference(Round 2)
Eliminated Elisha Chadha due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 1)
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Engineering
Final Round (Round 5)
Elected Emma Ballantyne due to: highest 1st preference (Round 1)
Elected Akachukwu J Ekwueme due to: highest 1st preference (Round 2)
Elected Bowen Xue due to: highest 1st preference (Round 4)
Eliminated Miten Jitendra Soni due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 3)
Faculty of Sciences
Final Round (Round 5)
Elected Buse Loçlar due to: highest 1st preference (Round 1)
Elected Iman Kashif due to: highest 1st preference (Round 2)
Elected Roshana Pattikedward due to: highest 1st preference (Round 4)
Eliminated Dylan Vincent due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 3)
Telfer School of Management
Final Round (Round 7)
Elected Armande Mayelly Obrou due to: highest 1st preference (Round 1)
Elected Armande Mayelly Obrou due to: highest 1st preference (Round 4)
Elected Monia Mugabekazi due to: number of options equals number of winners, highest 1st preference (Round 6)
Eliminated Shivangi Bharti due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 5)
Eliminated Marissa St-Amand due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 3)
Eliminated Vanda Rosa Lecchino due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 4)
Faculty of Social Sciences
Final Round (Round 12)
Elected Ty Bradley due to: highest 1st preference (Round 1)
Elected Emma Pellegrini due to: highest 1st preference (Round 7)
Elected Sherouk Elasfar due to: highest 1st preference (Round 9)
Elected Bushra Khadra due to: number of options equals number of winners, highest 1st preference (Round 10)
Elected Carlos Pawendtaore Oubda due to: number of options equals number of winners, highest 1st preference (Round 11)
Eliminated Max Christie due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 8)
Eliminated Juanita Calderon Rodriguez due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 6)
Eliminated Marek McLeod due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 5)
Eliminated Darryl Orleans-Lindsay due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 4)
Eliminated Gregory Jared Coleman due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 3)
Eliminated Wajid Zaman due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 2)
Executive Committee Positions
President
Equity Commissioner
Francophone Affairs Commissioner
Operations Commissioner
Student Life Commissioner
Advocacy Commissioner
Clubs and Services Commissioner
Referendum Question 1 - Advocacy
Referendum Question 2 - Compass
Referendum Question 3 - Legal Services
Voter Summary
Total: 3024
Abstain: 696 (23%)
University of Ottawa Senate
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
Round 1
Eliminated Bryanna Lavictoire due to: lowest 1st preference
Telfer School of Management
University Board of Governors
Final Round (Round 6)
Elected Jessica Tchida due to: highest 1st preference (Round 5)
Eliminated Alexander Metaxas-Mariatos due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 3)
Eliminated Saad Sbai due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 2)
Eliminated Anais Rezaigue due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 1)
Eliminated Hadi Tehfe due to: lowest 1st preference (Round 4)
Voter Summary
Total: 2209
Abstain: 1003 (45.4%)
FAQ
Curious to know how our elections process will go, what positions are up for election, and what responsibilities fall under each? Check out our answers below!
The Executive Committee is formed of seven (7) Commissioners who manage the day-to-day activities of the UOSU and oversee its operations. The positions are:
- President: The role of the President is a new position, meant to support the other commissioners in their roles, represent the UOSU in communications and in relations with RSGs and the administration. The President also takes on the managing commissioner role from the Advocacy Commissioner, sharing this along with the Operations commissioner in human resources and operations. Beyond a leadership role, the President is key to holding the Executive Committee accountable and ensuring the Executive Committee completes its projects, respects deadlines and ensures the smooth operations of the Union. The President reports to the Executive Committee and he is also the Chair of the President’s Round Table as well as the Governance Committee and the Executive Committee.
- Operations Commissioner: along with the President, is tasked with supervising the General Manager of the UOSU. This role will also direct and oversee the internal operations of the organization and is tasked with scheduling meetings, preparing agendas, preparation of the budget, financial management, and internal human resources. Should UOSU have any business dealings, the Operations Commissioner would also oversee them.
- Advocacy Commissioner: responsible for overseeing the advocacy work of the organisation, including lobbying and public education campaigns. This position is also tasked with maintaining relations with the University of Ottawa and, where appropriate, with governments and external organisations.
- Equity Commissioner: tasked with directing and overseeing the equity-building work of the UOSU. They shall advocate on behalf of marginalized communities and fight against discrimination at uOttawa. They are responsible for relations with equity-building organisations active at uOttawa.
- Francophone Affairs Commissioner: must be a student who self-identifies as francophone, shall direct and oversee services and programs aimed at francophone students, ensuring their linguistic accessibility. They shall advocate on behalf of francophones and work to promote la francophonie on campus. This role shall also deal with any bilingualism-related student complaints.
- Student Life Commissioner: responsible for student clubs and their representation in UOSU and planning of social events (such as 101 Week) This Executive will share responsibilityfor relations between the UOSU and Recognized Student Governments (Federated Bodies) and will ensure a diversity of events and social activities on the uOttawa campus. They will work closely with the administration to ensure student interests are central to event planning.
- Student Services Commissioner: The Student Services Commissioner supervises all 13 services of the UOSU, as well as the clubs of the UOSU. The Student services commissioner shall be the chair of the Services committee, which oversees the services of the UOSU, as well as things that relate to UOSU recognized student clubs and associations. This year, the Student Services Commissioner also chairs the Communications Round Table.
The BoD is a body of elected students who represent their respective faculties in the internal affairs of the UOSU. They are tasked with voting on motions, amending certain parts of the Constitution, holding monthly Board meetings, and overseeing the financials of the Union. This is an incredibly important job that doesn’t require as much time as the Commissioner positions, and it is a great opportunity to get involved in the student movement!
In order to be a Commissioner, a student must pass a bilingualism test (English and French) as administered by the University of Ottawa’s Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI). There are different levels of bilingualism requirements for each position, which you can access in both our Constitution and our Electoral Code. As it is a full-time, salaried position within the union, elected Executive Committee members cannot register for more than two (2) courses per semester in the year of their mandate, meaning that Commissioners must be part-time students or exceptionally more than two (2) courses per semester in the year of their mandate if they are international students. This is to ensure that their first priority is the job that they were elected and will be paid to do.
The UOSU’s elections will be overseen by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and the Elections Committee. They are responsible for handling complaints by candidates and applying any sanctions if required. Students may appeal sanctions handed down by the Chief Electoral Officer to the Elections Committee, and may further appeal to the Appeals Committee. Please consult our Electoral Code and our Constitution for more information.
All vacant positions on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors will be filled in a By-Election that will be held in Fall 2020. The newly elected Board will have the power to appoint interim Executive members to fill any vacancies on the Executive Committee; such interim Executives would be in place until their positions can be filled in the Fall By-Election.
Yes. Vacancies do not hinder the Board’s ability to pass binding motions, and any vacant Executive positions can be filled by an interim member until the Fall By-Elections take place.
The Board of Governors is the most senior corporate body that is responsible for all other aspects of the governance of the University not assigned to the Senate. This includes oversight of the management and control of the University and its property, revenues, expenditures, business, and related affairs.
Specifically, the Board approves the annual budget of the University and monitors is implementation; it establishes and collects fees and charges for tuition and other services that may be offered by the University or that may be approved by the Board on behalf of any organization or group of the University
In addition, the Board appoints the President, the Vice-Presidents and the Secretary General. It also determines the compensation and benefits of principal officers and of both the academic and administrative staff.
Please consult the Board’s website for further information.
The Senate is the highest authority on academic matters and is responsible for the sound management of academic issues on campus. The Senate has the power, subject to the approval of the Board insofar as the expenditure of funds is concerned, to create, maintain, and discontinue faculties, departments, schools and to establish chairs. It enacts by-laws and regulations for the conduct of its affairs.
In general, the Senate controls, regulates, and determines the educational and research policies of the University; determines courses of study and standards for admission to, and continued membership in, the University; and determines the qualifications for degrees and diplomas.
Please consult the Senate’s website for further information.