It was a victory for the Indigenous Seat on Council and a loss for the AMS bylaw referenda on Friday, as the former passed and the second failed to meet quorum.
Over 4,708 students voted in favour of the Indigenous Seat referendum, meeting the two-thirds majority necessary to establish a seat for an Indigenous student on AMS Council.
Indigenous Committee VP Chalaya Moonias was thrilled by the results.
“I’m feeling invigorated,” she said. “We’re going to have so much potential to make change happen on campus now that our voices will be heard and we’ll be able to vote in the AMS Council processes.”
The AMS Bylaw changes have once again failed to reach quorum — dashing the AMS’s hopes of getting rid of Student Court, extending AMS membership to carry over to the second semester and establishing a confidentiality policy that limits the release of sensitive records. With 3,549 students voting in favour and a minimum of 4,647 votes necessary to reach quorum, the referendum fell short by 1,098 votes.
Outgoing AMS President Chris Hakim was accepting of the results.
“It happens. What it means is that we need to invest further into making sure that students are aware of the importance of passing these bylaws,” said Hakim.
Hakim added that he was glad the Indigenous Seat referendum passed.
“That is paramount to the AMS’s priorities and we’re very, very excited to see what the future looks like and how we can continue making efforts and working with the Indigenous Committee on reconciliation within the AMS,” said Hakim.