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NEWS seen her many times and tried to talk to her about this. She ignores us, so we’re trying to get her to stop ignoring us.”
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UMFA members and supporters gathered at the Assiniboine Park gates on the corner of Corydon Avenue and Park Boulevard to protest the ongoing silence from Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson. Strikers and their families brought kitchenware, horns and other noisemakers to make their presence known as the march wound through the quiet suburb. After an hour, the march circled back to the park gates. English, theater, film and media professor Mark Libin was among the chief organizers of the march. Libin emphasized the lack of communication the union has had with premier. “We’ve tried everything, we’ve sent her emails, we’ve reached out to her in all kinds of different ways,” he said. “Our pickets on the legislature have
Brianna Kaldor-Mair, an undergraduate biology student at the U of M, joined the march to support UMFA’s efforts. “I was here for the strike, too. I’m a relatively senior student and I wanted to show support for my professors,” she said. “I do not agree with the provincial government interfering with negotiations with unions and I think that my professors deserve a better deal than they’re currently getting.” Despite her frustration with the frequency of strikes at the U of M, Kaldor-Mair hopes labour relations will improve as a result. “I think the fact that there’s been two strikes in my undergrad degree is a really good indication of the state of conflict between the admin and the professors and, let me make it very
clear, I do think the admin is in the wrong in this conflict,” she said. “But I’d like to see things improve and I hope that things do improve from this. I hope that this is a wake-up call.” However, the march was not without controversy. The promotional material for the march was widely criticized for parallels between it and imagery associated with the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and twospirit people. The event was initially called a “Heather Stefanson search
“I think the fact that there’s been two strikes in my undergrad degree is a really good indication of the state of conflict between the admin and the professors”
party” and the poster featured a red background with black block text, a picture of a bass drum and a small picture of Stefanson with the word “missing” overtop. UMFA changed the poster in response to the criticism. The revised poster changed the background colour, inverted Stefanson’s picture and replaced the word “missing” with “hello???” The wording on the poster, including calling the event a search party, remained unchanged. On the day of the march, UMFA issued a further-revised poster which instead featured an image evocative of Carmen Sandiego and the phrase “Where in the world is Premier Heather Stefanson.” Union president Orvie Dingwall issued an apology to CBC that evening regarding the promotion of the event. The apology acknowledged the community response and promised changes to its internal processes.
— Brianna Kaldor-Mair U of M student
NEWS Unvaccinated students to be excluded from in-person classes Students that remain unvaccinated will be unable to register for in-person classes for winter semester. At the Nov. UMSU board of directors meeting, UMSU vice-chair of the judicial committee Jaron Rykiss raised the question, prompting UMSU president Brendan Scott to state that “as of right now, [winter semester is one] hundred per cent planned to be in person,” but clarified that he expects all classes that are currently online will remain so and speculated that there will be more online offerings than in recent years.
ACC students welcomed to provincial advocacy group At the meeting, UMSU president Brendan Scott announced the Manitoba Alliance of Post-Secondary Students (MAPSS) has accepted Assiniboine Community College Students’ Association as a member. MAPSS came into being in as a coalition between UMSU, the University of Manitoba Graduate Students’ Association and the Red River College Students’ Association. On its website, it claims to represent over , students in Manitoba. In April, the organization lobbied Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Immigration Wayne Ewasko to amend the controversial Bill to
exclude the fees set by student unions and associations from regulation by the minister. The bill received royal assent on May .
Changes to board structure delayed Changes to be made to the structure of the UMSU board of directors, which have been in the works since at least March , have been delayed by approximately two weeks. One of the major changes, which abolished the slate system for UMSU elections, was finalized earlier this year. What remains to happen is the planned reform to the structure of the board of directors itself, which would see
graphic / Dallin Chicoine / staff
the removal of voting rights from all current board members — including community representatives and executives — replacing it with a smaller board to be elected independently. Currently the board of directors consists of voting members, although there are vacant positions. According to UMSU president Brendan Scott, the new board will feature members. Motions regarding the change are expected to be introduced on Dec. and voted on in January.
