By Vihaan Bhatnagar

This article has been updated with comment from TMSU.

A proposed amendment to the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) by-laws to postpone their Fall 2025 by-election to Winter 2026 was rejected by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students at the Special General Meeting (SGM) on Monday.

The failure of the motion means the TMSU is now mandated to hold a by-election for all vacant positions by the end of Fall 2025. The results of the vote were 99 in favour to postpone, short of the two-thirds majority or 116 votes needed for the motion to pass.

According to an August report by TMSU’s independent investigators—MNP LLP, a by-election held in Fall 2025 would likely be subject to the same corruption that marred the Winter 2025 general election. The SGM comes four months after the TMSU Board of Directors (BoD) voided the April general election, as previously reported by The Eyeopener.

The Eye reached out to TMSU regarding the results of the SGM but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Over 200 students attended the SGM, held at the Student Campus Centre at 55 Gould St., exceeding the quorum requirement of 100. Many people were sent to an overflow room, which was later moved to the main room due to technical difficulties with the microphones and cameras.

TMSU last met quorum for a general meeting in December 2022.

During the summer, the TMSU appointed two interim executive directors—Sally Lee and Scott Miller Berry—to run operations at the union. TMSU by-law 4.17 allows the executive committee of the TMSU to designate an interim director in the case of a vacancy on the board.

The SGM, originally scheduled to be two hours long, ultimately ran for four and a half hours, during which a fire alarm was pulled twice and multiple motions to call the meeting out of order were tabled before the meeting even started.

Toronto Fire Services said they were dispatched at 6:32 p.m. and at 8:32 p.m. to respond to fire alarm activations. Both appeared to be “malicious activations,” they said to The Eye.

MNP LLP, hired by TMSU’s legal counsel in January 2025, gave a detailed presentation on their investigation which began after the union and several others started receiving anonymous emails alleging corruption and fraud within the TMSU, as previously reported by The Eye.

The emails, sent by a person or a group calling themselves ‘TMSU Saviour,’ included confidential information such as driver’s licenses, permanent residence card information and telephone numbers. The investigation has not been able to identify ‘TMSU Saviour’ but it was later expanded to include alleged interference in the Winter 2025 general election.

The MNP LLP report included allegations of “threats of bodily harm, extortion, corruption, illegal electronic monitoring, corruption of vendors of TMSU, and counter-surveillance of MNP investigators.”

TMSU has shared details with Toronto Police Services (TPS), who will determine whether criminal charges are warranted. In an emailed statement to The Eye on Sept. 15, TPS confirmed that a fraud investigation is currently ongoing.

The MNP LLP presentation was followed by a Q&A during which students asked the board questions regarding the investigation, the proposed amendment and the TMSU’s by-laws.

“I’ve never been in a meeting where I’ve had two fire alarms,” said Michael McCormack, director of forensics and litigation support for MNP LLP in response to a question about whether individuals who are implicated in the investigation may be interfering with the SGM.

Another question asked whether individuals implicated in the investigation may be allowed to run in another by-election. Abby Deshman, a member of TMSU’s legal counsel, said any TMSU member in good standing may be eligible to run in an election.

“I knew it was gonna be intense, but the level of desperation to interrupt the meeting is appalling and very shocking,” said Jade Bailey, a fifth-year chemistry student and attendee at the SGM.

She expressed disappointment over the results of the vote, and is concerned the people implicated in the investigation might regain their positions following a by-election in Fall 2025.

Marwan Al Kharrat, a second-year computer engineering student also at the SGM, raised concerns regarding the proposed amendment. “What are they going to do between now and spring that’s really going to ensure that there’s going to be no outside interference?” said Al Kharrat.

“I do believe we students should have an opportunity to choose who’s controlling the TMSU, and it should definitely not be chosen by the board with absolutely no student input.”

In an email to The Eye, Lee and Berry said all TMSU Board members are students. They added that they are not on the board and are not allowed to vote.