By Amira Benjamin

The Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU)’s annual general meeting on April 9 failed to meet quorum, resulting in several agenda items not being voted on.

The meeting, which was held at the Daphne Cockwell Complex, required at least 100 members present and registered to vote on motion items, according to TMSU by-laws. These included approving the December semi-annual general meeting minutes, appointing BDO as the union’s auditors for the 2025-26 year and several by-law amendments. 

While the agenda also called for “welcoming remarks from the incoming president,” election results have not been released. Union co-executive directors Sally Lee and Scott Miller Berry confirmed the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) was still working through election complaints and unofficial results should be released by the end of April.

The meeting continued with discussion on non-voting items, lasting a little more than an hour. 

BDO, the union’s official auditors, presented an update on the auditing of the 2024-25 financial statements. 

Tim Sothern, the lead auditor, said progress was being made on the previous year’s statements, with some delays regarding revenue, credit cards and other balance sheet items. He said a draft for the 2024-25 statements should be done by the end of April and the audit for 2025-26 will begin in May.

The meeting also introduced the TMSU’s “inaugural” external board members. 

According to TMSU by-law 4.7, the union’s Board of Directors elects five external directors. They are non-voting members of the board but can vote within any committee to which they are appointed.

The external directors are Dave Bulmer, Scott D’Cunha, Kayla Stephenson, Francis Pineda and Audrey Wubbenhorst. Pineda is also a Toronto Metropolitan University alum. Union members confirmed the directors’ terms began on Feb. 18, when they were elected at the Board of Directors meeting.

The last agenda item was a presentation regarding the litigation launched by the union against former TMSU president, Ali Yousaf. 

On March 8, TMSU launched a $20 million civil lawsuit against Yousaf and 16 defendants, who were former and current TMSU executives. The lawsuit alleges civil conspiracy, fraud and corruption, as previously reported by The Eyeopener. 

Present at the meeting was Alexi Wood, the founding lawyer of St. Lawrence Barristers and external litigation counsel for the TMSU for 10 years. 

Wood said the investigations prior to launching the lawsuit were conducted by MNP, an independent investigator with TMSU. She also said a civil search warrant was executed to seize items belonging to defendants in the lawsuit, to prevent the destruction of information.

As a response to the litigation, the union has proposed amendments to multiple by-laws, which they say will prevent further corruption and election interference. However, by-law amendments require voting action, which did not occur.

Miller Berry and Lee confirmed there was a budget item dedicated to the lawsuit. They also clarified the $20 million figure represents the damages TMSU suffered under previous leadership.

With files from Nadine Alsaghir