Constitution, By-laws & Policies

The SSMU is governed by its Constitution, by-laws, and policies. If you have suggestions for change, please contact the SSMU President (president@ssmu.mcgill.ca) or your Councillor.

Constitution

Constitution of the Students’ Society of McGill University (updated February 15th, 2011).

Constitution de l’Association étudiante de l’Université McGill.

The SSMU Constitution is a document that deals with all of the most fundamental elements of the Society. It also serves as SSMU’s legal “By-Law” for the Quebec government in relation to SSMU’s status as a non-profit corporation (this can be confusing since the SSMU has another set of legislation which it calls bylaws but which do not have the same legal status).

The Constitution outlines the SSMU’s role in providing service, leadership, and representation to McGill’s downtown undergraduates, the basic outline of the 6 Executive positions, basic electoral processes, and various disciplinary processes. The Constitution can only be altered by Referendum.

By-Laws

Bylaws Book 1: the Society’s Officers, Directors and Constituting Bodies (Updated February 13, 2012) (.pdf)

By-laws Book 2: Financial Regulations (Updated February 17, 2011) (.pdf)

By-laws Book 3: The William Shatner University Centre and the Society’s Clubs, Services, Media, Programmes & Events (Updated March 3, 2011) (.pdf)

After the Constitution, the bylaws of SSMU are the highest level of regulation that exists within SSMU. The Constitution sets out broad principles through which the Society functions, and creates and defines the main organs of SSMU governance. Whereas general principles are included in the Constitution, the bylaws create frameworks for their application.

In 2011-2012 we will be conducting a comprehensive review of the bylaws, since over the years many of them have become out of date or have not all been consistently modified, creating situations where the bylaws directly contradict each other. Bylaws can be changed by Council or General Assembly.

Policies

The most updated version of the policy manual is available here (as of December 9, 2010).

Policies outline the SSMU’s position on certain issues. They fall broadly into three categories:

External Policies

An external policy is defined as any policy that deals with a non-McGill issue. The Vice-President (External) is the chief policy officer for external policies and is ultimately responsible for their development and implementation. Policy motions for council are to be developed in consultation with the External Affairs Committee and the Executive Committee.

University Policies

The Vice-President (University Affairs) is in charge of, broadly defined, university relations. This includes policy in areas covered by Senate, its committees, and advisory boards.

All the significant university policies for Council shall be developed, researched, debated, and approved by Senate Caucus, then sent to Council for ratification. Council can also mandate the Senate Caucus to take a particular stance on certain issues at Senate.

Internal Policies

These relate to the internal procedures of the SSMU, such as how to manage Conflict of Interest. There can be some overlap between what should be an internal policy versus what should be a bylaw which this year’s executive is working to clarify.

Policies can be adopted by Council or General Assemblies and must have a sunset clause which limits their validity to a maximum of five years (at which point they can either be left to lapse, extended, or updated).

The most updated version of the policy manual is available here (as of December 9, 2010).

Committees

Committees Terms of Reference (.pdf)

SSMU Committees are governed by the Committee Terms of Reference, which outline the mandate, membership, and processes of each Committee. Take a look if you are interested in sitting on a SSMU Committee, and watch for calls for members-at-large in the SSMU Listserv.

Council Documents

The documents for the meetings of SSMU’s Legislative are posted a couple of days before each meeting. You can view them here and are welcome to come and ask questions of your elected representatives.