The Journal provides free space for parties on the referendum ballot. All statements are unedited.
This year’s fall referendum—and Undergraduate Trustee Election—will take place on Oct. 30 to 31.
Camp Outlook
Camp Outlook is an all-volunteer, community-based charitable organization that serves the Queen’s and Kingston communities. Our mission is to encourage local youth to realize their worth as individuals, their abilities and their potential to achieve. To work towards this goal, we provide young people between the ages of 13 and 17 with the opportunity to experience wilderness camping at no cost. This environment allows them to respond to nature’s challenges in a team while being ed by trained staff. During the academic year, through our fall and winter programs, we offer weekend wilderness trips staffed by Queen’s students. During the summer we run longer canoe camping trips in Algonquin Park that range from 5-14 days. Camp Outlook was founded by a Queen’s medical student in 1970 and has been running continuously since. Outlook helps youth experience the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, as well as enable volunteer staff to gain valuable experience working with children and earn industry-standard certifications in outdoor education. There is no experience necessary for incoming volunteer staff. Queen’s students have been integral to Outlook, in its foundations as well as its day-to-day operations. Queen’s students also participate in our campus chapter, Queen’s Camp Outlook, which does fundraising and awareness-raising activities for Camp Outlook.
Queen’s Rocket Engineering Team
Queen’s Rocket Engineering Team (QRET) is student design team manufacturing high-speed aircraft along with aerospace industry education. The team’s goal is to build a sounding rocket every year which will compete at international competitions. The objective of the competition is to deliver an 8.8 lb payload to a predestined altitude (10,000 or 30,000 ft), then track, and recover the rocket and payload in reliable condition.
Commission of Environmental Sustainability
The Sustainable Action Fund is granted to students who apply to it in hopes of improving sustainability at Queen’s through relevant events and initiatives. The applicability of the fund is extremely broad and has been granted to a variety of initiatives including conferences, a greenhouse, a residence composting initiative, and a secure bike storage facility. This is an excellent opportunity to fund undergraduate projects focused on different aspects of sustainability.
Queen’s Armenian Students’ Association
The Queen’s University Armenian Students’ Association is a cultural club that aims to foster appreciation for Armenian culture, history, language, and heritage. Our club brings together both Armenian and non-Armenian students through social, cultural, and educational events focused on Armenian traditions. Currently, QUASA does not have a student fee and runs events through limited fundraising efforts and out-of-pocket expenses by our executive team. With a student fee, we would be able to dramatically expand our programming to benefit all Queen’s students interested in Armenian culture. A fee would allow us to host larger events on campus including traditional dances, holiday celebrations, cooking classes, film screenings, and visits from guest speakers. We could also use the funds to provide traditional Armenian snacks at our events, purchase cultural materials, and collaborate with other cultural clubs. Our goal is to share Armenia’s rich culture and long history with the broader Queen’s community. The opt-outable fee we propose is $0.05 per student per academic year. We believe this modest fee will allow us to engage far more students, resulting in a richer on-campus cultural experience.
Queen’s Students for Literacy
Queen’s Students for Literacy was established as a branch of United for Literacy (formerly Frontier College) in 1899, making it the second oldest club at Queen’s. Queen’s Students for Literacy operates three different programs with Queen’s student volunteers: Read for Fun, Literacy Outreach, and Math is Might. Each program helps different learners in the Kingston community build literacy and numeracy skills and foster a love of learning. Read for Fun provides reading, writing, and homework help services to elementary school students. Learners utilize this program to build upon classroom topics and as customized assistance not available in school environments. Literacy Outreach works with vulnerable populations like new immigrants to Canada, youth facing homelessness, and families in women’s shelters. In particular, Literacy Outreach partners with Lily’s Place, Interval House, and Immigration Services Kingston and Area. While working with underserved populations, the primary goal is to promote a love of reading and provide academic , while building confidence for integration into educational environments and day-to-day interactions. Math is Might programs assist high school students with the de-streamlined math curriculum. The goal is to ensure that learners who cannot afford math tutoring or require additional assistance have the opportunity to access free services. Funds acquired through student opt-out fees are essential to provide tutors with transportation to our community partners. Providing taxis for tutors is a priority, especially for locations that cannot be accessed with public transportation and for evening sessions where safety must be guaranteed. Student fees are used to provide resources and materials for tutors and learners like backpacks with various stationary. Without student fees, the day-to-day operations of Queen’s Students for Literacy such as delivering tutoring and booking spaces would not be possible. There would be a large gap in ing costs for recruitment, hiring, and club istration.
Queen’s Women in Science & Engineering
Established in 1990, Queen’s Women in Science & Engineering (WiSE) is a student run organization committed to promoting and advocating for the involvement of female-identifying and non-binary individuals in science, technology, engineering, & math (STEM) fields. Our mission has always been to inspire, educate, and collaborate to further diversity in STEM industries. WiSE runs a variety of initiatives for students on campus & in the Kingston community. We run networking events and a mentorship program to help students form connections with established professionals in STEM fields. We organize many workshops to provide personal & professional development opportunities for students. We also work to inspire the next generation of women in STEM with our outreach program, hosting engaging experiments, workshops, and events for elementary & high school students to foster an interest in STEM subjects. WiSE is one one of the largest equity seeking STEM groups on campus, with 55 executive and 45+ volunteers. Each year we reach +450 women & girls across the country through our multi-faceted programs! Our goal is to women who are changing the world through their careers as scientists, engineers, innovators & leaders. We pride ourselves on creating an inclusive & encouraging space for women to share their experiences and each other as we navigate typically male-dominated fields. As a non-profit organization, WiSE relies entirely on grants and sponsorships to ensure we are able to continue our efforts to inspire & educate our community each year. Recently, DEI funding has dramatically decreased which has threatened our ability to offer our core events & programs to the community. Establishing a student activity fee will ensure WiSE is able to continue running our educational youth programs and industry-focused networking events for students each year. It also ensure our events are accessible to everyone, with no financial barriers for participants.
Queen’s University Blood Team
The Queen’s University Blood Team works with Canadian Blood Services to raise awareness about blood donation on campus. We work to reduce the stigma associated with blood donation on campus and in the Kingston community through education. As well as providing an accessible, easy, comfortable and safe spaces for donating blood on campus. Our team facilitates on campus blood clinics once a month in either the BioScience Complex or the Athletics and Recreation Center(ARC). We also run a LifeBus bi-weekly that brings students from campus to the Kingston Blood Clinic to donate blood. To promote our LifeBus, we run a booth twice a week in the ARC to allow students to sign up for blood donation appointments. Additionally, the Queen’s University Blood Team runs Special Events throughout the year including several large OneMatch Get Swabbed events. OneMatch is Canada’s Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Registry and through these events we add interested students into the registry. We believe that through encouraging students to donate when they are in school, we create life long donors who will save hundreds of lives.
Queen’s Backing Action on the Climate Crisis
Queen’s Backing Action on the Climate Crisis (QBACC) is dedicated to improving the quality of life across our community and planet. Your opt out fee can be used to ensure a safe and healthy future and opportunities for you on campus. Specifically, your opt-out fee will be used for: Student district housing improvements Maintaining responsible investment practices with Queen’s Endowment Fund and the University Pension Plan (UPP) Picnic tables for outdoor study spaces on campus A free tool rental bank for students for the unhoused population in Kingston A clothing swap store in the JDUC modelled after a circular economy Canoe garden’s painted by a local Indigenous artist. They will contain with edible and pollinator plants Watering the Grassroots conference, a free event for all students to develop hands on activism skills and grow their connections with other activists from UofT Slow fashion and upcycling workshops (materials provided, sewing, stitching, etc.) Climate rallies (famous speakers, equipment, posters, food, and drinks…) We are always open to new initiatives and projects. If you have a project in mind, please pitch it to us. It’ s your student fee, it should go towards what you care about.
Friday Friends
Friday Friends is an informal group mentorship program that seeks to facilitate the social and personal development of young adults with intellectual disabilities outside the usual settings of classrooms and the home through interaction with students from the Queen’s community. Volunteers and participants meet on Fridays from 6 to 8PM for a variety of social activities including movie nights, bowling, baking, crafts, board games and sports. The mandate is to provide a positive social setting in which Queen’s students and young adults with disabilities can interact.
Queen’s Space Engineering Team
QSET is a group of exceptional and ionate students who share the desire to explore and compete in the world of space, science, and technology. We are one of the largest design teams at Queen’s and have 180+ active that cover most engineering disciplines. QSET consists of two teams which operate independently on various technical projects: the Rover Team and the Satellite Team. can take on a variety of projects covering a variety of skill levels, but no experience is required to . The only requirement to is an interest in space and engineering design. Our goal is to provide an environment where students can develop industry transferable skills through hands-on experience. Operating as an independently run team, we offer students the flexibility and freedom required to successfully design, research, and implement solutions to various open-ended problems.
Queen’s Legal Aid
Queen’s Legal Aid (QLA) is a legal aid clinic that provides free legal services to Queen’s students and low-income residents in the Kingston area.
By paying a $6.00 student levy, Queen’s University students will continue to automatically qualify for our free legal services. Without this fee, Queen’s students would only qualify for QLA’s services where a student can prove that their family’s income is below the poverty line used by Legal Aid Ontario (LAO). Through a special agreement with LAO, if we collect this fee, Queen’s students never need to prove financial eligibility for our services.
QLA assist Queen’s students with:
– Fighting City of Kingston istrative Monetary Penalties
– Landlord/Tenant problems, including unresolved maintenance issues, interference with a tenant’s rights, and illegal rent increases, particularly for multi-student houses
– Charges under the City of Kingston’s Nuisance Party Bylaw or charges prosecuted under the University District Safety Initiative;
– Advice on appeals that are within the jurisdiction of the University Student Appeal Board;
-Minor criminal offences, including theft, assault and mischief charges;
– Full representation on provincial offences, including Highway Traffic Act or Liquor
Licence & Control Act charges;
– Small Claim Court claims and defences;
– Employment law matters; and
– Human rights claims.
For Queen’s students only, we also provide a dedicated service of notarizing and commissioning documents, free of charge, including declarations and affidavits for OSAP purposes, graduate school applications or invitations to visit Canada. A Queen’s University student who uses our services to commission just one document, or to have a single document certified as a “true copy” will save the significant cost of paying a private lawyer for that same service! $6.00 is far below the amount charged by many Ontario universities to provide similar services through contract legal insurance programs.
Robogals Queen’s
Robogals is an international, student-run organization that aims to inspire, engage, and empower women to consider studying engineering and related fields. Our primary activity is hosting interactive, engineering-based workshops for elementary and high school students. The Robogals chapter at Queen’s University has been making a positive impact in the Kingston, Ontario community since 2013. In the past few years, we have helped introduce over 500 young women to robotics and engineering. Many of these students have never had the opportunity to play with electronics before, let alone LEGO robots; but after a one-hour workshop with Robogals Queen’s, they become completely comfortable with programming the robots. Our curriculum also includes HTML, iRobot, TinkerCAD, and Scratch coding workshops. All students are welcome to participate! In addition to ing elementary and high school students, Robogals provides opportunities to the club’s executive and volunteers as well. Every year, Robogals Queen’s is invited to the Seminar on Inducting New Executives (SINE), ran by Robogals North America. SINE is an exciting time for Robogals volunteers from across the region to come together and learn more about the broader Robogals community through workshops, presentations, s, and team building events.
QWave
QWave is Queen’s University’s premier music production club. We foster a community focused on collaboration, education and promotion; allowing producers, both amateur and experienced, to grow their skill and continually improve their crafts. We offer weekly tutorials on how to use music production software and promotional opportunities for artists on campus. This year, we are vying for a minimal opt-out fee that will allow us to maintain and up-keep our on-campus music studio that YOU will be able to access for free! We’re also going to be putting this money towards getting renown and successful music producers to come on campus and host masterclasses! Let us help you discover your ion for music. Be sure to follow us on Instagram (@theqwave) and check out our website for more information: www.theqwave.ca.
Social Issues Commission
The SIC under the AMS is dedicated to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion at Queen’s University. One of the SIC’s key initiatives is the Equity Grants, which have become an essential funding source for student clubs and organizations conducting equity work on campus. For many of these groups, securing funding for events, projects, and services that address systemic inequities can be a significant challenge. The Equity Grants, distributed annually, provide critical financial to help these groups carry out their initiatives that benefit marginalized communities at Queen’s. The $2.00 Equity Grants fee has been a reliable source of funding, helping the SIC over 50 projects in the last three years. These grants have funded events, educational workshops, and services that foster a more inclusive campus environment. Additionally, we are proposing the introduction of a new bursary to students involved in unpaid equity work. Many equity-seeking students contribute significant time, emotional labor, and resources to advocacy efforts, often while managing the financial burden of tuition. The bursary would help alleviate these financial pressures and enable students to focus on their advocacy work without the added stress of financial insecurity. The Equity Grants are vital to not only for recognizing and ing student-led equity initiatives but also for empowering students to challenge barriers and promote inclusion on campus. Continuing the $2.00 fee is essential to ensure that these important projects are adequately funded, allowing student advocates to keep pushing for progress. This fee plays a crucial role in sustaining a more equitable and inclusive environment at Queen’s, ensuring that those who dedicate themselves to advocacy work have the financial backing to continue making a difference.
World University Services Canada
The World University Services of Canada (WUSC) The World University Services of Canada (WUSC) aka. The Student Refugee Program The Student Awards Office isters bursary and award assistance for all Queen’s graduate and undergraduate students as well as undergraduate scholarships and prizes, the Queen’s Emergency Loan Program, the RBC/Queen’s Line of Credit, Government Loans and Grants, the Work Study Program and the Summer Work Experience Program (SWEP). The WUSC fee is disbursed to sponsored refugee students through our office.
Canadian Student Research Alliance
The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (“CASA”) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit national student organization comprising 25 student associations nationwide. In total, CASA represents 365,000 post-secondary students across Canada. An observer hip in CASA will the lobbying and advocacy for Queen’s students on a federal level. As an organization, CASA has successfully lobbied the federal government to remove interest on Canadian student Loans, encouraged the federal government to expand the Canadian student grants, and encouraged $242 million in investments in the Post Secondary Student Program. Additionally, CASA has made strides towards ensuring that Indigenous representation in post-secondary education is amplified and that the Indigenous perspective is considered in decisions. An observer hip status allows the Commission of External Affairs and Government Affairs Office to “observe” CASA, its conferences, advocacy approaches, and lobbying opportunities and connect with other student unions without paying the hip fee. By ing CASA, more opportunities will be made to streamline advocacy efforts by utilizing government s and other networks that would otherwise not the or lobby independently on behalf of student interest. With a clear understanding of responsibility to ensure student needs and concerns are voiced at all levels of government, and careful consultations on the shift to become observer at CASA; this change will ensure that on the federal level, Queen’s students have a reliable avenue to influence funding, policy, and procedures that directly affect them during their tenure at the university.
Undergraduate Trustees
Zain Al Sudani
Hello, Queen’s community!
My name is Zain, and I am running for the position of Undergraduate Trustee. I believe in fostering a campus where everyone, regardless of their background or identity, feels welcome, valued, and ed. Our diversity is our strength, and it’s essential that we embrace it fully to create a more inclusive community.
One of my primary goals is to increase funding and grants for students and clubs, ensuring they have the resources to thrive. Additionally, I aim to create more internship opportunities for marginalized communities and students from disadvantaged backgrounds, empowering them in their fields. Off-campus students also need better , and I want to strengthen their connection to the campus. Accessibility is a critical issue as well—I am dedicated to ensuring that students with disabilities have equal access to all resources and facilities on campus.
A key area I want to address is safety at the ARC. The current equipment is outdated and, in some cases, unsafe. I plan to advocate for upgrading the equipment and improving safety standards to provide a secure and modern environment for students who use the ARC.
Moreover, I believe that expanding the stadium would not only allow for bigger, more exciting events but also generate additional revenue through advertising and ticket sales, which could be reinvested into the student experience. This increased funding could various campus initiatives, boost student morale, and further assist international students by providing more tailored resources and events to help them feel at home.
I have shaped myself through understanding and resilience, never giving up in the face of challenges. As your Undergraduate Trustee, I will work to ensure every student is heard and ed, building a stronger, more inclusive Queen’s community for all.
Thank you for your !
Seham Kettaneh
I am a t honours student in Global Development and Political Studies, deeply committed to social justice and advocacy. As founder of a successful startup and Digital Integration Assistant at the LDSB International Languages Program, I have developed the skills needed to lead change through a results-oriented, holistic approach. From raising over $5,000 for underrepresented communities to hosting a podcast that has reached over 1,000 listeners, I’ve consistently driven initiatives that make a tangible impact. My personal journey as a Muslim Palestinian woman navigating systemic barriers has fuelled my ion for inclusive leadership. I’ve experienced firsthand the silencing of marginalized voices, and it has pushed me to advocate relentlessly for those who feel unheard. I bring this same drive to my campaign, aiming to amplify student concerns through actionable solutions. As your Undergraduate Student Trustee, I will focus on delivering measurable outcomes. This includes advocating for an increase in budget allocation for Arts and Science programs to address growing interdisciplinary interests and limited financing, as well as expanding international student transition services to offer more comprehensive where students need it. I will also ensure campus safety is prioritized by implementing biannual safety audits of key facilities like the ARC, with full transparency in the results and follow-up actions. At Queen’s, we need leadership that not only addresses immediate concerns but also builds sustainable solutions for the future. With a focus on ability, equity, and strategic decision-making, I am committed to ensuring that all students feel ed and empowered to make a difference. Let’s create a campus where every student’s voice is heard, and positive, measurable change is the norm. Cha Gheill!
EJ Kelvin
EJ Kelvin for Undergraduate Student Trustee
Hello everyone! My name is EJ Kelvin, a first-year student in the Concurrent Education program, majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. I am excited to be running for Undergraduate Student Trustee to represent your voices and advocate for meaningful change at Queen’s University.
Throughout my time in education, I’ve advocated for student interests and worked to create inclusive spaces. As a former Student Trustee with the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board right here in Kingston, I advocated for underrepresented groups, including creating BIPOC student unions in all high schools across the board, and organized student senate professional development retreats. Currently, I serve as Chief Operating Officer of the Ontario Student Trustees Association, OSTA-AECO, one of Ontario’s largest education organizations, where I manage initiatives to students across the province.
If elected, my platform will focus on three key pillars:
1. Transparency: I will keep students informed through bi-monthly updates, ensuring open communication about my work and decisions made at the Board level.
2. Community: I plan to organize small, inclusive events to foster connections among students and strengthen our campus culture.
3. Student : Through these low-cost events, I will use the funds for bursaries to assist students facing unexpected financial challenges, helping reduce barriers to success.
This role is not about introducing flashy new ideas but about raising awareness of the resources and opportunities that already exist. I aim to bridge the gap between students and istration, ensuring that your concerns are heard and addressed.
With your , I am committed to building a stronger, more inclusive Queen’s community where every student feels welcome, ed, and empowered. Let’s make Queen’s a place where all students thrive—together.
Thank you for your consideration!
Vote EJ Kelvin for Undergraduate Student Trustee!
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