Did you attend this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM)? Held virtually online on February 8th, 2023, we welcomed more than 280 students to our AGM. This was a chance for our members (MRU credit students) to:

• Vote to elect new student governors to serve on the Student Governing Board (SGB)
• Approve any proposed changes to our organizational bylaws
• Find out more about what SAMRU accomplished in the past year through our Annual Report
• Learn more about the breakdown of SAMRU’s finances through the sharing of our audited financial statements

In case you missed it, here’s what happened at the 2023 AGM!

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Student Governing Board Elections

2023 was a banner year for governor recruitment, having received 15 applications to run! Twelve students ran for five vacancies on the board. There were some close votes and even a tie, but five governors were elected in the end. 

Join us in welcoming our new and returning Governors and congratulating all candidates for putting on great campaigns! 

Newly Elected:

Governors serve two-year terms, after which they can choose to run for a second two-year term for a maximum of four full years on the Board. This year saw two Governors come to the end of their terms and run for re-election, and we are happy to report that both returning Governors were re-elected:

Any SAMRU member in good standing can vote in and run for Student Governor on SAMRU’s Student Governing Board! Current students interested in future opportunities with the SGB can visit samru.ca/sgb for details on how to get involved. 

Changes to SAMRU bylaws

Any proposed updates to our bylaws are voted on by our membership at SAMRU’s Annual General Meeting. When bylaws are updated, it is customary to rescind our old bylaws in their entirety before adopting new ones. 

This year, we had a few sections of our bylaws up for review, which were ultimately all approved. Here’s a breakdown of some of the new changes and what that means for you:

Section 4.2.2 Setting Membership Fees 
Changes the General and Operating fee – this fee was previously scheduled to increase yearly based on the annualized Alberta Consumer Price Index (CPI). This new change gives the Board authority to increase this fee by less than CPI, meaning a lesser increase in year-over-year fees.

Section 5.1.2 General Meeting Scheduling
This section was updated to add the option to host General Meetings virtually when necessary.

Section 5.2.1 General Meeting Agenda
“Election of Governors to the Board” was added as an official agenda item for General Meetings. 

Section 7.4 Honoraria
This section was updated for clarity by removing the wording “A Governor shall not be prohibited from receiving compensation for services provided to the organization” and inserting the wording “Governors are not paid for their roles or paid to provide services to the organization.”
These changes were made to comply with the Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) requirements, allowing SAMRU to continue hosting Casino Fundraising efforts. Governors will instead be reimbursed for one class per semester (as long as they remain a governor through the duration of the semester). 

Section 14.3.6 Eligibility for Representation Executive Council
This section was updated to remove a specific list of sanctions that could make a member ineligible for any SAMRU elections for a period of 5 years.

Section 17.2 Signatories 
This Section has been changed to update the signatory requirements on SAMRU’s Casino Fundraising bank account. Governors must now be appointed as signatories on the Casino Fundraising account and on official documents related to Casino Fundraising and other gaming funds. 
As with Section 7.4 above, these changes were made to comply with the AGLC requirements and ensure the continued success of SAMRU’s Casino Fundraising efforts.

As per bylaw Section 19.1, these new bylaws took effect after the Annual General Meeting ended, so check out SAMRU’s updated bylaws. If you have questions about SAMRU’s bylaws, please reach out to governance@samru.ca

Annual Report and Audited Financials shared

Another order of business at each AGM is the sharing of SAMRU’s Annual Report and Audited Financials. 

Checking out the Annual Report is a great way for students to stay in the know about SAMRU’s governance, representation, and operational accomplishments in the past fiscal year.

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Thanks for tuning in! Hosting an Annual General Meeting is a part of our accountability to our members, giving them a transparent look at how their Students’ Association operates. If you didn’t have the chance to attend this year, keep an eye out for next year’s AGM!