Definitions

Open Club: These clubs make up a large majority of groups on campus because their memberships are open to any undergraduate or graduate student of the University of Manitoba, so long as no less than two-thirds of the club is undergraduate students.

Executive: this is a label for individuals that take up positions at the top of the club’s management hierarchy. These individuals are the final decision-makers for the club’s business such as Operations, Finance, Events, and Marketing. Regardless of their label internally or externally, if the position is labeled as an executive to UMSU, we will view the individual as an integral position to the club who holds responsibility and oversight.

Signing Authority: this is a label for specific individuals who have authorization to sign cheques, contracts, or anything legally binding in relation to the club. Usually this is in reference to individuals who have authority to manage and access bank accounts, but it can also be used in UMSU for individuals who can make contracts with UMSU.

Conflict of Interest: This conflict happens when an entity or individual becomes unreliable because of a clash between personal interests and professional duties or responsibilities. Such a conflict occurs when an organization or person has a specific interest in the outcome and serves to gain from it —such as money, status, knowledge, relationships, or reputation—which puts into question whether their actions, judgment, and/or decision-making can be neutral. (Investopedia)

Council: any person in power that has any duties or responsibilities to the club such as executives, council members, volunteers, etc.

Community: the members of the club which are usually the council and its members.

Member in good standing: this is the status of the member with respect to the club’s internal conduct and rules whose main purpose is to civilly govern their community.

Stakeholder: a person or group who has a vested interest in an organization and can either affect or be affected by its operations and performance. Examples can be customers, businesses, communities, or governments. (Investopedia)

Quorum: a quorum is the minimum number of people that a committee needs in order to carry out its business officially. When a meeting has a quorum, there are at least that number of people present

Article 1a: Name

University of Manitoba Indigenous Commerce Students (UMICS).

Article 1b: Purpose

The University of Manitoba Indigenous Commerce Students is a student group for those who identify with or have a common interest in enhancing Indigenous culture within the Asper School of Business. As business leaders, we aim to create a sense of community by forging partnerships with organizations and surrounding the University of Manitoba.

Article 1c: Club Status

UMICS Club Status is Open.

Article 1d: Membership

Membership is open to any current or aspiring Commerce student in the Asper School of Business, regardless of ancestry. Memberships for UMICS lasts for a full academic year, September 1st to August 31st. Participating members are those that sign up to take part in UMICS’s events, whereas Executive Officers are participating members with the additional executive duties and expectations as outlined in Section 2. All members are voting members of UMICS.

Article 1e: Profits and Expense

Profits can be acquired through our own fundraising efforts.

All expenses must be approved by all Executive members prior to purchase.

Unused funds will automatically be deferred to the following year’s fund.

President

• This position is elected by registered members of UMICS.

• Attend all meetings of UMICS or send 24 hours’ notice of regrets.

• Act as a signing authority for UMICS.

• Be the contact person for any and all partner organizations.

• Act as a spokesperson for UMICS to the public.

• Ensure the organization's mission is communicated to all members.

• Shall head the petitioning for funding.

• Must partake in every voting matter brought forward by members.

• Will be the Indigenous Representative on the Commerce Students Association.

• Act as a Liaison between the Commerce Students Association and UMICS.

• Position requires candidate to be an active member of UMICS and IBEP.

• Work with VP Marketing to maintain umics.ca.

• Manage sub-committee for traditional lands rights acknowledgements.

Vice President - Operations

• This position is elected by registered members of UMICS.

• Attend all meetings of UMICS or send 24 hours’ notice of regrets.

• Must by default accept any and all duties delegated by the President.

• Act as a stand in for the President for any occasion when the President is absent.

• Shall coordinate UMICS’s social media in partnership with VPM.

• Act as a spokesperson for UMICS to the public.

• Position requires candidate to be an active member of UMICS and IBEP.

• Coordinate the logistics behind UMICS events and those held in conjunction with sponsors and/or other student groups.

• Ensure executives are aware of event plans and are aware of their respective roles in the events.

Vice President - Finance

• This position is applied for and appointed by the President and Vice President - Operations of UMICS.

• Attend all meetings of UMICS or send 24 hours’ notice of regrets.

• Act as a signing authority for UMICS.

• Maintain financial records of UMICS.

• Develop and submit an annual budget for UMICS.

• Shall petition for all funding for UMICS.

• Shall collect all monies owed to UMICS.

• Responsible for all distributions of monies.

• Position requires the candidate to be in UMICS, but not a member of IBEP.

Executive Assistant

• This position is applied for and appointed by the President and Vice President - Operations of UMICS.

• Attend all meetings of UMICS or send 24 hours’ notice of regrets.

• Shall provide and maintain an accurate record of all correspondence made available to all members.

• Shall confirm the attendance of all executive officers for all meetings.

• Position requires the candidate to be in UMICS, but not a member of IBEP.

• Be responsible for booking equipment and spaces in absence of a First Year Representative.

• Hold elections for executive positions at year end should the current President choose to campaign for any executive position in the coming year. First Year Representative elections will be coordinated by the Secretary as well.

• Secretary shall work in correspondence with executive to develop minimum bi-monthly correspondence.

Vice-President Marketing

• This position is applied for and appointed by the President and Vice President - Operations of UMICS.

• Must attend all UMICS meetings or send 24 hours’ notice of regrets.

• Communicate events and meetings to members and to all students on campus when applicable. This will be in coordination with VPO and Secretary.

• Maintain public media with frequent posts to each (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Website).

• Ensure cultural sensitivity in all media.

• Position requires candidate to be an active member of UMICS and IBEP.

Vice-President Corporate Relations

• This position is applied for and appointed by the President and Vice President - Operations of UMICS.

• Must attend all UMICS meetings or send 24 hours’ notice of regrets.

• Act as the contact point between companies and the President where needed.

• Develop and maintain a corporate relations contract ensuring all parties' needs are met.

• Advise Vice-President Marketing on what needs to be posted for the companies sponsoring events.

• Position requires candidate to be an active member of UMICS and IBEP.

First Year Representative

• This position is applied for and appointed by the President and Vice President - Operations of UMICS.

• Attend all UMICS meetings or send 24 hours’ notice of regrets.

• Act as a point of contact for first year students.

• Be responsible for booking equipment and spaces.

• Shall aid in the organization of, and represent UMICS, at various special events with the President and Vice President Operations.

• Must follow all of the election and terms of office policies during their campaign and election period.

• Position requires candidate to be an active member of UMICS but not IBEP.

• Position requires candidate to be a first year Asper School of Business student or first year University of Manitoba student pursuing entry into the Asper School of Business.

• Position cannot be held more than once.

• Act as a spokesperson for UMICS to the public.

Article 2b: Termination of Executive Members

Any Executive member deemed to be not adequately performing their respective duties, as outlined in Article 2a, shall be given written notice of their pending assessment. Once the Executive receives notice, they shall be given at least a week to provide a defense statement. The remaining Executive Council will participate in a vote deciding whether or not to keep the Executive in question as an UMICS Executive.

Article 2c: Termination of Members

Any Member deemed to be not in good standing with the organization, shall be given written notice of their pending assessment. Once the Member receives notice, they shall be given at least a week to provide a defense statement in front of the executives and other Members. The Executive Council and present members will participate in a vote deciding whether or not to keep the Member in question as an UMICS Member.

Article 2d: Executive Meetings

The President may call an Executive meeting at any time, but must give the other Executive officers at least 48 hours notice. The Executive will schedule at least two meetings per semester for all UMICS members. Ensure traditional lands are acknowledged at the beginning of member meetings.

Article 2e: Quorum

The quorum of UMICS is two thirds of the executive present in person or through Skype (or similar programs). In addition, to achieve quorum, at least four of the six UMICS executives, as outlined in Article 2a, need to be present.

Article 3a: Conflict of Interest

A Conflict of Interest is defined as when an entity or individual becomes unreliable because of a clash between personal interests and professional duties or responsibilities. Such a conflict occurs when an organization or person has a specific interest in the outcome and serves to gain from it —such as money, status, knowledge, relationships, or reputation—which puts into question whether their actions, judgment, and/or decision-making can be neutral.

During an election process, conflicts of interest may arise. When they do, the individual who has professional duties or responsibilities related to organizing the democratic election procedure must identify their conflict of interest and withdraw from the role for that particular election. This is to guarantee a fair democratic process. Failure to identify the conflict of interest and/or withdrawal from the role will be considered a violation to the club’s constitution and the club will be subjected to the disciplinary items outlined in Article 4d: Violations to Constitution.

Results from a Democratic Election that had a conflict of interest may be subject to be voided. A rerun of the democratic election without any conflicts of interest may begin again for the open executive position(s).

Article 3b: Appointment of a Chief Returning Officer

Prior to the election, the Executives agree to appoint a Chief Returning Officer (CRO) to oversee the election. This CRO ensures the election is run competently, fairly, and transparently to its members and UMSU.

In accordance with the CSA STAG Election Procedure, all STAGs must use the appointed CSA CRO for the academic year. To connect with the current CSA CRO, contact the CSA VP Internal (vpi@aspercsa.com).

To ensure the election is run fairly and transparently, the CRO must…

Not be a person who is running in the election

Not have any conflicts of interest with the club’s management or electoral candidates. This conflict of interest is outlined in Article 3a: Conflict of Interest.

Be neutral and unbiased about the club and their electoral candidates in their election through their professional duties.

If a member or members of the executive team appoint a CRO other than the CSA’s with a conflict of interest and continue to run elections with that conflict of interest, this is considered a violation to the constitution and the club is subjected to Article 4d: Violations to Constitution.

Article 3c: Chief Returning Officer Duties

The duties of the CRO are to:

• Oversee and administer the elections for UMICS

• Publicize the elections to the membership of UMICS with the help of the outgoing President

• Hear and decide on any appeals or complaints related to the elections. If necessary, bring forth to the STAG Elections Committee (SEC).

• Oversee and administer the electronic system’s results for votes of the election.

• Announce the results of the elections with the help of the outgoing President

Article 3d: STAG Elections Committee

The UMICS election committee will be composed of the outgoing UMICS President and the CSA CRO. In order to run for UMICS Executive, a member must be a member of IBEP in good standing and in the Asper faculty, with the exception of the First Year Representative.

Article 3e: Elected Position Procedure

All UMICS elections for the upcoming year will occur no later than April 1st on an annual basis.

Prior to the election, the Executives shall contact the CSA CRO to oversee the elections via the procedure outlined in Article 3b: Chief Returning Officer Appointment

Voting for the upcoming year’s Executive will be conducted as follows:

• Nominations for the two elected positions, as outlined in Article 2a, will last for five days.

• Candidates who wish to be nominated should inform the President and CSA CRO during that period, and must be a member in good standing of UMICS at the time of their nomination, with the exception of the First Year Representative who is voted in in October of the following academic year.

• Any student who wishes to be nominated for President must be a member of UMICS during the previous year and will continue to be a member of UMICS during the year in which they are running for.

• Each nominated candidate is allowed to campaign on behalf of themselves during the campaigning period, which will last for at least two days.

• The CSA CRO will collect the required forms in the election package and campaign platform from each candidate and distribute them in an email to all members of UMICS prior to voting.

• The candidates may give speeches to persuade the voters.

• Voting will follow the speeches given by the candidates and be performed on the UMSU online voting platform.

• Voting for the Executive is done by current members of UMICS.

• Once the voting period is concluded the CRO will count the votes and the outgoing president will announce the incoming president through email and social media.

• It is the responsibility of the President to announce the commencement of nominations and voting period.

Article 3f: Council Appointment Systems

President and Vice President - Operations are voted in first. The remaining positions are appointed by the President and Vice President Operations during an application period of no less than 10 days, announced by the current President and following the elections.

First Year Representative will be appointed by the Executive Council in an application period of no less than 10 days. This selection process will be concluded no later than October 31st of the following academic year that the remainder of the executive takes office.

The initiation of the application procedure shall be conducted at the discretion of the incoming President and Vice President of Operations. The occupancy of the forthcoming executive positions shall be effectuated by the date to be announced September 15.

Any Executive who, under any circumstance, withdraws from their entire course load for the term must also voluntarily withdraw from their position, and a by-election will be held in the case of the President or VP Operations, or an application process in the case of VP Marketing, VP Finance, VP, Corporate Relations, Executive Assistant, or First Year Representative.

Any Executive who takes part in a co-op, co-op like term, or exchange may retain their position (excluding the President and VP Operations) if they can retain their participation and contribute adequately to meetings and events through other means.

Article 3g: Transition of the Executive

Following the completion of a successful election as outlined in Article 3e, it is the responsibility of the current outgoing executive to orient the newly-elected/appointed executive members to their jobs, and to prepare the new executives to be effective in their roles.

The departing executives must transition all club records and materials (including office and mailbox keys, locker combinations, and all passwords to offline and online accounts, and bank accounts) to the incoming executives in order for them to be effective in their roles.

The incoming executives are responsible for the custody of all student club records, materials, and accountability for all future financial activities of the club.

The departing President and Finance executive must bring all accounts up to date to the end of the fiscal year. They must also prepare any required financial statements of the club. The old executive signing authorities' must hand over control of the club’s bank account and any related items to the new executive signing authorities no later than June 1.

It is imperative that signing authorities' hand over the club’s bank account on a yearly basis. If the executive team fails to take the appropriate and formal steps to transfer this authority, credit scores may be negatively affected by the bank; or the club's bank account may receive other disciplinary action from the financial institution for not taking the proper steps when transitioning their bank accounts.

The reason this is important is because personal information gets attached to bank accounts. If your name remains attached to a club's bank account after you have finished your term, you may be liable for future actions you have no part in simply because your name was left as an active member of the account.

If you are unsure about your working relationship and status with the bank, please talk to your bank's appropriate representative and they should be able to provide any and all information about your club's bank account.

The current outgoing president will assume responsibility for designating an appropriate transition period in which outgoing executive members must train and transition their position’s respective duties to incoming executive members.

The new executive must familiarize themselves with the terms and conditions outlined in the Constitution.

Article 4a: Compliance with University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) Policies

UMICS will follow all bylaws, policies, and procedures and any mandatory training workshop required by the University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) especially those found in the UMSU Student Clubs Policies and Procedures document.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Attending a sexual violence prevention workshop at UMSU’s direction and discretion which must be completed by the end of the fall semester.

• Following the code of conduct and behaviors expected of the University of Manitoba community outlined by the University of Manitoba Administration.

When a club does not follow the bylaws, policies, procedures, or workshops, then a club may be investigated. When being investigated, the club will comply with cooperating and providing the necessary documents as well as information.

Article 4b: Compliance with the Commerce Students’ Association (CSA) Policies

UMICS will comply with the Commerce Students Association (CSA) policies and abide by its STAG Code of Conduct.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Setting budgets.

• Keeping accurate records of financial statements and receipts.

• Allowing an audit by the CSA’s Internal Auditor.

• Attending Quarterly STAG Meetings chaired by the CSA’s VPI.

• Attending mandatory Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion workshops held by the CSA’s EDI Officer.

• Maintaining accurate membership lists as a record of eligible voters.

UMICS recognizes that all policies in that document must be upheld to continue its status as a STAG and receive its funding and sponsorship at the end of the year.

Article 4c: Amendments to Constitution

Any changes (amendments) to this constitution must be approved by a formal vote of the quorum of the membership at a publicized meeting of the group.

Email votes are also acceptable. These electronic votes would need to be received by the end of the voting period.

The proposed changes must be made available to all members of the group at least two weeks before the meeting, and require the support of at least the quorum. Failure to communicate these changes and failure to host a publicized meeting qualifies as a violation to the constitution.

A copy of the amended constitution must be submitted to UMSU within two weeks of the meeting.

To prevent corruption, Section 4: Club Governance and its associated articles cannot be changed (amended). These articles can only be changed if the change is mandated by UMSU explicitly in writing or the change was first proposed to UMSU by the club’s council and the club has received explicit approval of the change by UMSU Student Group Services in writing.

Article 4d: Violations to Constitution

When an executive or multiple executives violate(s) the article(s) in this constitution, the following disciplinary actions will come into effect:

To avoid any conflict of interest, UMSU oversees any violations of constitutions. Every situation will be different and thus, UMSU will always have full oversight and discretion regarding what the verdict is, when the verdict takes place, and decide if disciplinary action is necessary. This is to guarantee a fair process and the well-being of students, the club, the overall campus community, and relevant stakeholders. UMSU will be responsible for explaining the violation and the possible repercussions. UMSU will also provide recommendations for how the club can move forward after the violation and consequences are settled.

To maintain equity, the severity of repercussions will depend on the weight of the constitution violation and the specifics of the situation. UMSU will act as a neutral third party in assessing the infringement and will pass down an appropriate conclusion on the matter. This will be based on precedent and UMSU bylaw parameters.

Depending on the severity of the violation, UMICS may lose our recognition status, club funding, services, benefits, be expelled from UMSU, and/or receive repercussions from relevant stakeholders. Individual executive(s) may be dismissed from their term in office, lose benefits, lose services, expelled from the club, and/or receive personal repercussions from relevant stakeholders. Relevant stakeholders most importantly include the University of Manitoba Administration.

Article 4e: Traditional Lands Subcommittee

The Traditional Lands Subcommittee’s mission is to assist CSA Student Action Groups (STAGs) in delivering traditional lands acknowledgements to their members.

The president is responsible for reaching out to CSA STAG’s to ask them to deliver the traditional lands acknowledgement during their member meetings. If the STAG would like an Indigenous member to deliver the acknowledgement, the President will ask the Traditional Lands Subcommittee to deliver the acknowledgement.

The First Year Representative is responsible for communication between the Traditional Lands Subcommittee and the President. They are also responsible for organizing the subcommittee and finding members.

Members are not required, but encouraged, to attend the entire meeting for which they give the traditional lands acknowledgement.