The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) held its fifth Legislative Council meeting of the semester on March 20. The council discussed discretionary funding for the Midnight Kitchen, a SSMU food pantry initiative, and proposed amendments to the Policy on Harmful Military Technology. 

The first hour of the meeting was devoted to discussing discretionary funding for Midnight Kitchen, a campus initiative that provides free meals to McGill students. Midnight Kitchen members raised concerns about Director of Clubs and Services Hamza Abu-Alkhair delaying approvals for the funding and the negative impact on Midnight Kitchen’s operations.

Midnight Kitchen staff member Danya Gilday expressed the urgency of resolving the funding issue, emphasizing the increasing demand for meals and the limitations imposed by a small kitchen. 

“We have infrastructural challenges. We have a very small kitchen. Most of the food programs that we have spoken to around the country […] they’re continually impressed with how much we do, considering how few staff we have,” Gilday said.

Abu-Alkhair elaborated that he delayed additional approvals due to concerns regarding whether Midnight Kitchen was meeting its mandate of hosting an adequate number of free lunch services.

“So with discretionary funding, what I understood is you’re serving students or organizations who are on McGill campus and not necessarily organizations that are outside the campus,” Abu-Alkhair said. “There’s also the issue of the services per week. I believe you were doing two services per week. In my knowledge, it’s five in the mandate.” 

SSMU President Dymetri Taylor clarified that the initial approval of Midnight Kitchen’s discretionary funding in 2021 authorized a 20 per cent discretionary fund allocation. The Council ultimately postponed further discussion of the issue until their next meeting due to a lack of context on the procedural intricacies of issuing discretionary funding. 

Next, the Council introduced a motion to create a permanent food pantry to address growing concerns about food insecurity on campus. SSMU is currently running a pilot project where a fridge and shelves of free food are open to students at all times in the ECOLE building at 3559 Rue University. Vice President (VP) External Affairs Hugo-Victor Solomon presented the motion, highlighting the shortcomings of past food insecurity initiatives on campus and the success of the pilot program.

“So far, we’ve had truly positive feedback. The food that we put in the fridge has been taken on a regular, gradual basis. It was clear that it’s not being taken all at once,” Solomon said.

Another focal point of the meeting was a Notice of Motion to Amend the Policy on Harmful Military Technology, specifically to remove its moratorium on referendum questions related to ancillary fees, which are non-opt-outable student fees that fund self-funding units of McGill, such as McGill Athletics. This moratorium had been in place for several years, previously under the Climate Justice Policy, as a tactic to pressure McGill’s Board of Governors to divest from various causes such as fossil fuel investments. After reviewing the moratorium and its historical impact, Solomon concluded that while the moratorium was an effective strategy in the past, there may now be other ways to pursue action against harmful military technology.

The meeting ended with reports from various committees. The Environmental Committee’s report detailed several initiatives, including the upcoming McGill Environment Student Society Gala on March 28, and the launch of Terra, an environmental journal. 

Moment of the Meeting:

The Council discussed a motion regarding the SSMU Policy Against Antisemitism, which a judge recently issued a safeguard order against. Solomon announced a restart of the adoption process for the Policy, which would be updated to address community concerns from several student groups on campus more directly. 

Soundbite: 
“I think it’s totally inappropriate that Midnight Kitchen was prevented from giving funds to the community for months without any explanation. I would like to move the Legislative Council mandate the Director of Clubs and Services to approve all discretionary funding requests from Midnight Kitchen and the Legislative Council to issue an apology to Midnight Kitchen.” — VP University Affairs Abe Berglas expressing support for Midnight Kitchen.