The Journal provides free space in our print edition and online for parties on the referendum ballot. All statements are unedited.

Voting takes place Feb. 1 and 2.

Triennial Review

Camp Outlook

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 supported by trained staff.

During the academic year, under our fall and winter programs, we offer weekend wilderness trips staffed by Queen’s students and the younger Kingston population. 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 fundraise and awareness-raising activities for Camp Outlook.

The Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG)

The Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) Kingston is Queen’s University and Katarokwi/Kingston’s centre for education, action, and research on social and environmental justice. Using an intersectional approach, we tackle issues relevant to the Queen’s and Kingston communities. Our optional $3 AMS student fee will continue to go towards education, research, and action as reflected by our programming and various ongoing projects. 

Much of our programming is educational in nature: we bring in speakers, host discussion groups, screen films, and give workshops. We have also worked on educational campaigns around pressing issues, such as the 2015 ‘We Believe in a Campus Free of Sexual Violence’ campaign. 

We are proud of our People’s History Project (PHP), a research project dedicated to documenting first-accounts and records of grassroots social and environmental justice movements in Kingston and at Queen’s. The PHP seeks to uplift marginalized voices and experiences because we believe that sharing their/our stories is critical to creating a better, more just society.  

OPIRG Kingston provides a unique opportunity for students and community members to kickstart their ideas by creating an OPIRG working group. By starting a working group, people can bring their visions into fruition while benefiting from OPIRG Kingston’s support, whether that be financial, logistical, social, or through board members’ experience. Our current working groups include: the “queer muslim resistance” podcast and Roots & Wings. In many cases, these working groups have had such great success that they became their own organizations. Some of these include: Reelout Queer Film Festival, Loving Spoonful, and Queen’s Backing Action on Climate Change. 

QMIND

QMIND – Queen’s AI Hub is Canada’s largest undergraduate AI and machine learning (ML) organization. The team’s mission is to actively challenge the status quo around what students are capable of achieving in the field of AI. 

QMIND focuses heavily on the production of computer-based models that use neural networks to automate or develop unique solutions to real-world problems. QMIND Design sits at the core of the organization’s structure, composed of a web of small, innovative teams. Each 4-person design team works on a unique data science project in various industries and sectors. On an industry front, QMIND has established itself as a reputable consulting organization, having delivered high-quality solutions to paying clients in industries across banking, insurance, transportation, retail, and more. QMIND is also committed to contributing to our surrounding communities, and frequently engages in pro bono projects such as med-tech development for local hospitals. The product of these projects is an AI talent pipeline composed of industry-trained students all centralized under the QMIND name.  

Under our umbrella, the Canadian Undergraduate Conference on AI (CUCAI) and the inQUbate program were founded by QMIND to extend beyond the organization’s initial offerings and explore the potential of AI to its fullest. CUCAI is QMIND’s annual conference and inQUbate is QMIND’s AI incubator program. 

Queen’s Health Outreach (QHO)

Queen’s Health Outreach is an entirely student-run registered charity here on Queen’s Campus. We work to facilitate needs-based peer health education initiatives locally in Kingston, in 3 locations in Northern Canada, as well as internationally in Belize and Guyana. QHO is committed to collaborating with local and international communities to work towards sustainable opportunities for youth engagement and leadership, as we strive to facilitate peer-to-peer discussions centering around physical, mental, sexual, and social aspects of health. Queen’s Health Outreach, formerly known as Queen’s Medical Outreach and Queen’s Medical Aid, was started in the fall of 1987 by a group of Queen’s Medical students. The first initiative ran in the summer of 1988, but QHO soon expanded, by adding initiatives in Kingston, Northern Canada, Belize and later Kenya, although this initiative no longer runs. As QHO expanded, it changed its mandate from providing medical and clinical services, to the provision of health education and health promotion activities. Moreover, QHO opened itself up to students of all faculties and programs. The organization officially changed its name from Queen’s Medical Outreach to Queen’s Health Outreach in 2006, in an effort to better reflect the true work of our organization. Through QHO, Queen’s students have the opportunity to gain new perspectives, collaborate with new communities, build partnerships and become active members of both the Queen’s and Kingston community. Being part of QHO truly is the experience of a lifetime. The opportunity to operate and further understand the inner workings of a registered charitable organization is both rewarding and relevant to one’s future. Through QHO, students grow in their developmental consciousness, and gain valuable skills such as leadership, collaboration, and critical thinking, as they work to establish long-lasting health promotion programs to impact long-term community health outcomes for the better.  

Queen’s Healthcare and Business Conference (QHBC)

Since its inaugural year in 2016, the Queen’s Healthcare and Business Conference (QHBC) has served unparalleled as an engaging platform, connecting students and future leaders with current industry professionals who share a passion for this rapidly growing industry. As the first student-run conference of its kind in Canada, we are dedicated to delivering the most valuable attendee experience we possibly can. With healthcare as Canada’s largest service industry and one of the world’s largest industries overall, QHBC seeks to explore healthcare in terms of the diverse range of models, international organizations, and the innovations in care delivery that are found throughout the world. Our two-day conference aims to highlight the dynamic healthcare industry and its increasingly integrated relationship with both the global private and public sectors. Our goal is to spark discussions that push delegates’ thinking from a local to a global level.

Queen’s Legal Aid (QLA)

Queen’s Legal Aid (“QLA”) is legal aid clinic that provides free legal services to low-income residents in the Kingston area. 

By paying a $5.50 student levy, Queen’s University students automatically qualify for our free legal services.  Without this fee, Queen’s students would only qualify for QLA’s services if the student’s family’s income met the LAO financial criteria, which approximates the low income cut-off that defines the poverty line for Canadian urban areas.   

QLA assist Queen’s students with:  

• Fighting City of Kingston Administrative Monetary Penalties;  
• Landlord/Tenant problems, including unresolved maintenance issues, interference with a tenant’s rights, and illegal charges charged by landlords;  
• Charges under the City of Kingston’s Nuisance Party Bylaw or other laws prosecuted under the University District Safety Initiative; 
• Appeals to the University Student Appeal Board;  
• Minor criminal offences, including theft, assault and mischief charges;  
• Full representation on provincial offences, including Highway Traffic Act, Reopening Ontario Act or Liquor Licencing 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! 

We hope that the student body chooses to continue our $3 optional fee, so that we can build on these initiatives and enhance the support and resources we make available to Queen’s students and community members. 

MUSE Magazine

Conceived in CoGro as an ambitious dream scribbled on lined paper, MUSE Magazine emerged as the brainchild of three artistically enthusiastic students. The first issue, named “The Explosion” was launched in February 2011. Recently in 2019, the magazine celebrated its 10-year anniversary!

Our team is comprised of over 100 members across our 4 branches: Online, Business, Print, and Creative. MUSE seeks to build an inclusive and open-minded community, whilst providing a medium for students to explore their creative passions through various roles from directors and heads to contributors and interns, and as readers too.

MUSE is a tribute to the innovative, the unique, the fashion forward, and the stylistically creative. It is a nod of gratitude to those who break the mold and expose beauty in places we may overlook in our daily student adventure. Having published twenty-three print issues to date and hundreds of articles online, MUSE strives to be the go-to authority for all things creative at Queen’s. From lifestyle, fashion, entertainment, the arts to our very own ‘MUSE’INGS,’ our mandate is to highlight the creative talent at Queen’s University with diversity, inclusion, and accessibility at the forefront of our work. In addition to daily articles and content showcased on our online platforms, we release one free print issue per semester at our events, on campus, and across Kingston.

The World University Services of Canada (WUSC)

The World University Services of Canada (WUSC) aka. The Student Refugee Support Program

The Student Awards Office administers 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.

Telephone Aid Line Kingston (TALK)

Telephone Aid Line Kingston (TALK) was established in 1973 for the purpose of lending a listening ear to the Kingston community and surrounding areas. TALK is a crisis, distress, befriending, and information community service, taking 2800+ calls a year. We are confidential, anonymous and non-judgmental. TALK’s mission is to empower our callers to make decisions for themselves by reserving personal judgments and advice. Currently, we are the only distress centre in Ontario that runs solely on volunteers. Distress centers require quite a bit of overhead management from recruitment, training, volunteer administration, financial administration, fundraising, and ongoing training. Volunteers managing these things are generally students who have to work part-time jobs to pay for university along with putting in 5-10 hours a week for the management of the organization. A large issue the organization has been facing is burnout and understaff because of the large commitment associated. The increase in fee would be used to provide administrative volunteers with a yearly honorarium for their efforts and hopefully alleviate some of the burnout associated with the management of the center.

Levana Gender Advocacy Center

The Levana Gender Advocacy Centre is a student-funded Queen’s University organization committed to creating and nurturing a radical community of Kingston students and residents. Devoted to fighting gender oppression and advocating for broad ideas of gender empowerment for those of any or no gender, Levana operates on anti-oppressive practices. Having collected a student fee in years prior, we have developed student-led working groups and programming initiatives such as our lunchtime chat series, in which we have facilitated conversations around social justice issues relevant to the Queen’s community. Further we are able to co-sponsor panels and events on issues applicable to our mandate of gender advocacy such as Alt-Frosh and Alt-Frost. The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped our organization from developing programming and supporting student initiatives. Over the past year we have funded an ongoing Indigenous beading workshop, the Gender Affirming Apparel Project (GAAP), and launched a new Indigenous Healing and Wellness Bursary on top of co-sponsoring a wide variety of events.

Fee Increase

QBACC

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
• Support 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.

Fee Establishment

QSET

QSET is a group of exceptional and passionate 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 150+ active members that cover most engineering disciplines. QSET consists of two teams that operate independently on various technical projects: the Rover Team and the Satellite Team. Members can take on a variety of projects covering a variety of skill levels, but no experience is required to join.  The only requirement to join 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 members the flexibility and freedom required to successfully design, research, and implement solutions to various open-ended problems.

The Queens Entrepreneur’s Competition (QEC)

The Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition (QEC) has stood for 34 years as an opportunity for undergraduate entrepreneurs to acquire the sources they need to jump start the future. Our team is dedicated to organizing a competition where bright undergraduates compete for prizes that can transform their businesses. Competitors can meet fellow young entrepreneurs from around the world, as well as learn from professionals, investors, and each other. Each year we receive numerous business plan submissions from around the globe, and the top 15 teams are selected to pitch their business plans to a panel of Canadian business leaders, competing for over $80,000 in prizes for the top pitching entrepreneurs.

QRET

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. 

Kingston Gets Active (KGA)

Kingston Gets Active (KGA) is a community-wide initiative made up of partners from multiple sectors. KGA addresses the need for a multi-level approach to physical activity promotion by targeting various areas of community life such as educational and promotional activities; social marketing and communication; and infrastructure and public policy strategies. The vision is that all Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington (KFL&A) residents are physically active every day. KGA’s mission is to promote, encourage, and support citizens to be physically active daily and physically literate through collaborative planning, community action, and policy advocacy.  

KGA has the following objectives:  

• To increase access to opportunities to be physically active to all KFL&A residents by reducing barriers to individual behavior change. 
• To ensure more equitable access through promotion of free and low-cost activities to target populations. 
• To work together as a community partnership to link resources, events and opportunities in order to enhance sustainability and reduce duplication of services. 
• To create supportive environments in which our citizens learn, commute, work and play. 

The Kingston Gets Active Ambassador Club is an AMS-ratified Queen’s club that works to support Kingston Gets Active by recruiting ambassadors and organizing events at Queen’s and in the community to support KGA’s vision. We are a direct link to the Queen’s community and will work to connect students who are passionate about physical activity and well-being with community members to achieve our objectives. We plan to use the student fee to organize community events and initiatives, ensure more equitable access to physical activity opportunities in Kingston, and train more ambassadors both at Queen’s and in the community. Our plan is further outlined below.  

Mutual Aid Alliance (MAA)

The Mutual Aid Alliance is an organization established to create an emergency bursary that is open to all Queen’s students. COVID-19 and cuts in OSAP have demonstrated new needs from our community, and this fund will help support students and meet those needs. This fund is a necessity, as many students continue to face financial constraints due to the covid pandemic. This fund will be distributed in a non-hierarchical and non-invasive way. The emphasis is accessibility, inclusivity, and making sure it is available to all Queen’s students. Past the grant, we also hope to foster a community of care by connecting clubs and individuals with other resources and supports they need.

AMS Equity Grants

The equity grants are yearly grants distributed by the Social Issues Commissioner to support equity work done on campus. This grant is broken up into the Equity Clubs Grant and the Black History Month Grant. Much of the important equity work done on campus is done by clubs with little funding that rely on grants like this. Over the years, the equity grants have supported countless initiatives, conferences, projects, and resources on campus. The equity grants are open to any students or student groups that want to make an equitable difference and benefit our entire campus community.

Bus-It Fee

Bus-It is the bus pass program administered by the Alma Mater Society in partnership with Kingston Transit for Queen’s University students. This service provides students with convenient, safe, and affordable access to public transit in Kingston. Over the pre-COVID years, we have seen increased student-specific bus routes like the Q17, Q18, and Q20 routes. This year we are looking to expand and continue these great services to accommodate student needs for the next three years. Prior to COVID-19, the AMS had a long-standing contract with Kingston Transit called “Bus-It”. Usually a 3-year contract, this agreement provided our students with a full-access bus pass through a mandatory fee once yearly. After the contract is negotiated and signed with the City of Kingston, the AMS and SGPS are required to go to referendum to secure the approval of the student body to be allowed to place the Student Activity Fee on the fee slates. When COVID-19 emerged, the Bus-It Contract was in its 2nd of 3 years and the AMS decided to terminate the contract for the final year so as not to charge students for a service they likely would not receive. The re-establishment of the Bus-It fee means that students will once again be able to access Kingston Transit using the student activity sticker on the back of their student card and will no longer be required to purchase bus passes for each semester separately. Instead, they will pay a one-time $122 fee at the beginning of the year with the rest of their student fees.