The University of Regina Women’s Centre annual general meeting was cut short on March 14 due to audience disruptions.
According to the event organizers, there was a feeling of unease when a large group showed up right before the beginning of the meeting.
Debra Schubert was guiding the event, and recalled immediate issues upon beginning the meeting.
“The actual distractions started happening, once I started speaking and I was trying to do the land acknowledgment, there were a lot of people snickering and talking and making disturbances,” she explained.
After several attempts to quiet the crowd, the board chair candidate was not able to begin the proceedings due to interjections from the audience.
“I couldn’t get a word in. Every time I would start speaking, somebody, a certain person in the audience, kept like interrupting me,” Schubert explained. “Even if you’re against something you’re allowed to express, that’s fine. I told her numerous times that there will be a time for asking questions.”
Schubert gave the woman a final warning, which did not change the attitude of the audience member.
“She immediately interrupted again. The security came to take her out. She stood up. Everything erupted, I called it, I adjourned the meeting right away and I left the stage,” Schubert recalled.
After taking a moment to regroup, Schubert said she heard the conflict among the crowd escalate.
“When I was backstage, I started hearing a lot of things. So I came back to back up front, and there were there was like, people trying to get physical with one another. So I did end up having to call the police, unfortunately,” she said.
Those involved with the Women’s Centre described the incident as " disheartening."
“I was unfortunately not terribly surprised. Although I will say that in 17 years I’ve never had an AGM, go down like that,” Jill Arnott, executive director of the University of Regina Women’s Centre explained. “It’s usually a very pleasant and quick sort of operation. but I unfortunately, I was not surprised, given, how our year has gone so far.”
The Women’s Centre is one of three organizations which has faced the prospect of being defunded by their parent organization, the University of Regina Students' Union (URSU).
The student’s union has yet to vote on a referendum which will determine the future of the Women’s Centre.
In response to a request for comment, URSU denied that the disruption happened at all. Saying in a written statement to CTV News:
“There was no disruption or protest that led to the adjournment of the meeting.”
The University of Regina, on the other hand, has said it will be investigating the matter.
President Jeff Keshen shared in a statement on Monday morning that the university is “currently investigating all pertinent information and are prepared to take appropriate action.”
Keshen’s statement continued, noting that “there is zero tolerance for hate, racism, misogyny and intimidation at the University of Regina.”
Those involved with the Women’s Centre shared that they are grateful for the university’s response.
“The university has been really supportive actually all the way through, since our trouble started in September ... I have every confidence that, they’re doing all of their investigating and discussing with the best possible outcome in mind,” Arnott said.
In the meantime, the Women’s Centre still plans to host its AGM at a later date, with heightened security.
“We obviously need to have a different system in place so that there is law enforcement there, and we can assure that people will be safe and that the meeting can actually happen,” Arnott noted.
While the Women’s Centre will continue its operations as usual, the events on Friday evening have left many feeling hurt and frustrated.
“The interesting thing about this situation is it was a woman that stopped the women from speaking. So I think it was a lot of internalized misogyny, unfortunately, in this instance,” Schubert added.
“So that kind of adds to the pain of what happened, because once again, we were there to have an International Day celebration and to celebrate 56 years in service to the Regina community. So it just kind of shows us that we’re not there yet.”
