University of Regina Women’s Centre, UR Pride take legal action against students’ union

WATCH: Two non-profits at the U of R have filed lawsuits against the university’s embattled students’ union. Angela Stewart has the details.

The temperature continues to rise on campus as the embattled University of Regina Students Union (URSU) is now facing two separate lawsuits from the non-profits UR Pride and the Women’s Centre.

Court documents show that a statement of claim was filed by the Women’s Centre against URSU on March 21. Both the Women’s Centre and URSU are not-for-profit organizations that operate on the University of Regina campus.

URSU’S constitution states the union must provide funding and office space for the Women’s Centre to operate. URSU has been providing this funding through the collection of student fees.

In the statement of claim, URSU is described as functioning as a landlord, collecting a levy on behalf of the centre from the university.

The Women’s Centre is alleging that funds have been withheld from them by URSU, totalling around $200,000 – dating back to last spring.

CTV News has reached out to both the Women’s Centre and URSU for comment – but has not received a response.

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Officials with UR Pride confirmed to CTV News that the organization has taken legal action against URSU – and that the student’s union has filed a counterclaim.

“URP has filed a Statement of Claim against URSU. URSU has filed a Statement of Defense and Counterclaim against URP. Negotiations between URP and URSU are ongoing. Students paid their fees with the understanding that a portion of those funds would go to the support centres,” UR Pride in a statement Monday.

“We are simply wanting URSU to comply with historic referenda, its constitution, motions from AGMs, and the Service and Support Agreement. We continue to explore all options to receive the funding owed to us – and stand in solidarity with all Student Service Centres who are struggling to receive clear, transparent, and honest answers as to the status of 2024/25 funding from URSU. We hope that URSU will quickly comply with its financial and legal obligations.”

In early April, University of Regina President and Vice Chancellor Dr. Jeff Keshen announced the university would terminate its collection agreement with the union, citing concerns with URSU’s 2024 audited financial statement.

However, the official termination will not take effect until the end of August.

“Since this is a legal matter, the University of Regina will not be able to provide any comment regarding the claims that have been filed,” the university said in its statement.

“In addition, [URSU] operates independently of the University of Regina, and the university respects the arms-length relationship it has with URSU.”