As the school year gears up for midterms, many of us have begun to focus more on our readings and labs, rather than our student government elections and applications. However, for two Innis student organizations – the Innis Residence Council (IRC) and the Innis College Student Society (ICSS) – this year’s application and election processes were extraordinary. Not only was there outstanding participation and engagement from students, but this year also marked the introduction of new positions: six IRC international junior house representatives and an ICSS international representative. Given the number of candidates for each position, incoming students might be surprised to hear that these positions are new to the college. In past years, the IRC only had six general junior house representative positions, and the ICSS was devoid of an international portfolio altogether.

The Herald spoke to two student leaders who were instrumental to this new legislation to hear their opinions about the importance of international student representation, and what these positions mean for Innis student governance going forward. Daniel Li is the current IRC president and has been involved in the IRC since his first year as a junior house representative himself. Sarah Chocano served as one of the ICSS Equity and Outreach directors and an IRC senior house representative last year, and is now the ICSS executive vice-president. These third year students fought hard for this legislation to be put to a vote by the general student body.

Innis Herald: Why was it so important to you to have these international student representative positions in the IRC and ICSS?

Sarah Chocano: “For me in my first year, I didn’t apply to anything because I thought I was going to have to compete with Canadian students. I thought ‘I’m not going to win or get a junior house rep position because Canadian students are obviously going to be better than me in some way’ and that got me really nervous. So I was thinking about this year, there are so many people applying for international [positions], and you see that word and you think, ‘Oh, this is catered towards me’. And we [as council] are not [dictating], ‘You have to pay international fees to be an international student’. It’s how you identify and how you see yourself as a person and as a student in the University of Toronto.”

Daniel Li: “As student governments especially, I believe that we have a responsibility to our constituents to try to be as representative as possible. In order for us to effectively spend the money that we get from student fees, we need to be able to hear from all the perspectives of the residents at our council. Of course, we can’t get 330 students at every single council meeting, which is why we have representation. By having representation available for international students, we’re opening up doors and we’re breaking down barriers that international students may face when they come to a new residence, a new university and a new country. We’re creating the opportunity for all students to express concerns or ideas.”

When Innis College was founded in 1964, the college did not collect information about whether students were strictly international or domestic. In 1965, the two years of students combined reported a total class of 398 with 321 from Toronto and 79 from “out of town,” which included students from elsewhere in Canada. Now, nearly half of incoming students are international, although there can be different ways of making this distinction. According to the registrar’s office, the current student body breakdown is 35% international students and 65% domestic students when we look at how students pay fees. When we break down the 65% of domestic students, 13% are permanent residents and 52% are Canadian citizens.

It follows to question why it took so long to establish these international student positions when Innis is known for being committed to representing student voices. In fact, the debate to include the international junior house representatives proposition as an IRC constitutional amendment was extremely contentious last year. When this motion, introduced by current IRC vice president Andrew Zhao, was read out at last year’s IRC constitutional meeting, many concerns were brought up: Why do we need six new positions? Wouldn’t just one be enough? Wouldn’t council be too big? Is there even enough work for six new representatives to do? How would we allocate projects? Is this tokenism? What if we don’t get enough applications? What if international students just don’t want to get involved?

DL: “In terms of international students not applying, that has turned out to be completely false. I believe we had more than 2 [applications] for each house; meaning that at least 12 individuals who identified as international students applied for international student positions.  The entire idea that international students don’t want to be engaged or be involved is an aging mindset. It’s a mindset, I want to say, that was developed at a time when there wasn’t international student positions available.”

The ICSS process, however, was different. When Sarah proposed the motion, she was met with very little resistance within the council. However, because she saw that people outside council may not be supportive, she decided to start by proposing just one director for the international portfolio position as a first step.

SC: “We [international students] do get involved in other organizations but we don’t get involved within Innis because there’s no position for us within Innis… That fear factor of: ‘I’m not going to win, they’re not going to prefer me over the people that they have so I’m not going to get involved, I might as well not do it.’ So I think that that was the mentality in my first year… From the ICSS I saw a lot of people trying to change that and trying to change that idea… trying to make it more about the council and how we can make international students more involved. I proposed this idea to the executive [of] 2017-2018 and they were really supportive with it. When I proposed it to the council – no one debated it, no one doubted it. Everyone was, like, ‘Okay, let’s do this.’ That was the mentality in the ICSS.”

So where do we go from here? In conversation about the future of student government representation, Daniel hopes that the IRC can one day dissolve the labels of international and domestic student representation. These international representatives on the IRC were meant to give international students an opportunity and to encourage them to apply. Daniel hopes that one day the disparity in representation in Innis student organizations would cease to exist and international students would not be afraid to apply for the general positions. “Ideally I wouldn’t want international junior house reps. Hopefully in 5 years I would want where there is no separation between the house reps because ideally we wouldn’t need to have these positions to get international students involved. Ideally we would get a council that’s already representative and there would be enough international students involved that incoming students wouldn’t require a separate position as a springboard.”

The ICSS operates a little differently: instead of generic first year representative positions, the ICSS has specific first year positions for residents and commuters so a possible idea is to create a first year position for international students. Sarah hopes now to expand the international portfolio. “Associates work really well for that you can hire as many… the constitution doesn’t put the limit on associates. It can be 6 associates if you want, not only for helping you out but for students, especially 1st year students to get a taste of council and see if they can apply next year if they’re interested… I did get some questions from students, ‘I want to apply for international student [representative] but I am a first year. Do I just put international?’ They asked about it, so there’s a lot of interest.”

We also asked Daniel and Sarah for their perspectives about the most effective way to connect with international students. These two student leaders are from very different backgrounds but have come together to both fight for representation on their respective councils. Daniel is from the small town of Hastings, Ontario and Sarah came to study at the University of Toronto from Cajamarca, Peru.

DL: “I think for starters, we need to treat everybody as equals and not make broad assumptions. I think you also have to take a very relative view when looking at cultures and you have to be accepting of different cultures. [Like for me,] I’ve experienced more than just whatever Canadian culture is; I’ve also experienced the culture that my family is from. And so I try to understand that other cultures are equally as valid and that other cultures have equally as valid traditions. By having that open mind, it’s easier to connect to international students. I may not speak a different language, I may not understand everybody’s traditions, but I can understand when certain voices that I want to hear aren’t being heard. There’s no formula – it really is as easy as having an open mind.”

SC: “I don’t like labels in normal human interactions. Labels can be weird… When you’re talking to people, when you’re in a house meeting, when you’re in orientation, you’re not thinking about, ‘You’re international’. There are different experiences, different ways of speaking English. For me, a lot of people say, ‘Your English is really fluent! How long have you been living here?’ I just came here for university but it was because I had an international education in Peru. There are other people who come here and lived here for a long time and have a different accent. There’s no stereotype of the international student. There are different people that think of themselves as international students. That experience shapes how you identify.”

Lastly, the Innis Herald spoke to Tony Niu, the second-year student who has just been elected for ICSS International Representative. Enthusiastically, he told us: “Having initiated this brand new position at the ICSS shows how much the ICSS cares about [the] international student population and being voted by the students last year showed how much the student body wants a bridge to connect between the Innis College and the international student body. [Even without the specific international position], I would’ve still applied for an ICSS position because I really want to be involved in the Innis College community. [As] for my plans for the year, I would not only focus on student involvement in the community but also focus on students’ transitions and their mental health!”

As we go forward in the school year with our studies and bury our heads in getting involved, keep an eye out for these new positions and what these students will be coming up with. And if anyone is still doubting the need and success of these positions, consider this: maybe international students do want to be involved at Innis after all.

Comments have been edited for clarity.