The Clinic is a free, non-profit, student-run information service. It also runs the Student Advocacy Program, which provides advice and representation to McGill students going through disciplinary and grievance processes.

In summer 2012, the Clinic served over 1,000 clients and referred about 2,000 students to other legal services. In addition, the Student Advocacy Office assists about 150 to 200 students per year.

In an interview with The Daily, Clinic Executive Coordinator Emily Elder explained the reasons behind the expansion of the Clinic.

“Students and [the general] public come into the Clinic to access our services,” said Elder. “Some people come in with very confidential issues, such as sexual assaults.”

“The additional room at the Clinic will allow us to provide a fully secured space for them to discuss their issues with our volunteers,” she added.

In addition to increased confidentiality, the additional space will allow the Clinic to add two more volunteers to every shift on top of the four to five volunteers currently serving the Clinic.

“Most people in Quebec cannot afford legal services, and thus the services provided by the Clinic become very important for anyone from the McGill or Quebec community who cannot afford that,” said Elder.

The additional space will also house the Student Advocacy Office, which will continue to help McGill students advocate for their rights and deal with issues related to discipline and other legal negotiations within the McGill community.

The new space was originally occupied by the Green Corner project led by Organic Campus, one of SSMU’s 21 student-run services.

Since its establishment several years ago, Organic Campus has used the Green Corner to sell baked goods and local produce, as well as for other “green” groups on campus to gather and post information.

In an email to The Daily, SSMU VP Clubs and Services Allison Cooper explained that the Green Corner was “a creative idea to use the little perhaps [six by six foot] space behind the vending machines, but in practice was a little-used hang-out spot that always smelled a little weird.”

According to Cooper, the SSMU Environment Committee and other green groups on campus came to an agreement with the Legal Information Clinic to reduce the space designated to the Green Corner.

“The SSMU Building Committee made the decision [to expand the Legal Information Clinic at McGill] at least last year,” she wrote.

SSMU Sustainability Coordinator David Gray-Donald told The Daily in an email that “the idea is not to kick Organic Campus out.”

“Rather, there has been a temporary displacement of furnishings during the renovation process and then Organic Campus will continue using the space,” he wrote.

“They took some of the space away to extend the legal services clinic,” said Noemi Stern, one of the Organic Campus coordinators. “I mean, we will just have less space, but it should be okay for Organic Campus.”

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Bill 101, or the Charter of the French Language, defines French as the official language of Quebec. The new minority government under Marois seeks to strengthen the legislation and introduce a new bill to ensure that francophones cannot enroll in English CEGEPs.

In its online statement, SSMU announced that it “will remain vigilant…and advocate on behalf of our members in the face of measures which could negatively impact the ability of some to work, [and] receive services…”

In an email to The Daily, SSMU Vice-President External Affairs Robin Reid-Fraser explained, “since we have so many anglophone students, it could impact their abilities to get jobs.”

Reid-Fraser added that she maintains contact with the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) and student associations at Concordia in order to work together.

“We all come from different Quebec-wide associations, or [some schools] don’t have one at all, but it may be a good time to form a sort of coalition of anglophone campuses to make sure our students are being clearly represented,” she said.

SSMU offers representation to the francophone population of the University through the Francophone Affairs Committee.

The statement also commented on the government’s potential adoption of the Secular Charter, which would restrict public display of all religious symbols with the exception of the Christian crucifix.

According to the SSMU Constitution, the society “commits itself to groups, programs, and activities that are devoted to the well-being of a group disadvantaged because of irrelevant personal characteristics that include but are not limited to race, national or ethnic origin, colour, [or] religion….”

“The diversity of our student body is important and we need to be sensitive to how government policies will impact students in different ways…. Advocating for students who are being affected by imposed secularism fits into [the constitution],” explained Reid-Fraser.

The statement was not discussed during the first SSMU Legislative Council of the academic year, which was held on September 13.

Former Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) representative Sean Phipps was not present. The AUS representatives, who hold three SSMU Legislative Council seats, are elected by the Arts undergraduate students in a general election. Article 12.15 of the AUS Constitution states that,  “In the event of a leave of absence by any member of the Executive Committee or Arts Representative to SSMU, Council shall have the authority, if deemed necessary, to appoint a temporary replacement from amongst its members.”

AUS VP External Brian Farnan stated that Phipps was not dismissed but submitted a friendly resignation to the AUS Executive Committee. “I must stress, to my knowledge, that AUS executives have received words [but] no reasons. It was friendly, everything was fine,” he said.

Regarding the pending reappointment of the new representative, AUS President Devon LaBuik said, “The AUS will reappoint a new representative as soon as possible. It shouldn’t affect the representation of AUS in a huge way but Sean’s resignation is certainly a loss.”

Phipps could not be reached for comments at press time.

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