About the UTSU

Founded in 1901, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) is the official student government for more than 38,000 students at the University of Toronto. If you’re a full-time undergraduate student at the St. George Campus, you’re automatically a member of the UTSU. As a student government and independent not-for-profit organization, we operate autonomously from the University of Toronto administration. We strive to be a democratic, accessible, and member-driven organization, and all of our work is done with a strong commitment to equity.

Your student representatives are elected each year as executives or directors to the UTSU Board of Directors. The Executive Committee, which consists of the President and five Vice-Presidents, reports to the Board of Directors.

The UTSU works for you in many ways, but primarily through advocacy, events, and programs and services. We advocate for you by regularly lobbying the government and university, organizing public education campaigns, and supporting student-led initiatives. We organize major events for students, including Orientation,, Unity Ball, XAO, and more. And most importantly, we offer services such as a Food Bank Student Aid, an annual Tax Clinic, Clubs Funding, a Resource Bank for Clubs, and of course, the UTSU Health & Dental Plan.

The UTSU has led or contributed to many successful projects at UofT that have improved the livelihoods of students. These have included:

Granting undergraduate students access to Robarts Library Stacks (1972)
Granting women access to Hart House alongside other groups like the Muslim Student’s Association (1972)
Pushing UofT’s Divestment from South African apartheid (1980s)
The creation of the Women’s Centre (1986)
Ensuring a Sweatshop-free Campus (2000s)
Approval of the Student Commons (2000s)
Advocating for a Plastic Water Bottle-free Campus (2011)
Pushed Health and Wellness to stay open later multiple days per week (2010s)
Adding late night counselling services in Robarts Library during exam period (2010s)
Organizing a referendum for a Fall Reading Week with the Arts and Science Students’ Union (2015)
Participation in the first wave of Free Menstrual Product pilot programs (2018)
Contributing $100,000 from the Accessibility Fund to help Hart House build a universal washroom to minimize boundaries and restrictions for occupants with disabilities (2019)
Donating $100,000 to the U of T Muslim Chaplaincy to support them in fostering a meaningful Muslim identity and an inclusive space and community (2020)

Mission Statement

As stated in the Letters Patent, the Mission Statement of the Union is:

To safeguard the individual rights of the student, regardless of race, colour, age, mental or physical ability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, creed, religion, personal or political beliefs, nationality, geographic or ethnic orientation, citizenship, class ancestry or status, including but not limited to marital, socio-economic, First Nations, Inuit or Metis;
To foster the intellectual growth and moral awareness of the student in order to benefit them, the University of Toronto Student Community, and society;
To provide facilities for the services and activities in which the interests of the University of Toronto Student Community are involved;
To endeavour to bring about a fundamental redistribution of power so as to permit substantially greater participation by students in making those decisions which affect their lives;
To engage in research and discussion of the broad educational philosophy and principles affecting the University of Toronto Student Community;
To provide means of communication within the University of Toronto Student Community, among the campuses of the University of Toronto, with other members of the university community, with other universities, and with the general public;
To engage in discussion with municipal, provincial, and national governments on issues that affect the University of Toronto Student Community;
To encourage social action programs involving volunteer student resources;
To press for such action as may be necessary to make higher education accessible to all classes of Canadian society.

UTSU Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that the space in which we stand, live, work, organize, and learn, is the traditional lands of Indigenous Nations, including the Wendat, the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, the Chippewa, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Toronto remains home to many Indigenous peoples, whose presence, leadership, and stewardship continue to shape this place today.

Known to many as Tkaronto, this region has long been a place of gathering, movement, and relationship for Indigenous people, who, for thousands of years, have cared for these lands and waters. Their enduring relationships with this territory continue despite the ongoing impacts of colonization and displacement.

We recognize that this territory is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit and is also connected to the Dish with One Spoon Wampum agreement, an agreement between the Anishnaabe, Mississaugas, and Haudenosaunee to share and care for these lands through peace, respect, and collective responsibility. These agreements remind all who live here that we share a responsibility to care for the land, protect the waters of Lake Ontario that sustain our communities, and uphold relationships founded on reciprocity, respect, and accountability.

For those of us who are settlers or guests on this land, this acknowledgment is an invitation to reflect on our own relationships with this place and the responsibilities we carry. Colonialism is not only a part of Canada’s history, it continues through the dispossession of Indigenous land, ongoing inequities, and systems that have sought to undermine Indigenous governance, cultures, and communities.

As the University of Toronto Students’ Union, we commit to working alongside Indigenous students, communities, and partners in ways that support Indigenous self-determination and leadership. We will continue to advance the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, while creating meaningful opportunities for Indigenous voices to shape our governance, advocacy, programming, and campus community.

We honour the ancestors, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and Indigenous communities who have cared for this territory since time immemorial, and we recognize those who continue this work today. We commit ourselves to continued learning and listening, while dedicating ourselves to organizing alongside Indigenous students and groups on campus, supporting Indigenous-led initiatives, and strengthening Indigenous representation within UTSU governance, advocacy, and programming.