STU students elect new student union for 2026-27 academic year

Colby Leblanc is the incoming STUSU president for the 2026-27 academic year. (Credit: STU Communications)

The St. Thomas University Students’ Union held its annual general election on March 9 and March 10. Fifteen candidates ran in total, a number chief returning officer Thomas Hamilton described as “on the higher end” compared to previous years.

Colby Leblanc won the race for president, defeating fellow candidate Gabriel Prah. 

Leblanc, a human rights student and current at-large representative, said the role gives him a platform to expand his advocacy work. He pointed to the March 17 peaceful protest as an early sign of what the incoming administration is working toward.

 “One of the top priorities will be continuing the advocacy work with the vice president education and our administration as a whole, to ensure that we are in clear communication with the provincial government,” said Leblanc. “We have a seat at the table and we are representing student body voices.” 

Leblanc also announced plans to add new positions to the student representative council, including a Tommies athletics representative and a cultural diversity representative to complement the existing international representative role. 

Kate Haché, a fourth-year economics and international relations student, was elected vice-president administration running unopposed. 

Haché said she wants to make the union feel more accessible to the broader student body. Among her goals is creating a centralized social media page where all clubs and societies can post their events.

“I want to show that we’re students too, we’re struggling with you and that’s why we ran for these positions,” said Haché.  

Kyra Lustig was elected vice-president education, defeating Amelia Lazala, Sidnel Longuma and Harshene Kaur. 

Lustig, a second-year criminology student and current indigenous representative, said that tackling food insecurity and tuition affordability will be among her top priorities.

“Students can’t afford tuition, they can’t afford food,” Lustig said. “A lot of students are skipping their classes to work multiple jobs.”

Lustig said she plans to work through the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations to meet with MPs at both the federal and provincial levels to advocate on those issues.

Adetomiwa Adeyemi won the vice-president student life race over Carin Nfodo.

Among the representative positions, Zoe Cogan was re-elected as social inclusion representative. Cogan, a first-year student heading into her second year, said keeping the campus unified is more important than ever.

“As various tensions are going on politically throughout the world, it is especially important that everyone feels that they are welcome and they do belong here,” Cogan said. 

Liam MacDougall will serve as student senator. As a second-year political science and sustainability student, MacDougall said his main focus will be to ensure that senate advocates strongly against cuts that could affect academic offerings.

“I want to make sure that the Senate is on board with anything we do for advocacy against the cuts,” MacDougall said. “And if the cuts were to happen, I would try to be a voice to minimize the impact on academics.”

Sade London will serve as gender and sexuality representative, Tamika Gideon as at-large representative, Gold Innocent as board of governors representative and Kendra Belliveau as off-campus representative.

All student representative positions will be filled for the upcoming year, something outgoing president Ana Lucía Pavón noted the union had not achieved in over five years. Pavón had a direct message for incoming president Leblanc. 

“It doesn’t matter how much you plan, nothing ever goes the way you want it to. Be ready to navigate the ship, but the waters are not always going to be steady.”

The newly elected executives and representatives will take office for the 2026-27 academic year and will start their transition period in May.