Service Groups
What are Service Groups?
All across our campus at the University of Toronto are dozens of student organizations committed to providing specific services and resources to students, commonly referred to as "Service Groups."
Service Groups collect small fees every year from students through their respective student societies, and rely overwhelmingly on the levies they collect in order to operate. The importance of the services that many of these organizations provide cannot be understated, and they unfortunately stand to be some of the worst-hit casualties of the Student Choice Initiative.
On this page, you'll find detailed descriptions of each Service Group and the services they provide. Use the menu on the bottom right to navigate between each group.
Downtown Legal Services (DLS) provides students with free legal advice and support on everything from housing matters, employment disputes, and academic offences & appeals. This includes home repair, rental, and safety disputes, as well as unpaid wage, wrongful dismissal, and other disputes.
In addition to these services, DLS provides assistance regarding certain criminal, family, and refugee law matters.
DLS also provides free notary and commissioning services for students, including certified copies, OSAP affidavits, applications for professional licensing exams, and more.
Visit us at downtownlegalservices.ca to learn more.
The Downtown Legal Services Offices at 655 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 2H9
A flow chart depicting the process of the MLAP and how it can be implemented, as provided by DLS.
A poster for a past workshop series held by DLS regarding housing rights.
The Downtown Legal Services Offices at 655 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 2H9
The University of Toronto Sexual Education Centre (SEC) is a not-for-profit, volunteer run student group that provides safer sex supplies and services to the University of Toronto community. As a levy funded service group, all supplies and services are available free of charge.
SEC provides safer sex supplies such as condoms, lube, dental dams, pregnancy tests, nitrile gloves, finger cots, and menstrual products. In addition to these supplies, every month we put out special products such as various sex toys. Our services include: confidential, non-judgemental one-on-one peer and phone support, access to our SEC library and resources, and referral services. UTSEC has an external education team that provides educational presentations on a variety of topics related to sexual health as well as perform community outreach. Last but not least, we hold numerous fun events and workshops during our annual Sexual Health Awareness Week.
Our mission is to provide access to information on all aspects of human sexuality in a comfortable, anti-oppressive, and sex-positive environment. We offer a safe space for people of intersecting identities where they can access resources that empower them to take ownership of their own sexual health. The work we do is more critical than ever - with the cuts to OSAP and financial aid for lower income students - our organization bridges a gap by providing access to necessary supplies. For about $0.25-$1.00 we are able to continue doing this work and provide these supplies and products free of charge to the entire UofT community. A little goes a long way!
Bikechain is an on-campus educational bicycle shop offering a wide range of services to students at UofT.
Bikechain's services include: free bicycle rentals for students, a DIY shop where students can learn to fix their own bicycles alongside experienced mechanics, workshops and seminars on bicycle safety and maintenance, and multiple leadership, employment, and volunteer opportunities for students.
With the support of students, we have taught over 35,000 people how to fix their bikes and ride safely since 2005, and we hope to continue this tradition for years to come.
OPIRG Toronto is an intersectional, grassroots, volunteer-based group at the University of Toronto with a mandate for action, education, and research on environmental and social justice issues. We seek to empower and educate students and community members by building connections and providing opportunities for students to connect with community activism and vice versa. We also provide a forum for learning and sharing skills, and give people the tools and opportunity to work cooperatively for social and environmental change.
OPIRG offers student crisis supports, as well as opportunities to get involved in advocacy, action, education, and research on environmental & social justice issues.
We empower, educate & engage students by providing: free, accessible skills-based workshops; research opportunities; access to emergency funds; a clothing bank; publishing opportunities; social & environmental justice advocacy; multi-disciplinary learning opportunities; an inclusive space to work for social change within academia & the wider community; and more.
You can visit us at 563 Spadina Crescent, Toronto, ON, M5S2J7, on our website at www.opirgtoronto.org, or you can email us at opirg.toronto@gmail.com.
Blue Sky Solar Racing is an undergraduate team who design, build, and race solar powered cars. Every two years we compete at the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, which is a 3000km race across Australia, to put our car to the ultimate test. We have been a part of the vibrant UofT community for 23 years. In those 23 years we have built 10 solar cars and represented the school on the world stage. In our last race, we placed 1st in Canada, 3rd in North America, and 11th in the World.
In building the car we provide students with experiential learning opportunities and the chance to develop skill they can take to the workplace. Students learn how to design suspension systems and electrical components all the way to how to foster relationships with industry partners and run social media campaigns. Nobody needs previous experience to join the team, we will teach you everything you need to know.
Blue Sky has been frequently been pivotal step in the future careers of its members. Many alumni of the team have gone onto found successful companies and even become Faculty members here at UofT.
Our team members come from diverse backgrounds and experiences. In the past, we have had students from Engineering, Rotman School of Business, Music, Computer Science, Medicine, and Political Science.
A loss of funding would be detrimental to the team. Without it the team would run the risk of not being able to acquire the needed materials and parts to complete a car leading to the eventual shut down of the team. This is why we need you to choose to remain opted-in so we can continue to provide exciting opportunities to students at the University of Toronto.
Team members working on components for their solar-powered vehicle.
Team members working on components for their solar-powered vehicle.
Team members working on components for their solar-powered vehicle.
Team members working on components for their solar-powered vehicle.
UTAT is an award winning design team that brings passionate undergraduates and graduates together to work on technical and societal challenges in aerospace. The team’s mission is to foster the next generation of leaders in aerospace and innovation by developing skills and providing opportunities to all students who join the team. Through our various outreach initiatives, we share our projects with the public to increase interest in higher education and aerospace among communities and classrooms. UTAT is open to all students within the University of Toronto, and we pride ourselves in our welcoming and collaborative atmosphere that allows the personal and professional development of all of our members.
The UTAT Innovation Fund supports our Space Systems Division, which is the only student-led and student-funded space program in the world. Our first satellite, HERON Mk II, will be carrying a microbiology experiment into low Earth orbit in early 2020, with the goal of improving long-term astronaut health and providing a low-cost, open-source experimental platform for future microbiology experiments in space. After the launch of HERON, UTAT will start development of our next mission. All U of T students can submit ideas for the payload of UTAT's next satellite, giving the student body unprecedented access to space.
Through our technical work, as well as our efforts in outreach and aerospace policy, we aim to make aerospace accessible and useful to all, at a local, national and global scale. Our educational outreach efforts within the Greater Toronto Area reach thousands of students annually, encouraging young students to pursue higher education and open their eyes to aerospace. Our policy team produces policy proposals for the Canadian government as well as the United Nations to unlock the power of aerospace technologies to improve our lives on earth. The Space Systems team regularly interacts with the global community through events with the International Space University, UNISEC, and NASA to share their low-cost, open-source satellite designs with teams that don't have access to the same resources we do in their own countries.
We’re proud to have had the support of the UofT student body throughout the years, and we’re very grateful for it. We hope you allow our team to continue making a global impact by supporting the UTAT Innovation Fund. If you are also interested in being part of our team, reach out to us by email - we would be happy to have you!
UTIHP was established in 1988 as a student group by two University of Toronto medical students in response to an increased interest in Global Health. Since then, the identity of the group has been constantly evolving. Over the years, UTIHP evolved into an umbrella organization comprised of smaller more specific initiatives or committees, each tackling a particular issue in Global Health be it a local issue, or one that affects individuals across many borders.
Past initiatives we have worked on include tackling food insecurity, homlessness, & malnutrition on campus as well as in underfunded secondary schools in the GTA. More, we have worked to aid student outreach and research activities through scholarships and grant funding. Every year, UTIHP additionally holds the world AIDS day, the Health and Human Rights Conference, and the Ontario Model World Health Organization to facilitate larger discussions between students and professionals about pertinent health and human rights issues we face at home and abroad.
Now, UTIHP has become the largest student-run charity on campus and the largest interdisciplinary organization in the country. We are a non-profit organization which accepts and promotes the World Health Organization’s definition of health as: "The ability to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment. Health is therefore a resource for life, not the object of living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources as well as physical capacities." (WHO,1986)
By providing our University of Toronto students with guidance, training, resources, and administrative support, as well as scholarships, grants, and networking opportunities, UTIHP enables students to address pertinent global health challenges dependant on student need.
All our initiatives are guided by the motto “Engage, Connect and Contribute”. UTIHP trains members to become global citizens, empowering them to act as catalysts of change through engaging and working with other student organizations and the community beyond towards a healthier, more equitable future for all.
Students for Barrier-free Access (SBA) is a non-profit student led disability justice organization on campus that centres the leadership of disabled people. SBA works to build a thriving community for disabled and mad-identified students by offering services, events, and peer support programming created by disabled students for disabled students. We raise awareness, challenge myths about disability, facilitate educational workshops, and consult on university policies in order to challenge many of the systemic barriers that affect all areas of student life. We use an intersectional approach in all of our work with disabled and mad-identified students at the University of Toronto.
SBA runs a community drop-in centre, resource & zine library, and an accessible computer lab that can be used by all students. We offer workshops and programs for all students and student groups including Accessible Event Planning, Accessible Graphic Design, Peer Support and Active Listening workshops, free ASL classes, academic support workshops for students with disabilities, career workshops, and so much more. Our staff also provide students one on one support in navigating academic accommodations.
We welcome and encourage all students, faculty and allies to get involved with our organization, participate in our events and help us promote inclusive and accessible education and student life.
To learn more visit www.uoftsba.com or visit our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Students-for-Barrier-free-Access-418199041607592/)
You can visit our drop-in centre at 215 Huron Street, Suite 924 on the 9th floor (the SBA Centre is an accessible, fragrance free space)
Service Groups Page Disclaimer
The Service Groups page is currently dedicated to levy-collecting groups through the University of Toronto Students' Union, and is under development. More Service Groups will be available on the ChooseUofT website after campaign launch. The college and faculty-specific Service Groups can be found under each of their respective college and faculty pages, with accompanying information.