Councillors are elected annually during general elections in March. Candidates are divided by faculty, and each student in the faculty of their major votes for the number of seats their faculty holds. For instance, Engineering and Computer Science students may vote for up to three (3) candidates. Those candidates with the most votes become Councillors for the coming year.

Motions are presented by Councillors to the chairperson before a Council meeting. They are usually submitted by e-mail and then distributed to the Councillors three days before the Council meeting, during which the motion will be discussed, amended as necessary, and voted on. Motions can be on any aspect that concerns the CSU or Concordia students. Students can propose motions to Council through their elected Councillors.

Sometimes decisions need to be made before the next meeting of Council is scheduled. In those cases, a special meeting can be called. A special meeting can be called either by the President of the Executive or by at least three Councillors. Three days notice must be given to all Councillors before the special meeting is held. Special meetings can only discuss the business at hand for which said meeting was called. The agenda is strictly followed; no new business can be introduced.

Council meetings are where decisions get made. Meetings must reach a quorum (minimum attendance) of at least one third of Councillors for decisions to be made binding. Meetings are open to the public to attend, however, Council may discuss issues in closed session (privately). Such privacy is usually reserved only for issues regarding hiring or dismissal, when private information could be disclosed. Before Councillors take their seat on June 1st, they have an introductory meeting known as Council-Elect, which takes place annually on the third Wednesday of May.

Following their election, Councillors are required to regularly attend and participate in Council meetings. In addition to attending council meetings, Councillors are encouraged to participate on a minimum of one committee. The attendance record is administered and enforced by the CSU Chairperson and applies only to regular Council meetings. Should a Councillor be absent from Council three (3) or more times, they are deemed to have automatically resigned and lose their voting rights. In exceptional circumstances, Councillors may received an excused absence when emergency situations arise. Possible reasons for such absences can be found in the CSU Standing Regulations.

Because Council only meets once a month, and because there is much business to go over, issues are often brought to a committee before they are voted on by council. These committees convene between regular meetings of Council to discuss issues and make recommendations on how Council should act. There are two kinds of committees: standing committees are permanent committees set up to study many of the normal things Council has to decide on, such as budgets or events to be held. Council can also choose to create a temporary, ad hoc committee to investigate something special or important.