On November 26, 2020 the recently re-elected BC NDP government appointed its new cabinet ministers. The cabinet appointments saw previous Minister of Advanced Education, Skills, and Training Melanie Mark moved to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Sport and replaced with Burnaby-Deer Lake MLA Anne Kang.

“We would like to thank Minister Mark for her service and we look forward to meeting with and working collaboratively with Minister Kang,” said Kole Lawrence, Vice President External of TRUSU. “ Students will continue to face unpreceded challenges in the months ahead. We look forward to meeting with Minister Kang as soon as possible to discuss her priorities and her mandate from the Premiere.”

Each Ministry is provided with a mandate letter that outlines the government’s priorities for that Ministry for the next four years. The Advanced Education mandate letter includes a number of exciting priorities including expanding eligibility for the BC Access Grant and re-evaluating how post-secondary institutions are funded. To read the full mandate letter click here. 

“The re-evaluation of post-secondary funding in BC is particularly exciting for people in the Thompson-Nicola Region,” stated Lawrence. “This change reflects a longstanding campaign of the TRU Students’ Union to correct funding imbalances for TRU and other institutions across the province.”

Since 2016 the TRU Students’ Union has been engaged in significant community education and lobbying on this issue. Some of this work included knocking on over 1000 doors in neighbourhoods across Kamloops, as well as making presentations to numerous organizations and municipalities throughout the region. These efforts resulted in sending the Ministry of Advanced Education over 30 letters of support for a funding re-evaluation from municipalities and community organizations in the Thompson-Nicola Region, as well as over 4000 individual pledges of support from students and community members.

For more information visit: https://trusu.ca/tag/fund-the-future/

For more information contact: