This week’s BC budget followed through on promises made in past budgets – including the BC Child Opportunity Benefit – but comes up short on new initiatives and investments that would assist children, youth and their families. “We need to invest more in upstream, preventative family supports,” commented Adrienne Montani, MORE
The U-Pass BC program has been extended for five years after student associations from 10 public universities and colleges in Metro Vancouver voted to approve the motion. The U-Pass BC program, which began in 2010, is a partnership between the Province, TransLink, participating public post-secondary institutions and their student associations. Students holding MORE
Indspire currently has two streams open to provide financial support for First Nations, Inuit and Métis students across Canada. The Bursaries, Scholarships and Awards for Post-Secondary Education stream is available for full time studies in college, university, skilled trades, apprenticeships, and technology programs. The Post-Secondary Education – Skilled Trades stream is available MORE
The BC Federation of Students is currently rolling out their ‘Our Time is Now’ campaign to encourage young voters to vote in the upcoming Federal election. On September 5th they released their report “The Youth Vote: Why Young Voters Can’t Be Ignored.” It shows that for the first time in MORE
The Youth Futures Education Fund provides living expenses to youth who have aged out of the foster care system and are attending a post-secondary institution on a tuition waiver. The grant assists with supplemental educational funding for expenses such as books, housing, utilities, or emergency situations. Recently the fund made news MORE
Immigrant Services Society of BC is encouraging education for refugee youth and newcomers to Canada with nine bursaries of $1,000 each. Eligible applicants committed to their academic pursuits may apply for more than one bursary. Deadline to apply is June 30, 2019.
UNICEF Canada released The Equalizer: How Education Creates Fairness for Children in Canada this week, which is the Canadian Companion to the global report. In The Equalizer, UNICEF digs deeper into what contributes to inequalities and how Canada could do better. Out of 38 rich countries, Canada ranks 9th in MORE
CBC News: Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to develop memorial register of residential school deaths BC Local News: Residential school ‘monster’ now lives in child-welfare system: senator Delta Optimist: B.C. announces new transition housing for women fleeing violence Benzinga: Public education is a strong equalizing force in Canadian society, UNICEF MORE
Toronto.com: (Opinion) Extend Canada Child Benefit to all The Nelson Daily: Op/Ed:Progress on Child Care in BC StarMetro Vancouver: Even social-housing workers are being priced out of Vancouver Global News: Housing crunch pushing even the suburbs out of reach of B.C. families: report Times Colonist: Tent cities a ‘viable first step’ toward solving housing crisis MORE
On June 15th, Senator Art Eggleton tabled a motion calling on the federal government to launch a national nutrition program for children and youth. The Coalition for Healthy School Food has been advocating for a national school food program since 2013. Coalition Coordinator Carolyn Webb explains that only one-third of MORE
First Call is organizing a Public Education Forum on September 22nd, 2018. We have created a short survey that will help us collect thoughts and ideas about topics of interest. We would like to hear your thoughts. Your participation will ensure this event is topical and relevant to your work.
GreenPAC is a non-partisan organization that believes Canada needs strong political leaders who are driven to take action to protect the environment. They are currently accepting applications for the GreenPAC Parliamentary Internship in Ottawa for young people ages 18-30 who are passionate about politics and the environment. The program runs from mid-September MORE
This research points to the importance of school-led social and emotional learning in promoting positive mental health. The paper highlights the multi-faceted approach undertaken in British Columbia over the past decade to promote positive mental health through social-emotional learning (SEL) in schools. SEL has been implemented in school curriculum, recently in MORE
The rate of childhood obesity in Canada has been rising steadily in recent decades and being overweight or obese impacts the mental health and well-being of children, as well as other aspects of their lives. There is unequivocal evidence that the marketing of unhealthy foods and sugar-sweetened beverages has a negative impact MORE
Superintendent of Schools for the Gold Trail School District, Teresa Downs, presented at the Columbia Institute’s Centre for Civic Governance 2018 High Ground: Communities for All event in March 2018. Her speech about the district’s experiences and responses to their White Privilege Campaign was incredibly moving and inspiring. The speech MORE