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Housing
As students, housing is one of the issues that has the greatest affects on us. It's one of our biggest expenses, and biggest stressors. As your VP External, I will push to the Provincial and Municipal governments for a number of policies that make all of our housing situations better!
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Tenant Rights for Students
Believe it or not, students living on campus aren’t legally tenants! The BC Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) doesn’t apply to on-campus student housing. For the 14k students living in UBCV residence, this means they can be subject to sudden and unwarranted evictions and price increases. This also means that student residences aren’t subject to BC rent control. As your VP External, I will work to add UBC student housing to the RTA . This will mean students get tenant rights and protections, and rent control.
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AMS Housing Survey
Work with the VP External and to put out an AMS Housing Survey. This will help us gather accurate data on how much students are paying for rent, where they live, and what advocacy students want to see on the topic of housing. This will help the AMS engage in better housing advocacy .
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Increasing Housing Near Campus
Many students are forced to live far away for one simple reason; there’s too little housing near UBC. The University Endowment Lands (UEL) is full of houses that are too expensive and exclusive for students, and many of the very competitive units are at market rates.
As VP External, I will work with the BC ministry of housing and the University Neighbourhoods Association to create more student housing on the UEL , and make it easier for students to rent near UBC.
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Affordability
Affordability is one of the biggest concerns facing UBC students. My platform’s biggest focus will be on making life more affordable for us all. If you vote for me, I will work tirelessly to fight against the rising cost of living.
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Increased Foodbank Funding
The AMS Food Bank is one of the most used AMS Services. It is currently funded through student fees and university funding. In the 2023/2024 year, the Food Bank received $45k in funding. As your VP External, I will lobby the BC Government and the local governments of Metro Vancouver to provide a $100,000 increase in Food Bank funding. This will allow food hubs on campus to provide higher quality services to more people at UBC, staff students and community members included.
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Better Student Loans
So many students rely on Student Loans to afford school, rent, and all the other costs of living. Considering the importance of student loans, the amounts given in the BC Access Grant and the Living Allowance are too low.
The Student Loan living allowance is the amount of money given for costs of living outside of school, and it’s currently capped at just $1.9k per month. Considering the average cost of living for students is between $2k-3.4k per month, including an average of around $1.5k-2k in rent, this just isn’t enough. If elected, I will lobby to raise the living allowance to at least $2,300 per month.
The Access Grant is important to students because unlike student loans it is given, and not meant to be paid back to the government. This is important to relieve the pressures of debts on students - however, it’s maxed out at $4,000 a year. I will lobby for the maximum Access Grant to be increased to $5,000 a year. -
Increasing Dental Care Coverage
Dental work and prescription drugs can put a huge dent in any student’s wallet. Having just come out of wisdom teeth surgery and spending over $2.5k, with only $750 dollars covered by the AMS Dental Plan, I have a good understanding of the financial pressures healthcare can put on students.
In order to make dental care more accessible and affordable for students, I will push for BC Provincial government funding for the AMS Dental Plan , and I will push Canada's federal government to a dd all students to the Canada Dental Plan .
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Transportation
UBC is a commuter school. Only 14k of the over 60k students at UBCV live on campus. That means UBC students need to have good, reliable, and affordable transit. As a commuter, I know these struggles and will work tirelessly to help make transportation cheaper and better for students.
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BC Ferries Student Rate
For students who live on Vancouver Island or the Sunshine Coast, we can easily spend at least $40 just to go home and see our families. Expensive ferry tickets not only burden students going home, but also make it more expensive for students to explore BC’s coast.
BC Ferries already has cheaper rates for seniors and children, so as your VP External I will lobby for an affordable student rate on BC Ferries. Ideally, it will be as low as just $10. -
Skytrain Extension for UBC
UBC students commute from all across Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. This is especially challenging for students living farther away, who have to make the choice between a long expensive commute by car, or an even longer commute by bus with countless transfers.
As your VP External, I will lobby the municipal and federal governments for funding, the UNA for final approval, and the Provincial government for quicker action, so that we can finally get a skytrain extension to UBC!
Additionally, when the skytrain extension to Arbutus is completed, I will make sure a quick bus between UBC and Arbutus is established to make students' commutes shorter.
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Better Buses
In addition to a good skytrain, we need good buses. Right now, the long lines for the R4 and 99 show that buses are not working well enough.
As your VP External, I will push for Translink to increase the number of R4s and 99s coming to UBC in the morning so that students don’t have to worry about crammed buses leaving them at the station.
I will also push for Translink to bring back a direct Richmond to UBC bus , so that students from Richmond have to take less transfers. This will make it easier for them, and will make the Canada Line and R4 less busy.
In order to improve Translink’s bus services, I will also advocate for increased funding for Translink, with the focus being on the Skytrain to UBC, expanding bus services, as well as improving the services the Handydart program provides to disabled people.
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Jobs
In this economy, it's never been more important for students to have ample opportunities to get jobs and build their networks. UBC is a world-class university, with world class opportunities that students should be able to take full advantage of, and as a fellow student, I know how hard it can be to secure these positions.
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Increasing Worklearn and Library Funding
The Work Learn Program provides part time work to over 3.5k UBC students, making it incredibly important for helping us find relevant and reliable jobs.
The Work Learn Program is also vital to the operation of many UBC services, most importantly the library. In the 2024 Librarian’s Report to the UBC senate, we heard that only 44.8% of Work Learns requested were approved due to federal cuts. Without student workers, the Library is unable to function and drastic measures like reducing hours may be necessary. The library would need a $50k-$80k increase in funding to hire more student employees and operate as normal.
As your VP External, both in order to improve the UBC Library and to create more jobs for students, I will push the federal government for more Work Learn funding.
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Adding Student Worker in the Labour Code
In 2022, Research Assistants at UBC held a unionization drive to combat unfair working conditions and low wages (sometimes working out to as little as $5 an hour). Their unionization vote was successful, but under the BC Labour Code TA and RA labour doesn’t necessarily count as work, allowing UBC to stall the issue.
If I am elected to be your VP External, I will work with the UBC student researchers branch CUPE 2278 and the BC government to help student workers unionize. -
International Student Jobs
International students hoping to get permanent residency need to have full time work hours in Canada. This is very hard for full time students, and unfortunately creates unfair barriers to international students. As your VP External, I will improve this process by making part time work count towards residency applications.
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Canada Youth Climate Corps
As the climate crisis looms ever greater, it's more and more important that students are empowered to take part in the solutions. BC's Youth Climate Corps has been a major success, providing forestry and environment career and volunteer opportunities to youth, and helping communities in BC.
As your VP External, I will push the federal government to pass the motion to establish a Canadian Youth Climate Corps , so that we're protecting communities from climate change and increasing the availability of forestry, research, and organizational jobs for students.
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Reconciliation
As student advocates, it is our responsibility to ensure that our advocacy and attention benefits all students. It is also our responsibility to ensure we are promoting reconciliation and decolonization. My platform for reconciliation was made in consultation with the UBC Indigenous Student Society, and strives to advocate for core issues affecting Indigenous students.
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Hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ Signs in the Nest
As guests on šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ, the traditional and unceded territory of the Musqueam people, it is our responsibility as students to educate ourselves, and the responsibility of the AMS as an organization to acknowledge the land we operate and advocate on.
As your VP External, I hope to build strong relationships with Musqueam to advance the goals of the Indigenous Strategic Plan and work with Musqueam to get Hə n̓q̓ əmi n̓ ə m̓ signs and room names in the Nest in a culturally sensitive manner . -
More Support Funding for Indigenous Students
The Post Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP) is the joint effort of the Canadian Government and First Nations to support Indigenous Students. Currently, federal funding for this program doesn’t meet demand, leading to long waits to access services. Like previous AMS VP Externals, I will advocate for increased federal funding to help Indigenous Students.
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Indigenous Senate Representative
All universities in BC have Senates, it's required by the BC Universities Act. Currently, it doesn't give universities the ability to have Indigenous Representatives on Senates. Having Indigenous representation on Senate would help make sure universities take Indigenous voices into account, that's why as VP External I will push to amend the Universities Act to have Indigenous representatives on University Senates.
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Accessibility
As the VP Academic of the UBC Disabilities United Collective, I've worked hard to advocate for Accessibility causes over the last year. Without proper accommodations, disabilities can make someone's university and career experiences much worse. As VP External, I will be committed to continuing my accessibility work through;
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BC Disability Benefit Application
In BC, the People with Disability (PWD) designation is needed to access disability benefits in taxes, health coverage, and student loans. This is why it’s unacceptable that applying for PWD designation is a long process.
Fortunately, current youth under 18 have an easier, abridged process for PWD applications. I want to extend this simpler, more accessible process to make it easier for post-secondary students to apply so that these vital services can actually be accessed. -
Canada Disability Benefits
The currently proposed Canada Disability Benefit will only be up to $200 a month. This is not enough to pull Canadians with disabilities out of poverty. Additionally, it puts extra financial stress on disabled students who are unable to work during their studies. As VP External, I want to increase the maximum amount paid via the Canada Disability Benefit , and I want to increase the asset cap so that students with family assets but who don’t receive family support for tuition can still qualify for much needed funds.
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Student Loan Forgiveness
Canada currently has a process for student loan forgiveness for students with major disabilities. The issue is that it requires the student to forfeit the opportunity to access student loans in the future. This places extra risks on disabled students.
As your VP External, I will push for student loan forgiveness for students with extreme circumstances or disabilities to not require the forfeiting of future student loan eligibility.
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