VIU is honoured with a special presentation recognizing the University’s leadership in offering BC’s first post-secondary Youth in Care Tuition Waiver program. On stage to celebrate are (l-r) Carol Stuart, Dean, Faculty of Health and Human Services; Jesse Anderson, Beverly Planes, and Brittany Palmer, students in the Tuition Waiver program; Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, BC’s Representative for Children and Youth; Dr. Ralph Nilson, President and Vice-Chancellor; Ashleigh Martinflatt, Professor, Child and Youth Care; Doug White, Interim Director, Centre for Pre-Confederation Treaties and Reconciliation; and Sylvia Scow, Aboriginal Projects and Elder Support.
April 22, 2015 - 2:15pm
Vancouver Island University (VIU) President Dr. Ralph Nilson was honoured along with VIU faculty and staff Thursday, April 16 for leadership in establishing the Youth in Care Tuition Waiver Program, the first of its kind in BC.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, BC’s Representative for Children and Youth, made the special presentation to Dr. Nilson during a two-day conference at Nanaimo’s Vancouver Island Conference Centre titled “A Forum for Change: Reconciliation for Today’s First Nations, Métis and Aboriginal Children through Custom Adoption and Lifelong Family and Tribal Connections.” She was joined in the presentation by event co-host, Bill Yoachim, Executive Director of Kwumut Lelum Child and Family Services.
“The reason we’re doing this recognition is because Dr. Nilson and Vancouver Island University were the first in BC to adopt and champion tuition waivers for kids in care,” said Turpel-Lafond, noting that VIU now has 41 students enrolled in the program.
Dr. Nilson was joined on stage by VIU faculty and staff in attendance at the conference, as well as students Jesse Anderson, Brittany Palmer and Beverly Planes, three former youth in care now studying at VIU in the program. All three students spoke on how the Tuition Waiver program has changed their lives.
Planes, who entered foster care at the age of eight, said the impact of the Youth in Care Tuition Waiver on her life has been profound. The single mother of four said she made two previous attempts at starting post-secondary studies, but was unable to continue due to a lack of financial support and other challenges.
“I’m now 30 and a full-time student at VIU just finishing my first year towards my degree, a double major in First Nations Studies and Women’s Studies,” she said. “I’m grateful because I can now be a positive role model for my children -- I’ll graduate one year before my son graduates high school. My hope is that one day my children will attend university as well.”
The presentation was made by Turpel-Lafond on behalf of the organizations involved in the two-day conference, including Aboriginal agencies working with children in care and the Ministry of Children and Family Development.
Delegates at the forum spent an intensive two days investigating strategies and collaborative approaches necessary to ensure that Aboriginal children and youth in government care are supported in ways that will establish secure and lifelong connections to their family and their cultural heritage.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Shari Bishop Bowes, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University
P:250.740.6443 C: 250.618.1535 E: Communications@viu.ca
Tags: In the Community
