{"id":27236,"date":"2025-10-01T09:00:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=27236"},"modified":"2025-10-06T10:40:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T17:40:26","slug":"minister-of-post-secondary-education-and-future-skills-jessie-sunner-visits-campus-talks-student-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2025\/10\/01\/minister-of-post-secondary-education-and-future-skills-jessie-sunner-visits-campus-talks-student-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister of post-secondary education and future skills Jessie Sunner visits campus, talks student issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minister of post-secondary education and future skills Jessie Sunner visited Camosun College on Wednesday, September 17, with a clear message: British Columbia must \u201cstand on our own two feet.\u201d She repeatedly returned to this theme of self-reliance during her interview with Nexus<\/i>, calling it \u201ccrucial to our ability as a province to move forward\u201d amid a record $11.6-billion provincial deficit this year and a larger $12.6-billion shortfall projected next year.<\/p>\n

Sunner, who was appointed to the position in July of this year, acknowledges that colleges like Camosun have been hit with \u201cdouble the impact\u201d\u2014federal cuts to international-student permits reduce a major revenue source and student body diversity at the same time as broader fiscal pressures make replacement funding harder to secure.<\/p>\n

Colleges have been hit disproportionately, forcing Camosun to reduce course offerings and threatening programs that serve some of the province\u2019s most vulnerable learners\u2014mature and returning students, students with disabilities, and students seeking an affordable path to higher education.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Minister of post-secondary education and future skills Jessie Sunner (centre) with MLA Dana Lajeunesse (second from left) and Camosun College Student Society representatives during Sunner\u2019s recent visit to Camosun (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sunner calls the federal cuts \u201cunilateral\u201d and acknowledges that they have \u201cimpacted institutions across our province.\u201d She connects this crisis to her broader vision for provincial independence, emphasizing education\u2019s role in its economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is fundamental. That is something that the province absolutely recognizes,\u201d says Sunner. \u201cEspecially at a time right now when we are needing to secure our sovereignty and make sure that we are building and doing things right here in BC, it\u2019s even more important.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the \u201990s, institutions were 80 percent funded by the government. Since 2011, under premier Christy Clark, the funding model has relied heavily on international-student money\u2014a divestment that has dropped provincial funding to 41.1 percent.<\/p>\n

International students, she admits, \u201cwere helping subsidize a lot of the education.\u201d The province is pushing Ottawa to include BC in decisions about international education and immigration more broadly, arguing that the province knows where skills are most needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working with post-secondary institutions to help them mitigate the impacts\u2014mitigate impacts on students, on staff, on faculty, and see the way forward, because, ultimately, we know there\u2019s challenges in this sector and we need to make sure that we are working together to get to a place of sustainability,\u201d she says, \u201cwhere we as a province can sustain our post-secondary institutions in a way where we\u2019re not so exposed to impacts and decisions made by either other levels of government [or] also other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mental-health services, disability supports, and programs for adult learners\u2014services that define Camosun\u2019s accessibility mission\u2014remain at risk as the college works within constrained budgets to offset significant revenue losses. For students who choose Camosun because of its accessibility and supports, that leaves little certainty about what will be available next semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are all things that are very important, not just at Camosun\u2014across institutions, across the province. They\u2019re really important in supporting the student experience, which is at the core of the work that we do,\u201d says Sunner. \u201cIt goes to the boards, it\u2019s on [them] to make the decision with the funding that they receive, but I think it\u2019s important to know that those services that students need and rely on are important services that are important to have an eye to, but it really is on the institutions to make those decisions and make sure that they\u2019re supporting students in the best way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the rising cost of housing impacting post-secondary students, at Camosun, the province has committed to investing in affordable student housing. Now in progress, a 429-bed residence will be built on the Lansdowne campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just recently opened 467 [beds] at BCIT. We have a student housing project with a similar number of seats here at Camosun that\u2019s coming soon,\u201d says Sunner. \u201cInvesting in student housing helps provide close access, affordable places where students have laundry service, food service, all of these things to help take other pressures off of students\u2026 We\u2019ll continue to work with institutions and invest in the student experience where we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked how the provincial deficit will impact post-secondary education, Sunner points to the current political conditions, mentioning the uncertainty of the US tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis just touches on exactly what we talked about in terms of the fiscal headwinds that we faced,\u201d she says. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening down south… and where that could go\u2014it really has impacted the financial situation of our province.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite these constraints, Sunner reiterates that post-secondary education is essential.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the core of our government, it\u2019s ensuring that the services that folks need… are always there. Post-secondary is crucial to our ability as a province to move forward and to be sovereign, and to make sure we can stand on our own two feet and train our own workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for emergency funding, service protection, and program stability, Camosun students must wait to see whether Sunner\u2019s understanding of their challenges leads to specific action they can count on by next semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to support you,\u201d says Sunner. \u201cYou are the future of this province, and we are so lucky to have the talent, which is our people right here in our province.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minister of post-secondary education and future skills Jessie Sunner visited Camosun College on Wednesday, September 17, with a clear message: British Columbia must \u201cstand on our own two feet.\u201d She repeatedly returned to this theme of self-reliance during her interview with Nexus, calling it \u201ccrucial to our ability as a province to move forward\u201d amid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,339],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-october-1-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27238,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27236\/revisions\/27238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}