Who Are We?

“Students leading with one voice in the community with educators through mutual respect and support.”

In 1990, after the Canadian Student Leadership Conference in Burnaby, British Columbia, a group of dedicated students and educators saw a need for enhancing student leadership in British Columbia.  The B.C. Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association, with the support of the Ministry of Education, assisted this group in launching a concept called BC Student Voice.

The BC Student Voice is exactly what its name indicates:  the voice of students in British Columbia.  It began with four regions in the province, expanded to ten, and most recently to fifteen that now effectively serve the entire province.  BC Student Voice has placed student representatives on provincial Ministry of Education committees and represented student opinion at many regional and provincial meetings.  Supported by adult advisors, students meet regularly to review provincial directions, gather support for their various regional initiatives and facilitate development of school and district student voices.

BC Student Voice has developed a vision, mission and series of goals.  The vision is for all students in the province to be heard in matters affecting their education.  Their mission is to empower students to address their needs, interests and concerns by strengthening, at all levels, the links among students and their partners in education.

The goals are:

	To increase the awareness of the BC Student Voice throughout the province.
	To establish broad representation of students for the provincial BC Student Voice by creating a regional representative network throughout the province.
	To communicate information about BC Student Voice with all partners in education.
	To encourage all members of BC Student Voice to meet with their principals and vice-principals to discuss further involvement of students and methods of networking with other schools.
	To increase awareness and understanding, and to facilitate positive change in social issues.