Cole Hickson
Candidate for School Trustee 73 - TEA1
Contact Information
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Website: Click to View
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Phone: 7786942158
Personal Information
Resident of: City Centre
Age: 25
Current Occupation: University Coordinator
Political Experience:
- Four-year elected student representative
- Degree in Political Science and Economics from TRU
- Extensive political campaign/lobbying experience
- Successfully improved outcomes in access, funding, and inclusivity in the university
Biography
A proven educational advocate, with a record of engaging in regional and provincial campaigns to improve funding outcomes for our community.
Join me on my journey to improve the outcomes and opportunities for our primary and secondary students of SD73.
External Page Links
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Posted: September 7, 2022 Hickson eyes a seat on School District 73 board of education |
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Organization Endorsements
Kamloops & District Labour Council
We are the elected representatives of roughly 13,000 unionized workers in the Kamloops area covering Merritt to Valemount and Chase to Lillooet.
Our affiliates work collaboratively to advance the economic and social welfare of workers and with other progressive organizations in the promotion of social justice and human rights as described in the United Nations’ Charter of Human Rights.
We are members of the BC Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress, the latter of which represents over three-million unionized Canadians.
View WebsiteAnswers to Questions from the Public
Many communities are facing drug addiction challenges, homelessness and have seen increase in crime and property crimes. How would advocate for our disadvantaged community members and what solutions would you propose?
Cole Hickson Answered
Homelessness and drug addiction does not happen overnight. It is our responsibility to ensure that children are safe and well supported to succeed.
I want to work with our community to make our schools and surrounding areas a safety priority and engage our at-risk youth to ensure they are supported both in and outside of our schools.
What steps will you take to work towards action on Truth and Reconciliation?
Cole Hickson Answered
I am pleased to say that SD73 is showing some of the best results in our province with respect to our Indigenous education.
Nevertheless, I am committed to continuting the ongoing dialouge with Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc and working to ensure we are doing our part for Truth and Reconciliation at the school board.
Do you think education should be treated as an essential service?
Cole Hickson Answered
Education is an essential service and I have been proud to advocate on behalf of that statement throughout our region and province.
It remains one of the best investments for our society—both tangibly and intangibly—correlating with measurable reductions in crime, poverty, and disease while subsequently being shown to increase productivity, health, income/tax revenue, and civic engagement.
How would you address the challenges of the current funding structure for students with special needs?
Cole Hickson Answered
This is one of the most vocal and distressing concerns I have received from parents in our community.
Ensuring we have the support staff, capacity, and accessibility for our students with complex needs is a priority for SD73. But it is a priority of funding, and we need to look at other school districts within—and outside of—our province to ensure we are following best practices and are being funded fairly.
What do you believe are the critical issues facing your community and school district?
Cole Hickson Answered
School district: insufficient funding to meet our demand.
Community: safety, homelessness, and drugs.
These are not exclusive points, but rather very related. Homelessness and drug addiction does not happen overnight. It is our responsibility to ensure that children are safe and well supported to succeed.
I want to work with our community to make our schools and surrounding areas a safety priority and engage our at-risk youth to ensure they are supported both in and outside of our schools.
Please describe the principles of public education and how education should be funded.
Cole Hickson Answered
Public education should be:
1. Available & accessible for all
2. Engaging students
3. Relevant and rigirous
4. Meaningful feedback/assessment
5. Responsive to students' strengths and interests
6. Funded publically
Public education is an investment in our society, economy, and future. I want to ensure our students are receiving the skills, tools, and support they need to eventually support us.
Describe how you will address housing needs and housing that people can afford in your community?
Cole Hickson Answered
As a trustee, I am committed to finding the most optimal uses of school district property for both the success of our students and the community.
One example of this is the SD73 Bus Garage at 710 Mcgill Rd.
Built before TRU was established and now occupying an increasingly densifying area within a block of an elementary school, university, and major grocery store/pharmacy—I believe we need to explore other options for its placement.
This means finding the best use of that property through a commissioned study in addition to community stakeholder engagement.
How will you promote ethical purchases, including local unionized goods and services, where available?
Cole Hickson Answered
I have stood up for this in the past and would be happy to do so again.
Simply, this could look like an audit of what we are responsible for as a board of education and engaging our stakeholders on areas of best practices for us moving forward.
I am open to other ideas or approaches on this matter.
Do you support the Living Wage for Families Campaign? Please explain why or why not.
Cole Hickson Answered
I support the Living Wage for Families Campaign.
With rising inflation and broad economic uncertainty, we need to ensure that our working families are both protected and invested in—not suffer the mental strain of a wage that is not enough to cover their basic expenses.
Moreover, I recognize the stress that poverty puts on our children and social system, with schools historically taking much of that burden. It's time we focus on our future.
Describe your position on Contracting Out and Public Private Partnerships and how they effect existing jobs.
Cole Hickson Answered
I believe in investing locally and publicly.
My focus is on representing our community in the school district, and that means working with those who work within our school districts.
I recognize that this position will—at times—require creative solutions and I am committed to finding them.
What are the top three critical issues facing your community?
Cole Hickson Answered
1-2-3: Funding that doesn't reflect our regional needs
This answer relates to so many ailments facing our school district, namely:
1. Lack of inclusive and accessible education, especially for those with complex needs
2. Schools over capacity
3. Teachers/staff not receiving the support that they need to effectively do their work
I am not promising an overnight solution, but I do want to ensure that our region is getting its fair share in BC.
More broadly my priorities are:
▫️ Safety - protecting our children and engaging youth at risk
▫️ Hands-on education - investing in real-world education
▫️ Youth retention - attracting and keeping talent local
▫️ Property planning - utilizing our real estate for our community
Are you or have you ever been active in any community organizations, actions, or campaigns?
Describe your volunteer work, positions, and any tangible change to the community from your involvement. Are you still involved with this work?
Cole Hickson Answered
Working for positive change in our community has been a driving motivator in my adult life.
From being a volunteer basketball coach to running the largest regional funding campaign in our university's history, my commitment has always been to build connections and community within ours.
To this day, I remain resolute in my commitment to volunteer and work as much as possible for my community and frankly have lost count of all the places I am a part of (Kiwanis, Rotaract, etc.).
My major campaign experience includes:
Fund the Future:
• We made an external focus, non-partisan campaign that identified TRU's funding shortfall of $15 million a year and worked to build collective community support to address this inequity.
• This led to the most ambitious -- and successful -- external campaign in our students' union's history, and as of last year, it has been committed to action by the provincial government.
Election(s):
• Working to ensure that both our members and those within the Kamloops community could have ready access to high-quality information that could aid in their voting decision.
• Conducted in-depth interviews with municipal, MLA, and MP candidates in order to provide both students— and members of the community—an accessible resource to understand whom they would want to represent them.
• Creating mixer opportunities for students and members of our community to speak directly to their candidates.
Strengthening municipal/provincial connections:
• In addition to working with all the future municipal councilors, our committee worked diligently to create a more harmonious relationship between the City of Kamloops and TRU.
• Examples include: attending every public consultation on civic matters, meeting with city staff on important projects, submitting provincial budget consultations, and empowering students to have a firmer understanding and take action within our city.
Financial aid:
• Our committee worked to ensure that an evidence-based/economically sound approach to financial aid for higher education would be followed.
• This effort led to a collaborative push on need-based grants and collaboration with the British Columbian Federation of Students to extensively lobby the Provincial government with
• Through these efforts, the adoption of need-based grants was successfully formalized in BC's 2020 budget
Student budget consultation(s):
• The bi-annual development and outreach on a survey that students can answer and provide feedback to better help shape our advocacy priorities within TRU.
Business survey:
• Worked to ensure that the Kamloops and District Chamber of Commerce and regional community would have the best representation possible in the Chamber's strategic 2021-2025 strategic plan through the development of an inclusive member and non-member business survey
Fair vote BC:
• Spent weeks phone canvassing to get better vote representation within our province.
As president of the TRUSU Eco club we did three initiatives in one semester:
• Created a compost program for our Students' Union coffee shop.
• Raising over $200 for an air quality monitor via several successful fundraisers.
• Oversaw the collection + presentation of 1000 signatures of students, faculty, and staff to the Kamloops City Council about a controversial mining project above our city.
If you are a Union member, does your union (provide union/local name) offer endorsement to members running for public office? If so, have you applied for/received endorsement from your union?
Cole Hickson Answered
I am a proud member of CUPE 4879 which represents the staff of Thompson Rivers University.
While I welcome any feedback, comments, and questions from those active within this union, I have so far kept any political discussion within my role at the university to a minimum.
Have you ever been a candidate or volunteered in a previous civic, provincial, or federal election? If so, please give details.
Cole Hickson Answered
I was elected/hired into non-partisan roles from 2016-2019 and 2020-21, which minimized my ability to fully volunteer in both provincial and federal elections.
However, I would take every opportunity possible within those gaps to take non-public facing roles in ensuring that a candidate + party who reflected my values were represented.
Those values are based on—among other things—investing in our primary, secondary, and post-secondary education, taking big money out of politics, and financial pragmatism.