Even though they are under the voting age, 55,968 elementary and high school students from throughout British Columbia had the opportunity to vote for candidates running in their local elections.

The Student Vote program is an experiential learning program that enables teachers to bring democracy to life in the classroom, and empowers students to practice the habits of active and engaged citizenship. 

This was the third Student Vote conducted at the local level in British Columbia.

Participating students learned about local government and school trustees, and explored the issues and candidates through classroom activities, family discussion and campaign events. For example, Grade 10, 11 and 12 students at Samuel Robertson Technical Institute in Maple Ridge, B.C. got to hear what local mayoral candidates had to say ahead of their Student Vote on October 12.

Social studies teacher Chris Perger, who organized the event, told Colleen Flanagan of The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News, “I think once [students] see the candidates and understand that they are people that have values and messages, that it gives them a stronger reason for wanting to participate in the electoral process.”

Students at the Alberni District Secondary School also held a candidates meeting and the Alberni Valley News reported that students asked hard-hitting questions at the meeting, which was live streamed on Facebook.

In the culminating activity of the Student Vote program, students took on the roles of election officials and coordinated a vote within their schools.

At École Frank Ross Elementary School in Dawson Creek, a student named Kamryn told the Dawson Creek Mirror that she voted for a few candidates she had read about or knew. She said, “I did vote for six for council,” which is elected at-large.

Based on current tallies, 461 schools have submitted their Student Vote results for the 2022 local elections, from 99 municipalities and regional districts throughout British Columbia.

Highlights

• Vancouver: In total, 7,308 students cast ballots from 58 schools in Vancouver. Ken Sim was elected mayor with 38% of the vote, defeating Kennedy Stewart (23%) and Colleen Hardwick (10%), among other challengers. The following candidates were also elected to council:
  • Dulcy Anderson
  • Adriane Carr
  • Amy “Evil Genius” Fox
  • Pete Fry
  • Asha Hayer
  • Sarah Kirby-Yung
  • Sean Nardi
  • Alvin Singh
  • Tessica Truong
  • Michael Wiebe
• Surrey: In total, 8,749 students cast ballots from 46 schools in Surrey. Jinny Simms was elected mayor with 24% of the vote, defeating Doug McCallum (21%) and Gordie Hogg (16%), among other challengers. The following candidates were also elected to council:
  • Philip Aguirre
  • Linda Annis
  • Harry Bains
  • Ramon Bandong
  • Mike Bose
  • Jeff Bridge
  • Bilal Cheema
  • Andy Dhillon
• District of North Vancouver: In total, 1,838 students cast ballots from 15 schools in the District of North Vancouver. Mathew Bond was elected mayor with 59% of the vote. The following candidates were also elected to council:
  • Jordan Back
  • Trey Bell
  • Betty Forbes
  • Jim Hanson
  • Herman Mah
  • Lisa Muri

• Richmond: Malcolm Brodie was elected mayor.
• Kamloops: Ray Dhaliwal was elected mayor.
• Delta: George Harvie was elected mayor.
• Maple Ridge: Dan Ruimy was elected mayor.
• Chilliwack: Ken Popove elected mayor.
• Victoria: Marianne Alto was elected mayor.

The complete results for all municipalities, regional districts and school districts can be found at https://studentvote.ca/results/bclocal2022