Sunday December 28 | Virtual – Zoom | Young BC Greens AGM + Election Results

List of candidates and their bios (in alphabetical order):

I’ve known Beatrice (the current chair) from school and her passion for sustainability actually inspired me to get involved with the Greens. I’ve canvassed at both the provincial and federal election for the Green Party, and have attended Young BC Greens’ meetings and really enjoy hearing everyone’s different thoughts on sustainability. I’m also an active participant in a variety of sustainability organizations. I’m the founder and director of the Food Recovery Alliance which works with farms throughout BC to donate surplus food to farms. I also run a community garden that donates 3000+ pounds of food to local shelters like the Mustard Seed. In addition, I’ve been a member of my school’s sustainability council since 4th grade. Sustainability is a big part of my life and I’d love the opportunity to contribute to a community that’s become so important to me. I feel that my leadership abilities I developed with the FRA, community garden, and my school’s sustainability club have given me the organizational skills to succeed with the Young Greens. Also, I know that I am at the lower end in terms of age at the Young BC Greens so I can offer the perspective of a high schooler and organize events with other school clubs that relate to students.

My name is Ayla Starkey, I am a double major political and environmental studies student at the University of Victoria. I am passionate about not only studying these topics, but also about participating and furthering beneficial causes within them. My perspective and interest in the juncture between politics and the environment is aligned with the Green party policies and values. Therefore, I think I can be a useful addition to the Young BC Green Council.

Hello, my name is Beatrice Sharpe, and I’m re-applying to be Chair of the Young BC Greens. I’m a first-year student at the University of Victoria (UVic), studying Political Science and Environmental Studies. My experience with the BC Greens started while shadowing Sonia Furstenau and Adam Olsen in the BC Legislature. Seeing how they spoke for the people, not wealthy corporations, with love and science-based opinions led me to get involved as the Lead Canvasser on Sonia Furstenau’s 2024 campaign.

The past two terms as Chair, I have carried forth these values of community-oriented action and hope for a better future. After a first term of writing guidelines for the YBCG and working closely with Vote16, and a second term of setting up four projects across BC and involving more youth, I’m looking forward to being a leader who helps make your hopes a reality in my third term.

I have an incredible vision for the future of the Young BC Greens, one where we are recognized provincially as a voice for young people. By setting up a Public Transit Town Hall in March, creating a space for in-person training and skill-building, hosting guest speakers every two months, and giving a platform for your ideas to be heard, I hope to help the YBCG be influential and experienced. Let’s take action for the people of BC together – Vote Beatrice for Chair!

My name is Ian Thomson-Mckinnon, and I was born and raised in Vancouver, B.C. Growing up during the 2000s and 2010s, I lived through the Greenest City 2020 initiative. While I appreciated the sentiment and the changes it brought to this city, as a current Vancouver resident, the results of the Greenest City action plan feel hollow. We have been left with an unaffordable city dominated by developers, and the idea of “Greening” our city or our province has become another political statement.

Three years ago, I graduated from University in Nova Scotia and moved home to pursue a career in agriculture. I spent the last three seasons working at Sole Food Street Farms, a farm that provides employment and community for people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. My experience farming in the city reinforced my belief that ecological and social issues are deeply intertwined.

As a member of the Youth Council, I would like to address the needs of Vancouver, as well as the surrounding agricultural areas that feed our city and are in dire need of support.

I want to join the Young BC Greens council because I see the party’s energy has shifted towards not just “Greening” but addressing material inequalities that affect people’s lives. From the corporate domination of British Columbia to the cost of housing and groceries, we need a party that advocates for the Rights of people and our planet.

My name is Lucas Hayes (he/him) and I am seeking election as the South Island Regional Representative on the Young BC Greens Council. I have lived in Victoria for the past 10 years and am deeply connected to the South Island community through my work, volunteering, schooling and hobbies.

For the past seven years, I have worked as a mental health worker at the Victoria Cool Aid Society, supporting people experiencing homelessness, mental illness, and systemic barriers. This role has given me a strong understanding of how provincial policies around housing, healthcare, and social services affect people’s daily lives. It has also strengthened my ability to listen carefully, communicate clearly, and work respectfully with people from diverse backgrounds.

I have also been the Membership Coordinator with Surfrider Foundation Canada for over two years, supporting member engagement and communication. I completed my BA at Uvic in History and Indigenous Studies, which shaped how I think about the long-term impacts of political decisions. I also hold a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from SFU focused on organizational governance.

I am eager to continue building my volunteer experience through service on the Young BC Greens Council by learning from council members and deepening my understanding of civic engagement.

I’m Natalie – a socialist from Vancouver. I have a degree in UX/digital design and believe we can use our social media to build youth membership and engagement by championing causes, showcasing our actions taken, and maybe having some fun 😝😝😝 Let’s change this system that doesn’t work and make youth voices heard in the fight! I’ve also been the Social Media Coordinator for the past term, but was on a strike that has concluded now that our anti – genocide motion passed!

My name is Oscar Towert. I’m 22 and from xwesam. I currently live in Victoria, finishing a degree in history. I’ve been accepted to UVic Law for next September, where I’ll focus on labour and human rights.

My desire to join the Youth Council stems from beliefs built through studying social history, and the urgent need for empathetic, socialist leadership. The BC Greens embody my principles.

Simply put, I believe socialism is the application of the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you’d have done unto you.” I want a life with easy access to food, housing, work, well-designed communities, and a healthy planet. Therefore, I want the same for others. The current economic model, valuing only profit, inevitably leads to stratification, and the exploitation of workers and planet: an unsustainable situation.

I possess the leadership skills to succeed on the Youth Council, and I am always eager to build and advocate my beliefs. Working at Cascadia Liquor, I saw injustice in my workplace, so I started and led a successful union drive. I was elected to represent my coworkers on the Bargaining Committee and served as a picket captain. After more than a month picketing, we won our first contract, with 4 stores unionized. Given the actions of the BC NDP, the BC Greens are well positioned to represent the future of the labour movement.

To conclude, I’ll quote Frantz Fanon: “Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.”

About me: I am Pasha Summerland. I am an environmentalist located in Kelowna, BC. I am a very outdoors-oriented person, and I spend all my free time in nature. I am currently attending Okanagan College and will be graduating with a Diploma in Environmental Management this Spring. I have been running the Greens Club at OC for the last few months, and I am very proud of the group and all the work we have done – from hands-on ecological restoration to attending protests against old-growth logging. After graduating from OC, I will be transferring to Thompson Rivers University to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Environmental Biology.

I am running for re-election for the Okanagan to Kootenays Regional Representative because I am passionate about being part of a youth-led political movement working to make real systemic change. As an environmentalist, I am dedicated to protecting nature and being a voice here in the Okanagan. I have plans to continue my Wildfire Rehabilitation and Reforestation project in Rose Valley this spring, along with other conservation projects.

I believe the BC Green Party has a significant opportunity to create meaningful change. I am dedicated to bringing the Green Party to the Okanagan on a large scale. As an environmental science student with a strong commitment to protecting nature, grassroots organization, collaboration, Indigenous involvement, and youth-led movements, I believe I would continue to be a strong representative for the Young BC Greens in the Okanagan-Kootenays region.

I am Rhys Walker-Shaw. I am 17 years old and serve as the representative for Vancouver Island-Sunshine Coast on the Youth Council and as youth representative on Provincial Council. Now that the position of Vice Chair is open, I am running to continue doing my best to help grow the party and make sure we get what we need from Provincial Council.

Currently I am a grade 12 student at Reynolds Secondary School in Victoria and former Stock Clerk at the Tofino Co-Op. I also volunteer with Clayoquot Action in Tofino (my home) to raise awareness about the harms that fish farms cause to our coastal communities. I have been involved with the BC Greens for several years now. Most recently, I volunteered for Sonia Furstenau in the 2024 election, helped get Elizabeth May re-elected in April, and got involved with the re-launch of the Young Greens earlier this year.

Since being elected to the councils, I have helped start up our campaign for free transit in greater Victoria, collected signatures to protect wild salmon in Tofino, traveled to a fish farm in Clayoquot sound to document the pollution, given presentations to students at my school, and secured much needed Provincial Council funding for our projects.

I’m proud of what the Young Greens have managed to accomplish in only a year and with a new leader and more young people joining the movement, I think we can do great things next year.

It’s been great recently to meet many folks in this province sharing my concern for the imminent societal dangers of climate change and other urgent threats to our planet’s habitability. I’m Robert, a UBC undergraduate student of the Faculty of Science, and I did not expect the political situation in Canada and the USA to be quite this dire by this point. We must respond, however, not to reality as we wish it were, but to reality as it actually presents itself to us. Occupants of Canadian public office have allowed our nation’s reckless unsustainability to persist in large part because they have failed to heed the credible warnings of indigenous peoples, dedicated scientific experts, and hardworking advocates for marginalized communities. Our way out of the resulting mess must begin via earnest dialogue with these long-ignored but well-informed advocates for the public good.

To get the legislative influence that might effectively transform expert insight into innovative provincial policy responses to the global climate crisis, we need to work exclusively and visibly for the public good – rather than foreign corporate interests, or other such detriments to genuine electoral credibility. Vancouver city, as it happens, is home to much of the public to which this good will apply. This city is full of courageous progressive activists with bold visions of a better future and little patience for policy half-measures. All we have to do is get a few well timed moments of their political attention.

Hi! I’m Will Keenlyside, a second-year student currently studying Political Science at UVIC. Usually, you can find me trying to figure out the best running route in Saanich or writing my next paper in the library. I also love reading and a bit of amateur gardening in my spare time. I’ve been involved with the Greens for over a year now, having first been inspired to join because I was concerned about the environment and logging in British Columbia, as well as other critical issues such as greenwashing.

I want to be on the BC Young Greens council because the youth voice in politics and policymaking is critical, and I’d like to do my best to participate and make a difference by working on the council. Having participated in BC Young Green meetings and events has allowed me the opportunity to discuss and explore topics and issues important to me, and I’d like to continue the positive atmosphere and community that has been fostered in the group. Young people have the most to gain from positive choices in the present, and the Young Greens have the power to make change and foster community for everyone.

I’m a PhD student at UBC in Chemical & Biological Engineering. I was born in Korea and grew up in Port Moody, on kʷikʷəƛ̓əm land. Now living in Vancouver on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm land, I’m preoccupied with the technological transition to a circular bioeconomy in BC as an economic and land reform engine. As the Vancouver representative, I will focus on affordability, renter rights, and protection of unhoused people as the cornerstone of a comprehensive economic justice agenda. Free Palestine, f#@% Ken Sim.