A commentary by the presidents of the University of Victoria, Camosun College and Royal Roads University.
COVID-19 has affected not only our health, but our sense of personal safety and security, and economic and financial well-being.
It has hit our communities, our organizations, our businesses, and our neighbourhoods hard.
But with our community pulling together and the dedicated efforts and skills of an amazing group of citizens — from front-line health workers, medical personnel, provincial health and government officials and elected representatives, to grocery store and gas station staff, service providers, people working from home, and neighbours looking after each other — we know we’re going to get through these challenging, disruptive, and worrying times.
Significant community responses such as the Rapid Relief Fund initiated by this newpaper and the Victoria and Jawl Foundations, and the support at each of our respective institutions for emergency funds for students, demonstrates what a caring community we live in.
We can use the experience of working so closely together in common cause to combat COVID-19 as an inspiration and model to plan the present and the future. In fact, this strengthened sense of community can be a lasting legacy from this current crisis.
Your public post-secondary institutions in this region — Camosun College, Royal Roads University, and the University of Victoria — are proud to be part of the community response to COVID-19.
Our initial effort focused on ensuring the health and safety of our students and employees, transitioning to remote forms of working and learning and supporting our students to complete their term’s work.
We are also drawing on our mission of education, research and service to find ways to support the broader community — developing new knowledge, technologies and practices that will help us in tackling the health and social challenges, engaging in public education and outreach, addressing critical shortages of medical supplies for frontline medical personnel, and partnering with health authorities, and provincial and local planners to provide options for overwhelmed hospitals.
We are also planning together for the post-COVID-19 future.
We know it’s going to take awhile to emerge from the shadow that COVID-19 has cast over our community and that we can’t yet see clearly all of the implications for our future. With the barrage of concerning information it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that we will emerge from this and need to start planning for a bright post-COVID-19 social and economic future.
The south Island’s post-secondary institutions are ready to do our part in building that future.
We have a responsibility, and a unique role to play in contributing to the success of our students, and to the economic, artistic and cultural energy of the region. We are committed to maintaining that energy.
We firmly believe that now is not the time for us to turn inward, but to work together to ensure the future success of our students and to amplify our positive impact on our community.
Collectively, our institutions provide learning and research opportunities, and career preparation for more than 56,000 students each year. These are our future leaders, community-builders and problem-solvers, many of whom come from outside our region to learn, and choose to stay here post-graduation and contribute to our community.
Their experiences today will guide them tomorrow.
As they see how our communities are coalescing in common cause and response, we can be assured and confident these examples are instructive lessons that will inform them as their generation assumes their leadership role in the future.
These future leaders will serve us well because of what we are doing today.
