An update from President Kathy Kinloch | Aug 27

With the start of the Fall term imminent, I know you have a lot of questions about the safety measures BCIT will be taking to protect our community as COVID cases continue to rise in BC.

We are working very closely with the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training, the Provincial Health Officer, and WorkSafe BC to ensure BCIT continues to comply as new measures are introduced.

My thanks to all of you for your ongoing patience as BCIT responds to these evolving provincial orders and guidelines, as well as feedback from our community.

This week, the Provincial Health Officer issued a new province-wide mandatory mask requirement for all indoor public areas including those here at BCIT. The new mask order also applies to all indoor public areas on all of our campuses, including classrooms, labs, lobbies, hallways, stairwells, and elevators.

You have also no doubt read or heard about many post-secondaries introducing measures around vaccine disclosure and rapid testing for those not vaccinated.

In alignment with the Province’s recent vaccine passport measures and feedback from our community, BCIT will be implementing vaccine-related protocols to ensure maximum protection and safety for everyone learning, working, or visiting a BCIT campus. This includes implementing mandatory confidential vaccine reporting for those immunized, and mandatory regular rapid testing for those who choose not to share their vaccination status or to not be vaccinated.

We are committed to monitoring this in a way that is not disruptive to the learning, teaching, and other work that is of utmost importance to all in our BCIT community. We will announce the details of this as early in the new term as possible, as we have heard these preventative measures are a primary concern for many of you.

If you are not yet vaccinated, I strongly encourage you to do so. Fraser Health is hosting a vaccination clinic at our Burnaby Campus where you can walk-in for a first or second dose. There are similar clinics throughout the province. Vaccinations are the easiest and best way to protect yourself and those around you.

I appreciate you will have questions about these unfolding measures and we will continue to update you as more information becomes available.

In the meantime, students, faculty, and staff should direct questions to covidinfo@bcit.ca for a timely response.

This is a time to take good care of yourself and access wellness supports if helpful. We ask for your ongoing patience and cooperation during this time of transition and we will continue to update you by email and at bcit.ca/covid-19.

Thank you,

Kathy Kinloch
President