Conference Sponsorships

BCNU hosts an annual convention each year. This is an opportunity for member delegates and observers from across the province to come together and discuss the business of the union. This is a valuable opportunity for students to connect and learn more about the workings of a union.

View convention 2024 highlights here.

The 2024 human rights and equity (HRE) conference was held Nov. 13 at the Sheraton Guildford Hotel in Surrey on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Katzie, Kwantlen, and Semiahmoo First Nations. ;

The one-day, in-person conference, On Being Included: Reflecting on the Past, Imagining the Future, was an invitation for us to consider what it means to be included – in our union and our workplaces – and considered the histories, systems and processes that continue to function as mechanisms of exclusion.

View highlights from the 2024 conference.

BCNU is committed to the growth and development of all our members. Every two years, the union hosts a nursing practice conference to support members’ professional development. The events feature guest speakers and interactive sessions designed to enrich members’ professional experiences.

More than 150 BCNU members from around the province gathered in Vancouver on Nov. 1 on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples for the union’s professional practice conference. Enhancing Nursing Practice: Building a Strong Foundation explored a wide range of issues relevant to the nursing profession today, including minimum nurse-patient ratios, self-care and Indigenous-specific cultural safety in the workplace.

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

The Canadian Nursing Students’ Association (CNSA) is hosting its national conference in Halifax, NS from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, 2025.

The theme of this year’s student-led and organized event is Together for Tomorrow: Driving Change for More Inclusive Healthcare, which brings together nursing students from across Canada to participate in various educational speaker sessions and interactive workshops to advance their nursing knowledge and leadership skills.

As part of BCNU's ongoing commitment to the principles of Truth and Reconciliation and to the 94 Calls to Action (specifically Call to Action 23) BCNU is pleased to announce it is now sponsoring a CNSA seat for an Indigenous student at this and all future conference competitions, this is in addition to the union’s current event sponsorship of one student (including Employed Student Nurses) from each of BCNU’s 16 regions. The sponsorship covers conference registration, travel, and accommodation.

Registration Fee Reimbursement

To offer further support to our student members, BCNU is also providing partial reimbursement of the CNSA national conference registration fee to all non-sponsored BCNU student members who attend. To be eligible you must be enrolled in a current school program, attend the event in full, and not have received funding to attend the conference from any other source. Visit the BCNU booth during the conference for more information.

Read highlights from the CNSA 2024 national conference on page 12 of the spring 2024 digital edition of Update Magazine.

The CNSA Western Prairie Regional Conferences are organized by nursing students in BC. The last conference was held in 2021, hosted by the nursing students at Thompson Rivers University.