Many of the issues that our members are concerned about as students are also issues that the broader community is concerned about. Just as our Students' Union succeeds through solidarity and strength in numbers, so too can we gain greater strength by joining with those in the community who share our values and goals.

The members of the Thompson Rivers University Students' Union have joined with advocacy groups across our province and country to work together on common goals from childcare to tenants' rights to healthcare. These coalitions provide students and community members with a united front to improve the quality of our lives and make our society more just.

Below is a list of the coalitions and memberships that TRUSU actively engages in.

British Columbia Health Coalition

• The BC Health Coalition champions the protection and expansion of a universal public health care system. The Coalition works as a democratic, inclusive and consensus-based network of organizations and individuals. We believe:

  • Health care is a right - everyone must have the right to high quality, responsive and appropriate health care, which is publicly funded, publicly accountable and publicly controlled

  • Access to health care must be equitable - regardless of an individual's income, level of ability, age, cultural heritage, sex, sexual orientation or geographical location

  • Issues that are basic to good health must be addressed - food, education, income, housing, social support and personal safety determine an individual's ability to achieve and maintain good health

Coalition of Child Care Advocates of British Columbia

• The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of British Columbia is a voluntary organization of interested citizens - parents, childcare providers, community organizations, and unions. We support:

  • The development of a comprehensive, accessible and affordable community based non-profit child care system in BC and across Canada

  • The right of every child and family to quality child care within their own community

  • A range of inclusive choices including licensed family and centre-based care

  • Stable, adequate government funding

  • Child care workers' rights to wages and working conditions which reflect the level of training, responsibility and value of work performed

  • Parent and staff involvement in policy, procedure and program decisions

TRAC Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre

• TRAC Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre is an educational charity that provides information about residential tenancy law in BC. We deliver this information through our website, multilingual publications, our Tenant Infoline, as well as providing public legal educational workshops.

  • Purpose: TRAC provides legal education and information about residential tenancy matters to tenants, community advocates and any other British Columbians who require this knowledge.  We meet with government to promote legal protection for tenants as well as with other interested parties including the media, whom we provide with information in support of efforts to protect and expand the stock of affordable rental housing.

  • Activities: TRAC provides information through our Tenant Infoline, website, publications, public legal education sessions and advocacy training workshops. We provide input about residential tenancy law into other organizations' legal publications, telephone scripts and training material, and meet with the provincial government to strengthen legal protections for tenants.  We work with all levels of government, community and landlord groups to identify solutions to the problems of homelessness and unaffordable rental housing and provide information to the media about these problems.

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

• The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada's leading progressive voices in public policy debates.

• By combining solid research with extensive outreach, we work to enrich democratic dialogue and ensure Canadians know there are workable solutions to the issues we face. The CCPA offers analysis and policy ideas to the media, general public, social justice and labour organizations, academia and government.
  We produce research studies, policy briefs, books, editorials and commentary, and other publications, including The Monitor, a monthly magazine. Most of these resources are available at no cost on this site (see the Research and Publications section).

• With a national office in Ottawa and provincial offices in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, we address local and national issues, as well as globalization and international trade.
  The CCPA is a registered non-profit charity. We depend on the support of our more than 10,000 members across Canada.

Kamloops Chamber of Commerce

• One of the Kamloops Chamber's most important roles is that of an advocate for members and business. In this role, the Kamloops Chamber works with all levels of government - municipal, regional district, provincial, and federal - to promote the interest of business in our community.

West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund

• The West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) formed when the equality guarantees of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force. Our mission is to achieve equality by changing historic patterns of systemic discrimination against women through BC-based equality rights litigation, law reform, and public legal education. Governed by an elected Board of Directors and supported by active members, committed volunteers, and a dedicated staff, West Coast LEAF is an affiliate of National LEAF. West Coast LEAF envisions a society in which women are full participants in the social, economic, and political activities of the nation, a society in which it is a right to have one's differences respected and suppoeted by both the law, and through social and institutional policies and practices.