A total of 23 GBC students have been certified to run in the 2022 General Elections for the Student Association of George Brown College (SAGBC), which will have four executive and six student representative positions up for grabs. 

One of the top two executive directors as well as two student representatives positions will go uncontested in the election, as each of those positions has only one certified candidate. 

Being the only candidate running for Director of Operations, one of the high-profile executive positions on the board, incumbent Dhwani Bhalavat is set to take office for a new term without contest. 

In a statement released by the SAGBC, Bhalavat said that her top priority for the next term in office will be making students more aware of the services that the Student Association (SA) has to offer. 

Incumbent Sri Krishna Rajan will be competing with Anupreet Kaur for the Director of Communications and Internal, the other top executive director position. 

Chief Returning Officer Charles Wilson, who is responsible for conducting the elections, had extended the nomination period for both this position and the student representative position for Preparatory and Liberal Studies, as no candidates were available for either role by the end of the initial nomination period. Despite the extension, no candidates were nominated for the Preparatory and Liberal Studies Representative position.  

Incumbent Director of Communications and Internal Rajan said that if elected into office for a new term, his top priorities will be advocating for UN Sustainable Development Goals and initiating communications with the college to introduce more co-op courses. 

Angie Nijmeh and Dipti Deepak Sharma are in contention for the position of director of education and equity. 

Nijmeh, who is a first-year denturism student and a former student politician at Western University, said that if elected, fighting high tuition fees for both domestic and international students, encouraging teachers to record and add captions to all online lectures, and advocating for more on-campus events as COVID-19 restrictions ease will be their top priorities. 

Sharma’s campaign, on the other hand, focuses on promoting equality by paying particular attention to the needs of students from underserved, visible minority groups if elected. Sharma would also like to see new technologies integrated within the education system. 

Director of Student Experience will be the most heavily contested position in the election with five candidates running for the office.  

The candidates for this position are Amrita Sharma, Harrizen Thirunavukarasu, Jaseera Shajahan, Rashmi Rupani and Simran Malhotra. 

Sharma mentioned working in partnership with GBC student clubs as one of their priorities if elected. 

Shajahan aims to create a welcome program for international students that will help them find affordable accommodations and ease into life in Canada. Shajahan also believes that this new program can create more SA part-time jobs for students. 

Rupani, another contestant for the position, also wants to focus on helping international students by offering services that will help them find accommodations as well as necessary information regarding taxes and credit scores.  

Mehak Khanna and Hanyi Yang will compete for the Arts, Design, and Information Technology Student Representative position. 

Khanna plans on using class talks to create more awareness and interaction amongst students. Yang feels that online classes can inhibit students from learning their course material properly, and wants to advocate for in-person classes as soon as possible.   

Mohammad Arafat Rahman and Arlinda Sokoli will compete for the Business Student Representative position. 

If elected, Rahman will concentrate on helping students who struggle with socializing. 

Sokoli wants to help students network with each other, which has been one of the challenges in the online learning environment, she claims. 

Merve Erenler and Nirmala Singh will be contesting for the Representative of the Centre for Construction and Engineering Technologies. 

Both Erenler and Singh would prioritize working towards creating more internships and field work opportunities for students. 

Hospitality and Culinary Arts Representative is another heavily contested position with four candidates: Ashmeet Kaur, Thanesh Kumar, Nihal Mujeeb and Gurprince Singh Sokhi. 

Luke Bowden, Shriya Gupte and Shivam Singh are set to become the new Community Services and Early Childhood Representative, Health Sciences Representative and George Brown College Student Governor respectively without any opposition in their positions. 

Students can cast their votes online using their GBC ID and password by visiting this page when the voting period begins.  

Polls will be open from April 4 to April 8. According to the SAGBC website, results of the election will be released shortly after polls close. 

More information about the candidates and their statements can be found here.