By Amira Tekle

UMSU president Jakob  Sanderson and VP advocacy Sarah  Bonner-Proulx met with two provincial politicians in recent weeks to advocate for several policy proposals on behalf of international students, sexual assault survivors and the UMSU membership-at-large.

Meetings were held with Progressive Conservative (PC) MLA and Minister for Economic Development and Training Ralph Eichler, and NDP MLA and official opposition critic for Economic Development and Training Jamie Moses.

Sweeping changes to the way international student healthcare is addressed is one of UMSU’s provincial advocacy bids. International student healthcare has been a hot-button issue in Manitoba in recent years, especially since the PC government axed provincial international student healthcare coverage on Sept. 1, 2018. International students now generally pay $864 per year for health insurance in Manitoba.

UMSU has proposed creating a public buy-in healthcare plan to ease the monetary burden on international students.

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