Dear ECU Community,

As the Fall Term approaches, we have been thinking carefully about how to achieve a safe and equitable return to campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As the number of cases in BC has risen dramatically in recent weeks, we decided it was necessary to take additional steps to protect our community.

With this in mind, Emily Carr University will soon require proof of vaccination or a recent negative test for everyone on campus, including students, employees and visitors.

We will be engaging our student, staff and faculty associations in conversations about implementing these measures in a way that is safe and inclusive. We are also working with public health agencies towards offering rapid testing for those who have not been vaccinated or choose to not disclose their status. We’ll provide more information and a timeline in the coming weeks.

Emily Carr is acting in coordination with other BC universities following extensive discussions with the provincial government and public health officials. Our decision was also informed by our community members. Many of you have asked for stronger safety measures to protect you while you study, work and create on campus.

The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and very effective: in our own province, we can see that those who are fully vaccinated are much less likely to become infected or seriously ill from COVID-19. But we can also see from the rising number of cases that the current vaccination rates are not enough to stop the spread, and that unvaccinated individuals are the primary driver of transmission.

We strongly recommend that you get vaccinated before returning to campus. Vaccinations are free and available to everyone in BC aged 12 and older, including international students and those who have recently arrived in the country. You can learn more at ImmunizeBC.ca.

I expect that you will have questions about how these new measures will work and how they will affect you. I invite you to share them with us by emailing covid19@ecuad.ca and we will do our best to address them in the weeks to come.

Sincerely,

Gillian Siddall
President + Vice-Chancellor
Emily Carr University of Art + Design