Not long ago, Laura Garinger was a student at Hapnot Collegiate, planning talent shows and acting in dinner theatre.
Now she’s the lead voice for students at a major Canadian university.
Garinger has been named president of the University of Winnipeg Student’s Association (UWSA). Garinger earned 463 votes, finishing ahead of second-place finisher David Fahnbulleh’s 376 votes.
Her interest in student government was first piqued while she studied at Hapnot.
A daughter of two Hapnot teachers, she joined the school’s student council in her first year and remained a member until graduation, including time as co-president.
“I was just trying to make everyone’s experience a bit better,” said Garinger.
“High school is pretty rough on everyone.”
Now Garinger is seeking to lead the student body at the U of W, whose student body of 10,000-plus people is about double the entire population of Flin Flon.
Garinger, 23, was one of four students running for the position in the Wednesday, March 8 election.
Before putting her name forward as a candidate, Garinger served as the UWSA’s vice-president, student affairs.
Two of her opponents, Fanhbulleh and Sadie-Phoenix Lavoie, worked along with her as part of UWSA.
In that position, she juggled many aspects of student life.
“Most of the duties with student affairs have to do with student life, both academic and non-academic,” she said. “So that included advocacy, academic misconduct, housing issues, sexual misconduct, teacher complaints or grade appeals.”
Garinger also had a hand in several recent UWSA projects, including services like the campus health plan, day care and student support programs.
If elected, she promises to implement a wide variety of reforms, including changes for student public transportation passes, adding more designated study spaces and extending hours at the university library.
Garinger also hopes to push for lower tuition, fossil fuel divestment and aboriginal access programs.
“We know tuition is far too high,” she said. “Manitoba has the second- or third-lowest tuition rates in the country, but it could be lower and it’s still a barrier to many people. Here at the U of W, international students pay more than three times more than what a domestic student pays.”
When students move away from the North to pursue education, they often bring with them a perspective different than that of their peers. This has been true for Garinger.
“It was different – being considered rural,” she said. “Most of the folks who come to the University of Winnipeg are from (Winnipeg). It’s a big commuter campus. It’s quite a different experience.”
Garinger feels that the experience of growing up in Flin Flon helped prepare her for the position she hopes to land.
“I don’t want to project political ideologies, but I think I grew up in an atmosphere that was pretty pro-union,” said Garinger. “Being a representative and advocating for others has always been pretty important in my life.”
Many figures in student politics later enter either the provincial or federal bullring. When asked if she’d pursue politics as a career, Garinger’s answer was emphatic.
“No,” she said. “I think that’s one thing about my slate – none of us want to get into politics after this.”
