This record covers Lina Vargas, ballot number 327 for the Vancouver School Board with ABC Vancouver. The campaign material is the main source. A 2022 Georgia Straight profile describes a Lina Vargas with two matching details, and that overlap is flagged as an open question.
The score counts how complete and checkable the published plan on this issue is. Whether the plan would work is a separate question, left to the reader. Measured October 4, 2026. The same seven points apply to every candidate for this office.
Schools and student support2/10
2/2
A position in the candidate’s own words
“every student deserves to feel welcomed, respected, and able to succeed”
The questionnaire has not been sent yet. No candidate has this point.
ABC Vancouver’s platform on schools: 3 commitments, none with a number. Party text earns the candidate the position point only.
What this office controls. The Board of Education runs Vancouver public schools, sets catchment boundaries and approves the district budget. Teacher pay and the provincial funding formula are set by the province.
The questionnaire has not been sent yet. No candidate has this point.
What this office controls. Council, the Park Board and the Board of Education each set their own meeting rules, committees, public consultation and reporting. The Vancouver Charter and the School Act create the three bodies and set their powers, and only the Province can change those acts.
Party platform; candidate not quoted. ABC Vancouver publishes 5 commitments on this issue.
0/2
Names a mechanism the office controls
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/2
States a measurable target
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/1
States a cost or funding source
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/1
States a timeline
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/1
A dated, sourced action on the issue
No dated public action on this issue found.
0/1
Answered the voche.me question on the issue
The questionnaire has not been sent yet. No candidate has this point.
ABC Vancouver’s platform on taxes and budget: 5 commitments, at least one with a number. Party text earns the candidate the position point only.
What this office controls. The Board of Education approves the school district’s operating and capital budgets. The Province sets the funding formula and the school tax.
Party platform; candidate not quoted. ABC Vancouver publishes 5 commitments on this issue.
0/2
Names a mechanism the office controls
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/2
States a measurable target
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/1
States a cost or funding source
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/1
States a timeline
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/1
A dated, sourced action on the issue
No dated public action on this issue found.
0/1
Answered the voche.me question on the issue
The questionnaire has not been sent yet. No candidate has this point.
ABC Vancouver’s platform on public safety: 5 commitments, at least one with a number. Party text earns the candidate the position point only.
What this office controls. The Board of Education sets safety policies for its schools and decides whether police liaison officers work in them. Policing itself is the Vancouver Police Department’s.
Party platform; candidate not quoted. ABC Vancouver publishes 3 commitments on this issue.
0/2
Names a mechanism the office controls
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/2
States a measurable target
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/1
States a cost or funding source
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/1
States a timeline
Party text earns no points here; the statement must be the candidate’s own.
0/1
A dated, sourced action on the issue
No dated public action on this issue found.
0/1
Answered the voche.me question on the issue
The questionnaire has not been sent yet. No candidate has this point.
ABC Vancouver’s platform on child care: 3 commitments, at least one with a number. Party text earns the candidate the position point only.
What this office controls. The Board of Education decides how school buildings and land are used, including child care on school sites. Licensing and operating funding are provincial.
On dates without a confirmed appearance the public schedule is unknown; the candidate may still have activities that day. This static page changes only when its research is updated.
01 / Introduction
About Lina Vargas
Lina Vargas appears on the City of Vancouver's final 2026 candidate list for School Board, with ballot number 327. The City records the affiliation as ABC Vancouver.
The page says Vargas worked as a midwife and an aesthetician and now works in business and social services. The page says Vargas is the founding president of the Diversity and Inclusion Support Group of B.C., a non-profit that recognises the work of migrants, health care workers, caregivers, and community volunteers.
Vargas appears at ballot number 327 in the School Board race as an ABC Vancouver candidate, in the ballot order Daily Hive published on September 22, 2026.
The ABC Vancouver team listing shows Vargas as a Vancouver School Board trustee candidate for the party.
The ABC candidate page says Vargas has worked as a midwife, an aesthetician, a business owner and a social services worker.
The ABC candidate page says Vargas founded and is president of the Diversity and Inclusion Support Group of B.C., a non-profit that recognises migrants, health care workers, caregivers and community volunteers, and that the group has worked with Canadian Blood Services on donation campaigns.
The Philippine Canadian Inquirer, in an October 3, 2026 list of Filipino-Canadian candidates in B.C.'s local elections, names her as Selena "Lina" Vargas, running with ABC Vancouver for the Vancouver School Board.
A Georgia Straight profile published on July 25, 2022 described a Lina Vargas running as an independent candidate for Vancouver city council, trained as a midwife in the Philippines, who came to Canada in 2004 as a caregiver, later worked as a health care aide and hair stylist, started Care Cut Mobile Salon, and founded the Diversity and Inclusion Support Group of B.C. in 2020. Two details, the midwife training and the founding of that group, match the ABC page. No source states directly that the two are the same person. The Philippine Canadian Inquirer's October 2026 list describes the ABC candidate as Filipino-Canadian, which also matches the 2022 profile, and it does not mention the 2022 race.
The Wikipedia results table for the 2022 Vancouver municipal election records a Lina Vargas as an independent city council candidate with 7,714 votes, not elected.
voche.me assembled this profile from the official candidate list and the campaign material linked under Sources. The campaign has not been contacted, and no candidate-supplied content appears on this page.
Published positions and selected commitments, separated by election cycle. Status labels describe the evidence reviewed, not a numerical score or a complete audit of the platform. Council approval is different from delivery.
14 commitments shown · Checked Oct 4
2026 · Student supportCampaign pledge
Safe and inclusive classrooms
The ABC candidate page says Vargas would work for learning environments where every student feels welcomed, respected and able to succeed.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
This is a statement of aim on the candidate's own page, read twice on September 26 and twice again on October 4, 2026 through the WebFetch tool because abcvancouver.ca returns HTTP 403 to direct requests. No measure, motion, budget line, number or date is named.
What still needs checking
Which district policies Vargas would change to reach this.
The ABC candidate page says Vargas would push for teachers to have the support and resources needed for the range of needs in their classrooms.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
This is a statement of aim on the candidate's own page, read twice on September 26 and twice again on October 4, 2026 through the WebFetch tool because abcvancouver.ca returns HTTP 403 to direct requests. No measure, motion, budget line, number or date is named.
What still needs checking
What resources Vargas would add first, and how they would be paid for.
The ABC candidate page says Vargas treats good relationships among families, students, teachers and staff as the base of a strong school, and would work to build connections across Vancouver's communities.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
This is a statement of aim on the candidate's own page, read twice on September 26 and twice again on October 4, 2026 through the WebFetch tool because abcvancouver.ca returns HTTP 403 to direct requests. No process or program is proposed.
What still needs checking
What Vargas would do differently from the district's current family engagement work.
Party platform: swimming lessons in the school day
ABC Vancouver's platform says the party would bring swimming lessons into the school day, with Park Board and School Board candidates working together, and make the first three levels of the Joe Fortes learn-to-swim program free for children aged three to twelve.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
This is the party's platform, released on September 22, 2026 and read again on October 4, 2026. The party's one-page School Board platform says an ABC School Board will work with the Park Board and community partners to bring swimming into physical education, and its September 28, 2026 release repeats the free first three levels for children aged 3 to 12. None of these pages says which grades are covered or how the lessons would be paid for, and none names Vargas. No statement from Vargas on it was found.
What still needs checking
How the school day would be rearranged to fit lessons, and what the program would cost.
Party platform: teaching assistants in every classroom
ABC Vancouver's platform says the party would put teaching assistants in every classroom and add specialised support staff for students with diverse learning needs, along with more staff training and classroom resources.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
This is the party's platform, read again on October 4, 2026. The party's one-page School Board platform says an ABC School Board will increase teaching assistants and specialized support staff for students with diverse learning needs. Neither page gives a total number of positions or a cost, and neither names Vargas. No statement from Vargas on it was found.
What still needs checking
How many teaching assistant positions this would add, and where the money would come from.
ABC Vancouver's platform says the party would keep the School Liaison Officer Program and build closer work between police, schools and families.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
Daily Hive reported the item at the platform launch. The party's one-page School Board platform says an ABC School Board will maintain the School Liaison Officer Program, and its September 28, 2026 release repeats it. The Board decides whether police liaison officers work in its schools. Neither party page names Vargas, and no statement from her on the program was found.
What still needs checking
Whether Vargas states a personal position on police officers in schools.
Party platform: provincial school tax for Vancouver schools
ABC Vancouver's platform says the party would press for the provincial school tax collected in Vancouver to go to Vancouver schools. The party's one-page School Board platform says the Province will collect $658,682,122 from Vancouver residents through the school tax in 2026, that the Vancouver School Board received $598,400,000 in provincial grants for 2025-2026, and asks for the $60 million difference.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
These are the party's own figures, and voche.me has not checked them against a provincial record. The Province sets the school tax and the funding formula, and none of the party pages says what a School Board vote could do to change that. No statement from Vargas on it was found.
What still needs checking
What the province actually collects in school tax in Vancouver, and whether a municipal party can change where it goes.
2026 · Support for students and teachersCampaign pledge
Support for students and teachers
The page says Vargas holds that every student should feel welcome and able to do well, and that teachers should get the resources their classrooms need.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
Taken from the campaign page listed in the sources. This restates the same aims as the safe-and-inclusive-classrooms and support-and-resources-for-teachers entries above, so it is tagged to no scored issue and earns no points.
What still needs checking
What would this cost, who would deliver it, and by when?
2026 · Relationships between families and schoolsCampaign pledge
Relationships between families and schools
The page says Vargas holds that schools work well when families, students, teachers, and staff have respectful relationships.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
Taken from the campaign page listed in the sources. This restates the same aim as the stronger-links-between-families-and-schools entry above, so it is tagged to no scored issue and earns no points.
What still needs checking
What would this cost, who would deliver it, and by when?
Party platform: after-school programming and extracurricular activities
ABC Vancouver's platform says the party will keep extracurricular activities in Vancouver and expand after-school programming.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The platform page states both items, and the party's September 28, 2026 release repeats them. Neither page gives a budget figure, a number of new places or a start date. No statement from Vargas on it was found.
What still needs checking
How many after-school places would be added, and in which schools.
ABC Vancouver's platform says the party will double child care spaces from a base of 2,000.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The platform page states the target. The party's September 28, 2026 release describes the item as building on the more than 2,000 child care spaces opened under ABC, and gives no doubling target. Neither page gives a completion date or says how many of the new spaces would sit on school sites. No statement from Vargas on it was found.
What still needs checking
The deadline for the target and how many spaces would be built on school district land.
Party platform: drug consumption sites away from schools
ABC Vancouver's platform says the party will mandate that provincially approved drug consumption sites be located away from schools and parks.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The platform page states the commitment, read again on October 4, 2026. Siting of these facilities is set by the provincial health authority and the City's own zoning bylaw, so a trustee has no direct power over it, and the entry is marked as outside the School Board's powers. No statement from Vargas on it was found.
What still needs checking
What distance rule the party wants and which authority would apply it.
The candidate page says Vargas would bring her experience as a parent, community leader, and advocate for inclusion to the Vancouver School District.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
This is a statement of approach on the candidate's own page, read twice on September 26 and twice again on October 4, 2026 through the WebFetch tool because abcvancouver.ca returns HTTP 403 to direct requests. It names no specific measure, motion, budget change, number or date.
What still needs checking
Which board decisions Vargas would change, and how.
Party platform: a monthly committee of Council, Park Board and School Board
ABC Vancouver's September 28, 2026 release says the party will set up an action committee across levels that meets monthly to oversee its family plan and track waitlists, new openings and access. The platform page lists it as a performance based action committee to set better metrics for families.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The party release and platform state the commitment. Neither names Vargas, and neither says who would sit on the committee or when it would start. No statement from Vargas on it was found.
What still needs checking
Whether the School Board would vote to join such a committee, and which trustees would sit on it.
Each entry below names its source. Campaign material is the candidate's own account. Nothing here is presented as a verified outcome unless the entry says so.
Reported by independent media; not an official record
Resigned as a director of Filipino BC
ReyFort Media reported that Lina Vargas, described as heading the Diversity and Inclusion Support Group of B.C., resigned as a director of Filipino BC along with two other community leaders, months after the April 26, 2025 Lapu-Lapu festival tragedy. Vargas wrote in her resignation letter that it was the right time for her to leave the nonprofit.
Scope, limits and sources
Filipino BC organized the Lapu-Lapu festival with the backing of MLA Mable Elmore. The report gives no reason for the resignation beyond Vargas's own quoted line and does not describe a dispute at the time of her departure.
Reported by independent media; not an official record
Signed a letter asking Filipino BC for a financial accounting of Lapu-Lapu victim funds
Daily Hive reported that Vargas was one of four former Filipino BC directors who wrote to the organization's chair, board and members asking for a complete account of funds raised for Lapu-Lapu tragedy victims, full disclosure of disbursements and recipients, disclosure of any complaints raised, and an independent external audit.
Scope, limits and sources
Filipino BC told Daily Hive it would provide financial disclosures as required by law and that its audited statements for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years were not yet available. No response from Vargas individually, beyond the joint letter, was found.
Read original statements and reporting, or open the publisher’s video. A summary of a speech is labelled separately from a full recording.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
Accountability / Findings, disputes and responses
Controversies & public scrutiny
Records are labelled by type, including official findings, civil proceedings and political disputes where applicable. Each entry identifies the response found in the sources and the latest status verified for this page.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
News coverage / Original publishers
Read the reporting
A dated reading list from independent publishers. The headings below are voche.me summaries; follow each link for the original article, context and any corrections.
Reporting
The Georgia Straight
Why Filipino community organizer Lina Vargas is running for Vancouver city council
A profile of a Lina Vargas running as an independent for Vancouver city council in 2022, covering the move to Canada in 2004 as a caregiver, work as a health care aide and hair stylist, the Care Cut Mobile Salon, and the founding of the Diversity and Inclusion Support Group of B.C. in 2020. Readers should treat the link between this 2022 candidate and the 2026 ABC School Board candidate as unsettled.
Ken Sim's ABC party names four new Vancouver City Council candidates
The article names Vargas among the first seven candidates on ABC Vancouver's 2026 School Board slate, alongside Rob Nijjar, Shirley Sio, Maria Kritikos and Matt Kroeker, joining incumbent trustees Alfred Chien and Preeti Faridkot.
Reports that Antonio Ortega, Lina Vargas and Concepcion Colobong resigned as Filipino BC directors months after the Lapu-Lapu festival tragedy, citing personal misalignment and timing. Describes Vargas as heading the Diversity and Inclusion Support Group of B.C.
'Victims continue to suffer': Former Filipino BC directors ask where Lapu Lapu money went
Reports that Vargas and three other former Filipino BC directors sent a letter asking the organization for a complete accounting of funds raised for Lapu-Lapu tragedy victims, and quotes Filipino BC's response that financial disclosures would follow legal requirements.
Candidates Questionnaire Week 1: Meet your School Board candidates and find out why they're running
The Eric Hamber Secondary student newspaper published School Board candidates' answers on why they are running. It lists Vargas among the candidates who were sent the questionnaire and did not respond by the deadline.
Record number of Filipino-Canadian candidates run in B.C.'s 2026 local elections
Lists 23 Filipino-Canadian candidates in B.C.'s October 17, 2026 local elections. It names Selena "Lina" Vargas as ABC Vancouver's candidate for the Vancouver School Board, one of two Vancouver names on the list, and gives no further detail about her.
Sources checked October 4, 2026. Official records establish decisions; campaign material establishes stated positions; reporting adds investigation and context. None alone establishes every claim.
No source states that the 2026 ABC School Board candidate and the 2022 independent council candidate are the same person. The 2022 Georgia Straight profile, the 2026 ABC candidate page and ReyFort Media's October 2025 report all credit a Lina Vargas with founding or leading the Diversity and Inclusion Support Group of B.C., and the Philippine Canadian Inquirer's October 3, 2026 list names the ABC candidate as Filipino-Canadian, which matches the 2022 profile. None of these ties the 2022 candidacy to the 2026 one, so that link stays a separate item. The support group has no website or registry record that was opened, so the Canadian Blood Services partnership and the presidency rest on the ABC page alone. The City's candidate list shows no social media accounts for her, and no personal campaign website was found. Her VoteMate page still had no candidate-submitted profile on October 4, 2026. The Griffins' Nest lists her among candidates who did not answer its September 22 and 28 questionnaires. A March 17, 2026 Philippine Canadian Inquirer report names a Lina Vargas among four former Filipino BC directors who sent letters on December 3 and December 16, 2025 asking for financial disclosure; that report gives no detail that ties the director to this candidacy, so it was not added as its own entry. No news report quoting Vargas on School Board issues, no interview, and no 2026 statement from her on the Filipino BC resignation or the Lapu-Lapu funds letter was found by voche.me on this date. Searches in Spanish found nothing about her.
Research status
What voche.me has checked
Evidence reviewed on October 4, 2026: the ABC Vancouver candidate page, the party platform, its one-page School Board platform and its September 28 release, the City's candidate list, VoteMate, The Griffins' Nest questionnaires, forum listings, and news searches in English, Spanish and Filipino community media.
The candidate page was read twice on October 4, 2026 through a fetching tool, because the site blocks automated requests. Its text matched the copy read on September 26.
Checks still to do: Confirm organizational roles and distinguish community work from regulated professional credentials. Settle whether the 2026 candidate and the 2022 independent council candidate of the same name are the same person.
The ballot name, office, ballot number and party label come from the City's final candidate list. Everything described as campaign material is the campaign's own account and has not been confirmed by an independent source.
03 / Background
Experience & community
Dates not given
Founder and president, Diversity and Inclusion Support Group of B.C.
The ABC page says Vargas founded the group and serves as its president, and that it has partnered with Canadian Blood Services. The 2022 Georgia Straight profile gives 2020 as the founding year for a group of the same name, started by a Lina Vargas.
ReyFort Media reported on October 16, 2025 that Vargas resigned as a director of Filipino BC, the non-profit that organized the Lapu-Lapu Day festival, and named her as head of the Diversity and Inclusion Support Group of B.C. The report gives no start date for her time on the board.
Proposed questions for a future interview. They have not been sent to the candidate, and no answers have been supplied.
Which student-support measure would you prioritize, and how would you assess whether it reaches those who need it?
No response has been submitted.
How would you balance student learning support, facilities and staffing within the district’s available funding?
No response has been submitted.
Have your own question?
Ask Lina Vargas directly. We send it to the campaign, and publish the reply here if we get one.
05 / About this page
Questions about this page
Facts voche.me can state about Lina Vargas's page itself, answered directly rather than left blank.
Is this an official page for Lina Vargas?
No. This page is researched by voche.me from public sources, listed below, and is separate from Lina Vargas's own campaign.
What is Lina Vargas's ballot number for the 2026 Vancouver election?
Lina Vargas is number 327 on the City of Vancouver's official 2026 ballot for School Board.
What party did Lina Vargas run with?
Lina Vargas ran for School Board with ABC Vancouver.
Does Lina Vargas currently hold public office?
Not according to this profile. voche.me has not listed a current public office for Lina Vargas.
How many sources does this Lina Vargas profile cite?
This profile lists 2 sourced references, each with the date voche.me checked it, in the Sources section below.
Has Lina Vargas filed nomination papers for the 2026 election?
voche.me has not yet added a nomination record for Lina Vargas. This does not mean no nomination paper was filed, only that voche.me has not completed that research yet.
Why do some questions on Lina Vargas's page show no answer?
The "Questions & answers" section on this page lists questions voche.me would put to Lina Vargas in a future interview. They have not been sent yet, so the page says plainly that no answer has been supplied instead of leaving the section blank.
When was the election Lina Vargas ran in?
The 2026 Vancouver municipal election, including the School Board race, was decided on October 17, 2026.
06 / Candidate contributions
Space for campaign updates
Added the party's School Board platform, two student newspaper questionnaires, a news report and an October 6 forum; corrected two commitments
Read the ABC candidate page and platform again, and added the party's one-page School Board platform and its September 28, 2026 release, the City's candidate list (read from an Internet Archive copy of October 1, 2026), The Griffins' Nest questionnaires of September 22 and 28, which list Vargas among the candidates who did not respond, a Philippine Canadian Inquirer report of October 3, 2026, and an online School Board forum on October 6. Added one party commitment not recorded before, a monthly committee of Council, Park Board and School Board, and her former Filipino BC directorship to the experience list. Corrections: the school tax entry gave a rounded figure from a news report, and now gives the party's own figures; the entry on drug consumption sites is now marked as outside a trustee's powers. Removed the September 29 Britannia all-candidates meeting, because no source shows whether Vargas took part, and the October 3 advance voting day, because both dates have passed.
