Filipino-Canadian Senora Navales brings health-care, labour experience to North Vancouver school board race

Floyd Brenz., Philippine Canadian Inquirer
October 09, 2026

Photo Courtesy: Senora Navales

NORTH VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Filipino-Canadian health-care worker and community advocate Senora Navales is seeking a seat on the North Vancouver Board of Education, bringing frontline hospital and labour experience into the 2026 school trustee race.

Navales is an independent candidate for one of the three school trustee seats elected by City of North Vancouver voters on October 17. Six candidates are competing for the three City seats on the seven-member North Vancouver Board of Education.

A longtime City of North Vancouver resident, Navales works in health care at Lions Gate Hospital, where her experience has included porter and housekeeping work.

She is also active in the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU). An HEU profile lists Navales as a member since 2021 and documents leadership roles including shop steward, local chair and local vice-chair at the Lions Gate local. She has also participated in union committee work involving women and gender equity as well as environmental issues.

That experience in a unionized health-care workplace has shaped a campaign centered on creating schools where students and staff feel supported, safe and included.

“Every child deserves to learn, grow and succeed in a safe, supportive and inclusive school environment,” Navales says in her campaign material.

Her bid for school trustee places public education at the center of her campaign, with an emphasis on ensuring students have an environment where they can learn and develop while educators and school staff are supported in their work.

Her background in health care also brings a frontline perspective to questions around student well-being, workplace conditions and the day-to-day needs of public institutions.

Navales’ experience within organized labour extends beyond her workplace. She participated in the Hospital Employees’ Union’s provincial activities, including serving on the tabulations committee during the union’s 2022 convention. She was also among HEU delegates listed at the B.C. Federation of Labour’s 2024 convention.

Within the union, Navales has emphasized participation and education, particularly encouraging younger members to become involved in union activities. Her HEU profile also highlights cooperation, sharing knowledge and assisting fellow members as priorities in her labour work.

Those experiences now form part of her move into public education governance.

If elected, Navales would join a board responsible for major policy decisions affecting education across the North Vancouver School District. The Board of Education has seven elected trustees, with three chosen by City of North Vancouver voters and four elected by residents of the District of North Vancouver.

Her candidacy is also part of a notable Filipino-Canadian presence in North Vancouver’s 2026 local elections. Filipino community posts have highlighted Navales alongside fellow school trustee candidates Ethel Purugganan and Raphael “Ralph” Perfecto, as well as City Council candidate Lailani Tumaneng.

For Navales, the campaign represents an opportunity to carry years of frontline health-care and worker representation experience into another form of community service, this time focused on students, families and public education.

City of North Vancouver voters will elect one mayor, six councillors and three school trustees on October 17.