The new West Shore post-secondary campus set to open this fall will be named after former B.C. premier John Horgan.
The campus at the corner of Peatt Road and Goldstream Avenue, which will welcome its first cohort of students this September, will be known as the John Horgan Campus in addition to Royal Roads University Langford.
Royal Roads University president Philip Steenkamp said Horgan had a lifelong commitment to education and advocated strongly for a campus in Langford.
Horgan asked him to start thinking about expanding Royal Roads beyond Colwood shortly after he became the university’s president in 2019, Steenkamp said.
“He said to me, in his usual blunt way — you need to get out of your castle and out from behind those walls and be part of the community. So here we are,” Steenkamp said to a crowd of 150 who came out to the event.
Horgan, a five-term member of the legislature from the West Shore who liked to be known as “John from Langford,” served as B.C.’s New Democrat premier for five years before stepping down in March 2022.
He died Nov. 12, 2024, after battling cancer. About 3,000 people turned out for his memorial service.
Premier David Eby, who attended the name-reveal event on Friday, said the honour would have brought Horgan’s “signature smile” to his face.
“If you spent 10 minutes with John Horgan, you would know the value and the importance that he placed on education,” he said.
Eby said he wished Horgan was alive to see the campus open. “But of course, if he were here, we would not have let us name this campus after him. He was a modest guy.”
Family spokesperson Ellie Horgan, who was in attendance at the event Friday, said the honour would have “meant the world” to her husband.
The only thing that John Horgan, a major lover of science, would have asked for was for more astronomy and space exploration classes to be offered, as well as an elective in rock polishing, she quipped.
After Horgan stepped down as premier, he took up the hobby of rock tumbling to keep him busy.
Ellie Horgan, who was given a hard-hat tour of the campus Friday, said she can already anticipate the lively exchange of ideas that will happen from having so many institutions under one roof.
In addition to Royal Roads classes, the campus will host students from the University of Victoria, Camosun College and the Justice Institute of British Columbia as well as adult upgrading programs through School District 62.
After a year of construction delays caused by issues with labour and building materials, the John Horgan Campus is expected to welcome 600 students starting Sept. 2 and expand to 1,300 full-time students by 2035.
Langford Coun. Mary Wagner said the city is excited to welcome a university campus of its own.
Langford-Juan de Fuca MLA Ravi Parmar said Horgan made good on his promise to residents of his former riding.
“John Horgan said that education is the great equalizer and he delivered that to the people of Langford.”
Royal Roads is also establishing a scholarship in Horgan’s name. The John Horgan Entrance Award will provide up to $5,000 in financial support to new undergraduates attending Royal Roads University at the new campus.
Steenkamp is personally matching the first $25,000 in donations made in support of the award, with local philanthropist Andrew Beckerman matching the next $12,500 in donations.
The fundraiser, which will aim to raise $1 million, is aiming to wrap up on Aug. 7, Horgan’s birthday.
He would have turned 66 this year.
