Call to action: Help save the Vancouver Park Board
You may be aware that in December 2023 the Vancouver City Council passed a resolution to eliminate the roles of seven elected Vancouver Park Board Commissioners, and to ask the provincial government to pass legislation to transfer the Park Board responsibilities to a City department under the direct control of City Council.
The elected Park Board has existed for more than 130 years. The Commissioners are elected by the citizens of Vancouver every four years during the municipal elections (last held in October 2022). Because they are elected, they are responsible to, and accountable to the citizens of Vancouver, not the Mayor and 10 City Councillors.
The sole mandate of the Commissioners is the preservation, protection and development of parks and recreation programs and facilities in our City. They prioritize this important work because they are elected to do so.
City Councillors, on the other hand, are elected with a much broader mandate, to deal with all the issues around city infrastructure; sewer, water and garbage services; police and fire departments; housing and development issues; the drug crisis, homelessness, etc. Parks and recreation are not their first priority.
Your Community Centre Association works with the Park Board staff and Commissioners to develop and run community-based programming. Issues and needs arise where we work with the elected Commissioners who have the decision-making authority to deal with our concerns. We have, over the years, developed a working relationship with the Commissioners. We don’t want that to change.
The Association Presidents Group (APG), representing 19 Community Centre Associations across the City of Vancouver, is requesting your support in rejecting Mayor Ken Sim’s attempt to abolish the democratically elected Vancouver Park Board.
We do not believe it is democratic for eight people on City Council to eliminate the roles of seven Commissioners elected by the thousands of voters in Vancouver.
Mayor Sim did not ask the voters in October 2022 for a mandate to do so: in fact, he said he would retain the elected Park Board.
The APG has taken a strong stand against the Mayor’s decision. We have written to the Mayor and Councillors expressing our opposition. We have also written to the Provincial MLAs representing Vancouver asking them to oppose this change. We need their support because the provincial legislation governing the City of Vancouver (called the Vancouver Charter) must be amended to make such a change possible.
Read this article on the Vancouver Sun for further explanation of why the APG believes this is an undemocratic approach by the Mayor.
We are asking for your support in making your opposition known to Premier David Eby.
You can use the links below to send a message directly to the Premier, to write to all Vancouver MLAs, and to the Minister of Municipal Affairs who is responsible for making changes to the Vancouver Charter.
We hope we can count on your support to retain our elected Park Board.
Send a message directly to the Premier
saveourparkboard.ca/action/
Links for writing MLAs
Vancouver Fairview
Hon. George Heyman (NDP)
[email protected]
Vancouver False Creek
Hon. Brenda Bailey (NDP)
[email protected]
Vancouver Fraserview
George Chow (NDP)
[email protected]
Vancouver Hastings
Hon. Niki Sharma, K.C.(NDP)
[email protected]
Vancouver Kensington
Mable Elmore (NDP)
[email protected]
Vancouver Kingsway
Hon. Adrian Dix (NDP)
[email protected]
Vancouver Langara
Michael Lee (BC United)
[email protected]
Vancouver Mount Pleasant
Joan Phillip (NDP)
[email protected]
Vancouver Point Grey
Hon. David Eby, K.C. (NDP)
[email protected]
Vancouver Quilchena
Kevin Falcon (BC United)
[email protected]
Vancouver West End
Spencer Chandra Herbert (NDP)
[email protected]
Minister of Municipal Affairs
Anne Kang
[email protected]