Category Archives: #VanElxn 2022

#VanElxn2022 | Vancouver Board of Education Candidate Endorsements

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Recently, VanRamblings received a concerning call at home from an incumbent Vancouver School Board trustee, who told us …

“Raymond, in the years I have served as a trustee on Vancouver’s Board of Education, never have I experienced as dysfunctional a Board as proved to be the case this past term of office. No one was getting along with one another, no one was working in common cause to serve the interests of children enrolled in the Vancouver school system, nor serve the parents of these children. Instead, trustees acted with disparate intent and unfocused attention, at odds with one another on issue after issue after issue.”

The Trustee who made the comments above may well have been talking about this past term on Vancouver City Council, or on Vancouver Park Board.

Whether the enmity on the Board arose from the pandemic, when meetings were held on WebEx, negating the opportunity for trustees to come to know one another, or whether the respective trustees’ intentions for governance of the Vancouver School Board were so politically at odds with one another, the clear message received from the trustee was: change, and a renewed commitment to focusing on serving the interests of students enrolled in Vancouver’s school system is required, as we head to the polls to elect a new Vancouver Board of Education.

Whether it’s the chronic underfunding of public education by an allegedly pro-education New Democratic Party government over in Victoria, or the seeming lack of student advocacy arising from trustee anomie, one thing is very clear: change is needed at  Vancouver School Board, along with a re-commitment to democratic engagement with parents who have children enrolled in Vancouver’s school system.

As we would wish at Vancouver City Council and at Vancouver Park Board — as VanRamblings sets about to endorse candidates committed to systemic change, and a reclamation of the role of civic officials to advocate for the citizens who elected them to office, for their families, friends, neighbours and colleagues — VanRamblings today endorses those nine Vancouver School Board candidates running for office in 2022, who we believe will best serve the citizens of Vancouver.


Do you want public education advocates in Vancouver’s school system, trustees who will stand up for children, their parents and you? Then, VOTE for the 9 candidates VanRamblings endorses today.

Those Vancouver Board of Education candidates endorsed by VanRamblings are committed to democratic engagement with parents and students, so as to give parents (and students) a voice in the decision-making around the Board table, and will work to eradicate the systemic racism and intolerance that is an all-too-common and tragic feature of Vancouver’s school system.

  • Dr. Karina Zeidler for School Board will ensure the safety of students when the next deadly wave of COVID-19 hits in the late autumn;
  • COPE’s Suzie Mah has 35 years experience working within the Vancouver school system and knows exactly what needs to change;
  • Jennifer Reddy, prior to being elected to Vancouver’s Board of Education in 2018, completed an MSc in Social Policy and Development from the prestigious London School of Economics, afterwards working from 2010 to 2017 with the Vancouver School Board as an Immigrant Youth & Settlement Worker, supporting youth to stay in school and improve their chances of obtaining meaningful educational or employment opportunities;
  • Christopher Richardson, along with Hilary Thomson for Vancouver School Board and Krista Sigurdson are committed to an inclusive educational environment in the Vancouver school system, that whatever a student’s learning challenges may be, each and EVERY student will be afforded the opportunity for success in the Vancouver school system. Mr. Richardson, since last sitting on the Board, achieved a Bachelor of Education, focusing on the needs of students with learning challenges, at the University of British Columbia, where he is currently completing a Masters degree in the same area of study.
  • Given the above, let us not forget either that 23-year Board of Education trustee Allan Wong, education activist Aaron Leung, and former Vancouver School Board Superintendent, Steve Cardwell — all of whom have been working toward getting elected to Vancouver’s Board of Education come this Saturday evening — are skilled education practitioners, not to mention, dedicated public education activists, well deserving of the support of Vancouver voters..

When Vision Vancouver’s Patti Bacchus was first elected as Chairperson of Vancouver’s School Board in 2008, one of her first acts as Chair was to ban citizen engagement during the course of Board of Education meetings. Respectful Board of Education trustee engagement was the order of the day. Most decisions taken by the duly-elected Board of Education are not taken at the Board level — rather, those decisions are taken at the Committee level (there were six Committees of the Board in 2008). Parents, educators, students, Union members, the public and trustees were given free rein to weigh in on the decision-making process at the Committee level, which decisions when made are forwarded to the Board, and almost universally adopted by all nine elected Board of Education trustees.

Not so with the currently elected, and outgoing, Vancouver Board of Education. A decision was taken by the current Board of Education to limit parent input.

Said former Vancouver Board of Education Chairperson Patti Bacchus, in a column published in The Georgia Straight on July 26th, 2022 …

“The current VSB — which talks a lot about equity, access, and transparency — has (adopted) a process that puts tight limits on who can speak at its Committee meetings and for how long (five minutes, maximum, and no more than 45 minutes for all speakers combined), and Committee Chairs have broader powers to decline speaking requests.

Those changes were made in October 2021, in response to a motion from NPA trustees Carmen Cho (who has since been elected board chair) and Oliver Hanson, who cited a desire to ensure that VSB standing committees “function in an efficient and structured way”.

It so happens that Cho and Hansen’s proposed changes — which were presented as a Notice of Motion that would normally be referred to a Committee for discussion and public and stakeholder input — were put to a vote the very night they were introduced, denying the public or stakeholder representatives a chance to weigh in on significant changes that altered decades of VSB practice. Just like that.”

Two notes should be made at this point …

  • In June, Board of Education trustees Carmen Cho and Oliver Hanson announced they would not seek a second term as Vancouver Board of Education trustees;
  • ALL 9 of the School Board candidates VanRamblings has endorsed today have announced that if they are elected they will vote to restore the previous rules of engagement for parents, students and public, at the Committee level.

The following represents only a few of the commitments the 9 Vancouver Board of Education trustee candidates VanRamblings has endorsed, each trustee candidate has prioritized as work to accomplish upon being elected to office …

  • Reinvest in music, drama, dance, art and physical education programmes;
  • Prevent the sale of School Board properties to hold these properties in trust in order that they will be preserved for future generations;
  • Re-open all school kitchens to build a universal, nutritious lunch programme;
  • Expand access to childcare, including full-day care for children under five, and seamless before and after school care programmes on school sites, so every family can find child care at their neighbourhood school;
  • Staff fully operational libraries in every school, five days a week;
  • Ensure that all school buildings are seismically safe, accessible and well-maintained in the face of climate change and aging infrastructure;
  • Provide proper ventilation in all classrooms to protect kids from COVID-19.

As at Vancouver City Hall and Park Board, the presently-elected — and mostly outgoing, given that trustees Cho, Hanson, Fraser Ballantyne, Estrellita Gonzalez and Barb Parrot have chosen not to seek a further term — Board of Education trustees have been captured by staff, have throughout this term been held in sway to staff needs, wants and desires, over setting policy that best serves the interests of those who elected them to office, which is to say, the citizens of Vancouver.

Only OneCity trustee Jennifer Reddy has stood up for the children enrolled in Vancouver’s school system, has advocated for marginalized groups of children of colour, Indigenous children, and children observing varying faiths.

Trustee Jennifer Reddy deserves to be joined by persons of conscience on Vancouver’s Board of Education, which is why we are endorsing a second term for Jennifer Reddy, and advocating for …

   
 

Yvette Brend’s story about a racist incident at Lord Byng, on the CBC website …

Suzanne Daley says her 14-year-old mixed-race daughter is still suffering, 18 months after a racist video made by a Lord Byng Secondary School student was circulated at her school.

The Vancouver Police Board is taking a fresh look at how the video incident was handled by police, in the wake of ongoing complaints that no charges were recommended and at least two students felt so unsafe they changed schools.

Markiel Simpson, with the B.C. Community Alliance, saw the video in which a young man, using racial slurs, speaks into the camera, identifying himself and his hatred for Black people.

“I just want to line them all up and just chuck an explosive in there and go ka-boom!”

“We felt an immediate threat. A death threat,” said Daley.

Failure of the current Vancouver Board of Education to Act Against Racism

Only by re-electing Vancouver Board of Education trustee Jennifer Reddy; her OneCity Vancouver colleague, Dr. Krista Sigurdson; Vision Vancouver School Board candidates, former Vancouver School Board Superintendent Steve Cardwell; education activist Aaron Leung; lawyer, a former parent advisory committee (PAC) Chair, parent of four school-aged children, and Board member of Inclusion BC, an organization dedicated to promoting the rights and opportunities of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Hilary Thomson; and incumbent Allan Wong; as well as COPE education activist Suzie Mah — a 35-year veteran of British Columbia’s public education system —  former activist Vancouver School Board Chairperson, Christopher Richardson; and Vote Socialist candidate for Vancouver School Board, Dr. Karina Zeidler, can Vancouver citizens be assured that each of the fine persons of character on VanRamblings’ endorsement ballot today will ensure action, procedural fairness, and support for the victims of racist violence in Vancouver’s public education system will be promptly and properly addressed.

Here’s a follow-up story in The Tyee, written by Katie Hyslop …

Elise’s friends in Grade 10 at Vancouver’s Lord Byng school were the first to show her the hate video a classmate had made and shared on social media. It was violent, obscene and racist. The student spoke of his desire to kill Black people. Elise (not her real name) immediately reported it to vice-principal Mike Vulgaris, who told her the student would face consequences, she said.

“That goes against what the Constitution stands for,” she recalls Vulgaris saying. Elise believed him. But she still rode the bus home in tears.

That was Nov. 19, 2018. Ten months later, as a new school year begins, Elise is the one who has faced consequences, including harassment and racist bullying by other students. (The reason why we have not used her real name.)

She missed weeks of classes due to fear and stress, and in February she transferred to a different school, abandoning friends and her school community. She had worked hard to get into a specialty program at Lord Byng; that was left behind as well.

The case raises important questions about the response to racism by the school, the Vancouver School Board and police. All failed to take action to ensure the safety of her and other Black students, say Elise and her mother.

Vancouver school trustee Jennifer Reddy said she was aware of other instances of racism in schools across Vancouver, particularly for Indigenous students. She said she’s also heard from school staff members who want the Board to do more to combat racism.

“Staff, who have maybe also seen that video or been subjected to other forms of violence or hate in our community, whether it’s coming from the school or not, are reaching out to say, ‘Hey, is there anything that you can do at the school board level?’” The main thing I can do as a trustee when I hear about things like that is believe students,” she said. “Like when students say, ‘I’m not safe,’ or ‘this happened at my school.’”

Reddy said she didn’t hear about the Lord Byng video until a community activist messaged her three weeks after Elise initially reported it to the vice-principal. She took immediate action because of the confluence of racist incidents she was hearing about in the district, she said. Reddy sent the video to district staff.

But a critical position — the district’s anti-racism mentor — had been eliminated to balance the district’s budget in 2016 after the BC Liberal government fired the school board and appointed Dianne Turner as trustee.

Reddy also tried locating the district’s anti-racism policy. But to her surprise, there was no stand-alone anti-racism policy.

The aftermath for Elise

Around the time when the school district was crafting a statement, Elise and her mother were reaching the end of their rope.

Since their initial meetings, Elise had been repeatedly pulled out of class to attend meetings with administrators about the video, particularly in the first two weeks after it had been discovered. Some meetings were to talk about how she was doing. Others were for things like advising the principal on the wording of his public address announcement about the video.

Despite all the meetings, Elise felt the school never accepted her view that the video threatened the safety of Black students.

“I felt like I was going to school every day getting ready to fight, to fight for what we believed in,” Elise said. Her marks suffered and she lost sleep. Her mother recalls Elise crying almost every morning before going to school.

Parker Johnson, a parent of a Black student at another high school, attended one-on-one meetings to express his concerns over the video and how it was handled. “They did seem interested in hearing my concerns, and open and curious,” Johnson said of his meeting with a district administrator.

Johnson isn’t surprised Elise ended up leaving Lord Byng. He said the district should be reporting on the use of new anti-racism resources, hiring more Black teachers and administrators and pushing for curriculum changes to acknowledge the real histories of racialized people in Canada — including the ownership and abuse of Black and Indigenous people.

Elise, going into Grade 11 next month, is trying to move on from what happened at Lord Byng. The lesson she took away from her attempts to seek justice and safety for Black students isn’t likely the one the district wanted to impart. “The main thing that hurts the most is the reactions to it, telling us we’re overreacting, not taking us seriously,” she said. She needed to leave the school, but it feels like she was the one who lost the struggle.

“I feel like they got a sense of relief. And that’s what I hate about not being there… because I feel like I let them win.”

Vote for an activist contingent of Vancouver Board Education trustees, persons of character and intelligence, who believe in democratic engagement with citizens, who will fight for proper education funding from the provincial government, who will not stand idly by when a racist incident occurs in Vancouver’s school system, who will hold public meetings in the community that give parents and children a voice in Vancouver’s education system, who will fight for you always, with integrity and an unwavering commitment to building the best possible public education system across every neighbourhood in our beloved city of Vancouver.

#VanElxn2022 | Vote for Women Candidates in the 2022 Civic Election

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In 2018, both VanRamblings and this blog’s longtime webmaster, Mike Klassen — currently running with ABC Vancouver to secure a seat on the next four year term on City Council — wrote columns promoting women as reasonable and necessary choices to be elected to a renewed and vital 2018 Vancouver City Council.

In point of fact, the two columns written must have resonated with voters. On Election Night 2018, Saturday, October 20th, EIGHT outstanding women candidates of distinction and accomplishment were elected to Vancouver City Council.

VanRamblings believes it is fair to say that Vancouver citizens have been well-served by the tremendously hard-working women who have toiled on our behalf these past four years: Adriane Carr as a champion for the environment; Melissa De Genova as Finance Chairperson; Jean Swanson present always to be a voice for the forgotten; Colleen Hardwick for her work to ensure that Vancouver now has an Auditor General’s office; Christine Boyle, not only for her work on sustainability, but also for moving the motion at Council that was unanimously adopted, that will preserve the False Creek South neighbourhood for generations to come; Lisa Dominato as a voice of reason, Chairing an all-important committee at Metro Vancouver, while also serving with distinction on Council; Rebecca Bligh for her sterling work as a member of the all-important Selection Committee of Council that recommends appointments to one of City Hall’s 33 advisory committees; and Sarah Kirby-Yung, who helped see us through the pandemic, and helped restaurants in dire financial straits, championing restaurant patios, and side street plazas, where we could meet together in the open, in neighbourhoods across the city.


The 2022 University Women’s Club ‘Women Transforming Cities‘ event, where all but three of the women candidates for office VanRamblings has endorsed today, spoke so movingly and eloquently.

In 2022, of the 60 candidates for Vancouver City Council, twenty-six of those candidates for Council are women. Directly below, please find the number, the names and the party affiliations for those women candidates who we feel would make a lasting and critically important contribution to the life of our city. You will note that there are 11 names on the ballot, yet only 10 open spots on Vancouver City Council — VanRamblings has provided you with a choice, should you not like one of the women candidates, leaping into the 10th open Council seat you could choose another woman on the Women’s Endorsement Ballot you’ll find directly below.

With twenty-six superb women candidates having come forward to seek a seat on Vancouver City Council in 2022, in endorsing the 10 women candidates that we have above, quite obviously there are sixteen names of superb women candidates who have not made today’s Women Candidates Endorsement ballot.

In yesterday’s VanRamblings column we wrote about 22 candidates for City Council, we will not formally endorse — of the 60 candidates for Council in 2022, we believe each of these 22 candidates for office (some of whom appear on our non-endorsement list, as well as the Women Candidates Endorsement ballot above) — to be of the highest calibre and character. Should one or more of these well-experienced candidates find themselves elected to Council come Saturday evening, October 15th, Vancouverites would have every reason to celebrate.

#VanElxn2022 | VanRamblings’ Druthers Endorsement Ballot

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The Druthers Endorsement Ballot you see above represents the names of 22 fine, skilled and hard-working candidates for Vancouver City Council, all of whom would make great City Councillors but, sadly, whose names will not appear on VanRamblings’ official endorsement ballot, to be published next Wednesday.

Still and all, each of the candidates we write about today are well worth considering casting a vote for, at the advance polls, or on Election Day, Saturday, October. Meet the 22 fine candidates for Vancouver City Council we write about today.


l – r: COPE’s Breen Ouelette, ABC Vancouver’s Brian Montague, and Forward Together’s Dulcy Anderson

Number 101 on the ballot you’ll receive when you enter the polling station to vote, Breen Ouelette is running with Vancouver’s second oldest political party, the Coalition of Progressive Electors, Mr. Ouelette is a a Métis man, and as he describes himself, a “father, activist, and lawyer” who is also works in the labour movement as a union counsellor. Mr. Ouelette is running for Council to ensure there are …

“Renter redevelopment protections, universal vacancy control, the prioritization of non-market development,  placing affordable housing levies on developers, while working to densify all detached housing zones.”

Number 103 on the ballot, ABC Vancouver’s Brian Montague served with the Vancouver Police Department for over 28 years until his recent retirement.

As a sitting member of Vancouver City Council, Mr. Montague commits to …

“Addressing the major challenges facing Vancouver residents, including increases in crime, and Vancouver’s out-of-control cost of living.”

Brian believes it is important to take pride in the places where we live and work. He wants to see City Hall revitalize neighbourhoods, build livable communities, and ensure Vancouver is a clean, safe, and welcoming place, for all families.

Number 104, Forward Together’s Dulcy Anderson holds degrees in Women’s Studies and City Planning from Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ms. Anderson is running with Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s new civic party, and should she be elected to City Council — which from the polling VanRamblings has seen, she would seem to be all but assured of gaining a seat at the Council table. Dulcy Anderson has committed to work on resolving …

“Generational housing issues, working to build a healthy and vibrant community, responding to our  climate emergency, ensuring more child care spaces are made available, while working with senior levels of government to ensure investment in housing, childcare, climate action, and transportation.”

Ms. Anderson has much work cut out for herself. Achievable, if you know Dulcy.


l – r: Forward Together’s’s Tesicca Truong, COPE’s Nancy Trigueros, and Vote Socialist’s Sean Orr

Number 105. All but assured a seat on Vancouver City Council, the former provincial New Democratic Party Vancouver-Langara candidate has emerged as one of the bright lights on the 2022 campaign trail, heartbreakingly eloquent, tough and on track to become a British Columbia Premier down the road. For now Ms, Truong’s candidacy involves getting youth involved. Make no mistake, though, Ms. Truong’s appeal spans demographics, as she has emerged as a woman who connects with the issues that are of most concern to you: affordable housing, responding to our climate emergency, and working co-operatively with senior levels of government to fund initiatives that will improve the quality of your life.

Number 107. VanRamblings wants working class women on our next City Council. Enough of the holier-than-thou virtue signalers we’ve currently got, the elitists who’ve never missed a meal. No, we want an immigrant, an émigré — immigrants comprise half of Vancouver’s population — a community advocate for immigrant rights, civil rights, and labour rights, an activist who believes that politics is a route to empowering the disenfranchised into action,  must be placed in the hands of everyday citizens, rather than current crop of well-meaning but elitist do-gooders.

Number 108.  Here’s what Vote Socialist Council candidate Sean Orr has to say …

“We can rebuild the City of Vancouver — for all of us, not just the wealthy few. In doing so, we can make our shared home the most livable, equitable, and sustainable city in the world. How do we get there from here?

Tenants can and should write housing policy. Workers can and should run their workplaces. Drug users should write drug policy. Public transit users can and should run our public transit system. People with disabilities can and should make decisions about building codes and accessibility.

We know what’s best for us; let’s fight for it.“

Vote for Sean Orr, the transformative candidate for Council in #VanExln2022.


l – r: Forward Together’s’s Alvin Singh, Green Party’s Michael Wiebe, and COPE’s Tanya Webking

Number 111. For the past four years, Alvin Singh — a longtime, much respected community activist — has taken on the arduous role of Director of Communications in  Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s office — a job of critical importance — where’s he’s had to deal with media jerks like … hmmm, VanRamblings, which Alvin has always carried off with aplomb and a commitment to professionalism rarely found at the all-too-often partisan municipal level, but not with Mr. Singh, who personifies grace, wit, humanity and intelligence always. In 2022, Alvin Singh has joined the political fray, as a key Forward Together candidate for Vancouver City Council. Alvin Singh says his key priorities when he’s elected to Council would include …

Continuing his work as Chair of the City of Vancouver’s first-ever Renters Advisory Committee, where he fought to expand affordable housing and protect renters’ rights. During my time with the David Suzuki Foundation, Mr. Singh worked to secure a constitutional right to live in a healthy environment.

Clearly, after four years of working inside City Hall, he has come to possess an intimate knowledge of how municipal politics functions. Supporting Mayor Kennedy’s vision for an affordable, sustainable, caring, and prosperous Vancouver. Alvin Singh looks forward to serving you.

Now it’s all up to you. All you have to do is mark your ballot for Alvin Singh, at spot 111 on the ballot you’ll receive when approaching the appropriate table within the polling station, where you’ll cast your ballot to elect Vancouver’s next Council.

Number 114. The Green Party of Vancouver’s Michael Wiebe has transformed into the most serious-minded, feet-on-the-ground and near our streams, the hardest working, most detail-oriented — and, dare we say, most independently-minded — member of Vancouver City Council. Mr. Wiebe should be assured of re-election to a 2nd term, but polling results see him in the 12th spot, which to VanRamblings is little short of unbelievable. How is it that Michael Wiebe is not topping the election polls? Well, you can change that by not only casting a vote for Michael Wiebe, but telling all your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to vote for Michael Wiebe, and darn it to heck, donating to Michael Wiebe’s re-election campaign.

Number 118. Tanya Webking is Dene/German from the Tlicho Nation, who began working in the Downtown Eastside 25 years ago. With a background in mental health and addiction issues, counseling, advocacy, mediation, research, and grassroots community organizing, Ms. Webking is currently employed as the Indigenous Health Promotion Case Manager at AIDS Vancouver. In addition, Ms. Webking is Co-Chair of the City of Vancouver’s Renters Advisory Committee, and another VanRamblings favourite, a working class heroine and woman of the people if there ever was one. At last Wednesday’s Women Transforming Cities campaign event, she just blew everyone away with her expression of heart, commitment to building a better world, and a better city for all.

The key issues that Tanya Webking would address as a City Councillor …

  • Responding to the toxic drug overdose rates have gone up over 400% in the past seven years;;
  • Removing property tax exemptions on all churches and directly allocate those funds towards decolonizing housing and eradicating homelessness;;
  • Transitioning our current policing model to a community-led model of safety; and
  • Working at the forefront of an Indigenous-led revolution.

In this era of Indigenous reconcilation, Tanya Webking’s voice as a Vancouver City Councillor is absolutely critical to our collective future.


l – r: Progress Vancouver’s Morgane Oger, Green Party’s Adriane Carr,  ABC Vancouver’s Peter Meiszner

Number 121. Long one of VanRamblings favourite candidates for office and accomplished beyond all measure — Morgane Oger, a former Vice President of the BC NDP, Ms. Oger fights tirelessly for human rights, and is recognized across Canada as a champion of LGBTQ rights and representation. Morgane Oger is a powerful voice for safer communities and transformative government.

In 2022, Morgane Oger’s priorities should she be elected to City Council:

  • Housing affordability so our kids can afford to live here
  • Addressing the opioid crisis
  • Making Vancouver more livable for families

Number 122. Adriane Carr is Vancouver’s longest serving Vancouver City Council, first elected in 2011, and topping the polls in both 2014 and 2018. At present, Councillor Carr  chairs Council’s Policy and Strategic Priorities Committee, represents Council on three advisory committees, and continues her work on Vancouver’s UNDRIP Task Force, and Metro Vancouver’s Zero Emissions Innovation Centre. Ms. Carr also represents Vancouver on Metro Vancouver’s Board of Directors and Finance Committee, and Chairs Metro’s Climate Action Committee.

When Adriane Carr is re-elected to a fourth term on Vancouver City Council — take our word for it, it’s a given — Councillor Carr plans to continue the work she has lead tp improve housing affordability, reduce our city’s greenhouse gas emissions to achieve what scientists say is required to avoid a pending climate catastrophe, while continuing to genuinely engage with the citizens of Vancouver towards the creation of a vibrant, resilient and livable city.

Number 126. Peter Meiszner is a name you may have run across previously, during his employment as an online news producer and reporter with Global BC — when pretty much anytime between 2008 and 2014 when you surfed to the Global BC website, you’d find Peter’s name atop a story. At present, Mr.Meiszner is publisher at Urban YVR, and senior Digital Strategist at the University of British Columbia.

As an architecture buff, Peter Meiszner has served as the vice-chair of the Gastown Historic Area Planning Committee. Peter’s priorities when he’s elected to Vancouver City Council includes tackling the affordable housing crisis, working with senior levels of government, and cutting permit wait times and red tape to deliver the housing Vancouverites need.

As a West End resident, Mr. Meiszner downtown resident, he is committed to a strong advocacy for downtown residents and businesses, with a focus on improving our neighbourhoods, ensuring public safety and creating vibrant public spaces that animate our city.


l – r: Green Party’s Dr. Devyani Singh, Vision Vancouver’s Lesli Boldt, and ABC Vancouver’s Lisa Dominato

Number 128. VanRamblings first ran across Dr. Devyani Singh — climate scientist, and an economist with expertise in energy and climate policy, energy transitions, natural climate solutions, environmental finance, and sustainable forestry — when she was running with the provincial Green Party to unseat Vancouver Point Grey MLA David Eby in 2020, and scared the beejuzus out of him that she might very well do so — given that she is the energy bunny of British Columbia politics — if you’ve never heard Dr. Singh speak, you’re in for a treat — tireless in her devotion to transform British Columbia into a greener province.

“We are in the middle of multiple crises — climate crises, a global pandemic (it’s not over yet!), and housing affordability. The past few years have shown us how societal inequalities have a disproportionate impact on marginalized communities — BIPOC, LGBTQ2+, seniors, people living in poverty, and those with disabilities.

As a climate scientist, an immigrant, a woman of colour, and a renter in Vancouver, I understand the struggles faced by us all, and will dedicate myself as an elected Vancouver City Councillor to collaborating across party lines to build a sustainable city which is affordable and livable for all.”

You’ve got your marching orders: save a spot on your ballot for Dr. Devyani Singh.

Number 129. A seasoned marketing communications and public affairs professional with over 20 years of experience in the industry, and over a decade of consulting experience for clients in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, Lesli Boldt founded her own boutique communications agency, Boldt Communications, in 2001. Over the years, Lesli has taken on municipal government-related roles, including managing Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Games-related communications, and communications for the Vancouver Public Library

Before founding Boldt Communications, Ms. Boldt worked in public affairs with the Vancity Credit Union, and held several progressively senior communications positions with the B.C. government in Victoria and Vancouver, when the New Democratic Party was in power, between 1992 and 2001.

Living yours values. Lesli Boldt is passionate about environmental protection and climate action. Between 2012 and 2020, she was a member of the Board of the Georgia Straight Alliance, a B.C.-based environmental advocacy organization, serving two years as president. In her professional life, she’s also worked with leading environmental and climate action organizations like the David Suzuki Foundation, Clean Energy Canada, Climate Smart and more. As is the case more and more these days, and is the case with VanRamblings, future Vancouver City Councillor Lesli lives without a car, and walks, cycles, takes transit or as the situation warrants uses the popular local car share services of Modo, or Evo (or hitches a ride).

Why is important for you to consider when casting your ballot for Lesli Boldt when you decide who will sit on Vancouver’s next City Council? Because Lesli Boldt lives like we do, frugally yet joyfully, the pace of her life is slow and considered while getting a tonne of stuff done, Ms. Boldt is do-er, committed as she is to responding to and actually doing something to rectify the often times quite dire climate emergency in which we increasingly find ourselves, she communicates and resonates like mad when you meet her in person, as she would as a City Councillor — and gawd knows it’s critical to communicate if you’re an elected official, for whom it’s a duty of obligation to constituents. We urge you: cast your vote for Lesli Boldt.

Number 131. ABC Vancouver’s Lisa Dominato has served with distinction, first as an outstanding Trustee of Vancouver’s Board of Education, and over the past four years, as a Vancouver City Councillor. On Council, Councillor Dominato has proved an effective collaborator and a community champion, bringing Vancouver citizens together on the complex issues of our time and their impact on the city we love, facilitating authentic engagement with citizens that has lead to positive solutions. Lisa Dominato currently serves as Chair of the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), and also serves on the Metro Vancouver Board, in her roles as Chair of the Performance and Audit Committee, and Vice-Chair of Metro Vancouver’s Liquid Waste Committee.

With a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree from University of Burgundy in Dijon, France, Lisa Dominato is fluent in both of Canada’s official languages, and a past recipient of the Premier’s Annual Innovation and Excellence Award. Did we mention that she is a role model and mom to two girls, soon to be women (kids just grow up way too fast), and stepmom to an outstanding young woman. When not changing the world, Lisa Dominato enjoys the outdoors, and whenever possible opts for two wheels or transit, runs a pretty decent marathon, is a swimmer (her favourite pool at New Brighton park), and on the rare days when she’s not too busy, even manages to squeeze in a hike along one of Metro Vancouver’s many trails, or up into the mountains. And, oh yeah, did we say: re-elect Lisa Dominato to Vancouver City Council!


l – r: NPA Vancouver’s Cinnamon Bhayani, COPE Vancouver’s Jean Swanson, and the NPA’s Ken Charko

Number 134. A member of the Vancouver Métis Community Association and the Urban Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Committee, to which she was appointed by Vancouver City Council, Cinnamon Bhayani takes great pride in her Métis Heritage. In addition, her family is active in her husband’s Ismaili Muslim community.

Holder of a degree in Criminology from Simon Fraser University, a graduate of the Executive Development Programme at Columbia University, who completed work with the Postgraduate Certificate Programme for Women in Leadership from Cornell University, Ms. Bhayani’s passion for knowledge is one she hopes to pass down to her children, and put to good use when she is elected as a Vancouver City Councillor on Saturday, October 15th. Cinnamon Bhayani lives in the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood with her two children, husband, and jack russell, Griffin.

Number 136. What is there to say about Jean Swanson that hasn’t already been written? Champion of the underprivileged — of which there are far too many in our city — when you speak with her, Jean Swanson doesn’t sound like a rabble-rouser, her voice quiet and cautious, her words becomingly self-deprecating. A mainstay among anti-poverty activists in Vancouver who has spent more than 40 years sparring with property developers, SRO-managers and politicians, Jean Swanson with COPE Vancouver, for a second term on Vancouver City Council.

Over the past four years, Councillor Swanson has introduced motions for tenant protections, rent control, social housing, free transit, workers’ rights, anti-racism, safe supply, and decriminalizing poverty. In 2016, she was awarded the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour, for “her long-standing devotion to social justice, notably for her work with the residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.” Jean Swanson’s voice on City Council is critical and necessary. When you cast your ballot, please save a vote for Jean Swanson.

Number 138. VanRamblings has known and liked Ken Charko, dating back to 1996, when he purchased the lease on the Dunbar Theatre, on Vancouver’s west side. In 2011, when running for Vancouver City Council he fell just shy of being elected to Council. Running on a platform of investing in new and existing community centres, developing a comprehensive public safety plan, and building affordable housing co-operatives across the city.

Ken is convinced that in 2022, the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) — the city’s oldest electoral organization — has a winning campaign theme around the twin issues of safety and affordability. Crimes affecting small businesses, especially break and enters has emerged as an issue of importance to this potential Vancouver City Councillor.

“Crimes against small businesses hurt hard-working Vancouverites,” Ken recently told Carlito Pablo, in an interview published in The Georgia Straight.

“No one in city hall cares about crime and small businesses,” he told Mr. Pablo.

There’s a level-headed, grassroots, plain spoken appeal to Ken Charko that resonates with Vancouver voters. If you want a champion at Vancouver City Hall, cast a vote for Ken Charko!

Many years ago, UBC political scientist Paul Tennant, when asked what it takes to get elected to Vancouver City Council, said the following …

“The first five slots on the ballot,and the final five slots on the ballot, are the golden ticket to getting elected as a City Councillor in the City of Vancouver.”

And over the years, such has proved to be the case again and again and again.

To conclude today’s Vancouver City Council’s Endorsement List post of candidates for you to consider casting a vote for in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election,

Russil Wvong is running with Mayor Kennedy’s Forward Together civic party …

https://youtu.be/2GTBje6HODU

#VanElxn2022 | Three Outstanding Women Candidates for Office

#VanElxn 2022, #VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, Politics, Vancouver Votes 2022, , , , ,


Stephanie Smith, 2022 Green Party of Vancouver candidate for Vancouver City Council

At the outset of the campaign, when taking in the Chinatown Festival on Keefer Street, VanRamblings was introduced by Green Party of Vancouver incumbent City Councillor,  the gregarious Pete Fry, who all but took us by the hand to meet Stephanie Smith, who Pete told us is running in her first election for a Council position at Vancouver City Hall. After an in-depth and utterly humane discussion of the core issues in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election, this President of the Lore Krill Housing Co-operative in Gastown, catapulted herself into the position of VanRamblings’ favourite candidate in the 2022 civic election campaign for office.

A labour and social justice activist living in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, since the late 1990s, Stephanie Smith has worked in the non-profit sector as a front line legal advocate across the city and most recently in the Downtown Eastside at First United, providing legal advice to those who’ve come to her expressing a concern about the conditions of their lives.

“What that’s meant is that representing tenants on the DTES, we’ve worked to save one tenancy at a time, one eviction hearing at a time. In labour terms, ‘One job, one grievance.’ One person’s income, one person’s disability benefits appeal at a time. Over the years, my colleagues and I have won countless battles, but sometimes it feels to us like we’re losing the war.”

For Stephanie Smith, entering this campaign as a Green Party candidate for Council, she has come to feel a new sense of possibility, of optimism in places that she hasn’t felt it for a long time.

“This is a terrible moment in a lot of ways. The forces aligned against people seem so overwhelming, and there’s so much suffering. So many people in Vancouver feel like they’re on the bubble, they’re one eviction notice, one demoviction, one renoviction away from never being able to come back to the city.

If they’re artists, their studio space has been purchased and converted, and they can’t produce their work here.

That profound insecurity is destructive to people, destructive to community, and destructive to our city.

I feel like, working together, we can change that dark scenario. There are things we can do together, if we are bold, if we are thoughtful, and if we are collaborative, that will bring security and a sense of belonging, a sense that we’re going to be able to remain here and not be pushed out of the city we love by a cabal of developers, and the politicians they have in their pocket.”

Stephanie Smith believes with all her heart, and will dedicate every waking moment as a Vancouver City Councillor to working towards creating housing in our city that is genuinely affordable housing for wage earners, for the working poor, for seniors and single parents, for all those who are in need, priced at half of the market rate, where no tenant or co-operative housing member would pay more than 30% of their income to be housed, and real tenant protections would be assured.

“Despite everything, I believe we are all here together in a moment of profound optimism & a sense of the possibilities in front of us.”

Imagine having a well-experienced, grassroots community activist and people’s advocate, like Green Party of Vancouver’s Stephanie Smith, as a City of Vancouver Councillor, sitting in Chambers at City Hall. You can make that happen, you must make that happen, by marking your ballot for Candidate #141, for the people’s advocate, Stephanie Smith — to help transform Vancouver into a City for All.


Arezo Zarrabian, NPA candidate for Vancouver City Council, in which Ms. Zarrabian blows the roof off the rafters at the Vancouver Police Department’s all-candidates forum! Watch. Listen. Cheer!

NPA Vancouver candidate Arezo Zarrabian, running for a seat on Vancouver City Council is, by far, the loveliest, the strongest, the best informed, the most articulate and the candidate with the most commanding presence that we’ve come across and become acquainted with during the 2022 Vancouver civic election season.

Does the fact Ms. Zarrabian just so happens to be a lovely human being detract from the fact she is exceptionally strong-minded and a phenomenally committed and principled community activist, that Arezo Zarrabian is one of the most accomplished candidates in the 2022 civic election, that she is a woman who loves her husband and child with all her heart — and her very fortunate friends, too — or that Ms. Zarrabian is a person who enjoys her Arbutus Walk neighbourhood?

Hell, no!

Just watch and listen to the video at the top of this second portion of today’s VanRamblings column, where we introduce you to Vancouver’s première crime data analyst, a decorated 13-year veteran of the Vancouver Police Department, where in the video she blows the roof off the rafters because she, and she alone, knows what’s going on in our city, was the first to identify that there are four random, unprovoked attacks occurring in our city, across every one of Vancouver’s 23 neighbourhoods, on unsuspecting, innocent victims, each and every day.

As if the video above, featuring Arezo Zarrabian as she goes up against Mayor Kennedy Stewart and ABC Vancouver Mayoral candidate Ken Sim — where she calls them out for their hapless foolishness and divisiveness —  is not impressive enough — and we’re here to tell you that it’s damned impressive — when Arezo Zarrabian, a first generation Iranian-Canadian born citizen, spoke at last Wednesday evening’s University Women’s Club of Vancouver all-women candidates Women Transforming Cities forum, as she began her address to the audience, she broke down as she spoke about Mahsa Amini, whose death in police custody in the jails of Iran, has triggered nationwide and worldwide protests, recovering to give the strongest, most well-received candidate speech of the evening.

Impressive and moving.

TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver Mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick approached Ms. Zarrabian as the event drew to a close, so impressed was she with Ms. Zarrabian’s impassioned and reasoned expression of her opposition to both the Broadway Plan and The Vancouver Plan, how implementation of both developer-initiated plans would prove detrimental to the interests of Vancouver’s citizens.

If you haven’t already voted at an advance poll, or are holding off to vote on Election Day, Saturday, October 15th, we strongly encourage you to save a vote for Arezo Zarrabian, number 150 on your ballot. Quite simply, we need more persons of character and integrity, informed decision-makers like Arezo Zarrabian involved in the life of our city. Believe us when we write: Arezo Zarrabian is a difference maker, from whom you will be hearing much in the months and years to come.


Meet Tessica Truong, the outstanding Forward Together candidate for Vancouver City Council!

Meet Tesicca Truong, the single most eloquent — and we’re here to tell you, heartbreakingly so — candidate for civic office in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election, a must-elect candidate to Vancouver City Council, a transformative candidate who — although Ms. Truong will be Premier of British Columbia one day (we just hope we’re  around to experience that glorious, certain-to-occur day) — at present is seeking your necessary support to elect her to a seat around the Council chambers table, for the next four years, as your advocate at Vancouver City Hall.

An Environmental Science Honours graduate student, at present, Ms. Truong works in the field of community engagement, her passions meeting at the intersection of youth empowerment, citizen engagement and resilience building.

A co-founder of City Hive, a non-profit on a mission to transform the way young people shape their cities and the civic processes that engage them, Ms. Truong also co-created the inaugural Vancouver School Board Sustainability Conference, currently in its tenth year and kick-started the Vancouver Youth4Tap Coalition, a city-wide campaign which led to the installation of new water fountains in every public high school in Vancouver. As she makes clear in the video above, Ms. Truong has also worked closely with British Columbia’s Minister of the Environment, George Heyman, working not just municipally and provincially, but also federally.

Says Tesicca Truong about her current candidacy to become a City Councillor …

“What I know is that political decisions are made by those who show up, and I want to show up for Vancouverites.”

Tessica Truong currently works as the Manager of Engagement and Social Enterprise at Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.

In the latest internal party polling shared with us by the various campaigns, Arezo Zarrabian has come out of the blue, and currently sits in the fifth spot, a seeming lock to be elected to Vancouver City Council come the evening of Saturday, October 15th. Meanwhile, Tesicca Truong currently sits at 8th, while pollsters have registered Ms. Truong’s fellow Forward Together Council colleague, Dulcy Anderson at 9th. There are 10 open seats on Vancouver City Council.

Here are a few more internal party polling results …

The Greens’ Adriane Carr, ABC Vancouver’s Sarah Kirby-Yung, and COPE’s Jean Swanson — incumbents all — are the only true locks for Council, hunkered down as they are in the top 3 slots. ABC’s Mike Klassen is in at #4, the NPA’s Arezo Zarrabian has a lock on 5, while TEAM’s Bill Tieleman sits in the 6th spot. Currently sitting at 7th, outstanding TEAM candidate for Council, Sean Nardi. Eight and ninth spots you know. The 10th spot?

At the moment, there’s a wide gap between the 9th and 10th spots. Vying for the final seat on Council: incumbent Greens’ Pete Fry and MIchael Wiebe, ABC Vancouver incumbents Rebecca Bligh and Lisa Dominato, and the NPA’s Ken Charko and Melissa De Genova. Still and all, 10 days out, the election is far from over.

Most pundits, and most campaign staff VanRamblings has spoken with believe the election will be decided in its final three days. Anything could happen, we are told.

Here’s a story we shared with Tesicca Truong and Arezo Zarrabian …

One fine sunny day in late September 2015 during that autumn’s federal election, VanRamblings made a point of visiting each of the campaign offices in Vancouver Centre, where our friend Constance Barnes was the NDP candidate running against incumbent Liberal Hedy Fry; Constance’s office was on Granville Street. We also visited the Green Party office on Denman Street.

Meh, to both.

We then visited Hedy Fry’s campaign office where, much to our surprise and astonishment, we were welcomed with open arms (and this was on a day when we’d published a rousing endorsement of the federal NDP … that went viral, with 100,000 hits by noon our time) … anyway, there we were in the Liberal Party’s Vancouver Centre campaign office, when we were waved over by Hedy’s campaign manager — to save our life, we can’t remember his name — when we sat down for a great 15-minute discussion. And, let us tell you … he was busy … but somehow, he still found time to engage in a conversation with us.

Here’s the piece of wisdom he imparted, which will be good advice for all candidates to follow in the final 10 days of the campaign — particularly those candidates we mention above as being in, or close to, one of the top 10 spots. When we suggested to Ms. Fry’s campaign manager that we’d seen the polls, and that Ms. Fry was running far ahead of her rivals ….

“Raymond, in every campaign I’ve ever managed, and that includes this campaign, no matter how far ahead the polls show us to be, I always, always, always instruct my staff to work like we’re 10 points behind. I work like the dickens, no matter what the polls say, as if my candidate is running 10 points behind. My campaign team and I work through until late election night, at which time we can begin to think about resting, but not til then.”

VanRamblings’ advice to all candidates running for office in the 2022 Vancouver civic election: enjoy yourself, work hard on the campaign trail but find some time for family & friends, try not to take the whole thing too seriously — VanRamblings is constantly surprised at how zealous supporters of various candidates are in responding to the maelstrom that is this election, than is the case with the candidates themselves, who are almost universally far more sanguine about the potential outcome of the election than is the case with their supporters — and cherish the opportunity with which you have been provided to offer yourself for that most important of endeavours: service and fealty to the people of the city you love.