#VanElxn2022 | The State of the Race in Vancouver

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As this very confusing, contentious — and, at times, downright nasty — 2022 Vancouver civic election draws to close, Election Day but three days away, your vote tabulated in the machine where you may have voted in advance, the vote set to be announced before 8:30pm on Saturday, there is very little that is certain.

Strangely, for the first time ever, there were no in-person Vancouver School Board all-candidates meetings. Also strange: for the first time in decades, downtown’s Christ Church Cathedral did not hold its always well-attended last Sunday before the election Mayoral debate. This year, the Last Candidate Standing event was as joyously raucous as ever — with Vancouver City Councillor Michael Wiebe emerging as the winner of the woefully under-attended Saturday afternoon event.

Now for another piece of alarming news: In 2022, we are experiencing the lowest advance poll turnout, ever — as of this date, fewer than half of the number of voters have cast a ballot at an advance poll after five days of advance voting, on October 1st, 5th, 8th and 11th than was the case at this point in October 2018.

If advance poll voter turnout holds to form as a predictor for Election Day and overall turnout, given that in 2018, 176,450 eligible voters cast a ballot, for a 39.4% voter turnout in the last Vancouver civic election, in 2022, we could conceivably be looking at a 2022 eligible voter turnout of fewer than 90,000 voters who’ll make their way to the polls, hovering around just over 20% of eligible voters. When there’s so much on the line for the electorate in 2022, how can that be happening?

Dan Fumano reported in The Vancouver Sun yesterday that at this late date, 40% of probable Vancouver voters remain undecided, with a new poll suggesting that many voters are dissatisfied with City Hall and want change. “But it’s far from certain how that will actually play out on election day,” writes Fumano.

While the new results show ABC Vancouver candidate Ken Sim in a “compelling lead” ahead of Stewart and TEAM for a Livable Vancouver’s Colleen Hardwick, the choices of the as-yet undecided voters “could move any of the candidates into the winning spot,” the Leger poll conducted for The Vancouver Sun says.

Steve Mossop, a Vancouver-based executive vice-president at Leger, the national research and polling firm behind the survey, said he isn’t predicting at this point who will win this weekend. Sim is leading in the point-in-time captured by the poll, Mossop said, “but it’s a tenuous lead when you have 40% undecided.”

“It’s about the mobilization of voters, to get them to actually show up. How strong are the strong supporters and how weak are the detractors? Sometimes in municipal elections, that ends up being the name of the game,” Mossop said.

Even given the above, most pundits, election watchers and party campaign managers are predicting a record low 28% turnout at the polls in 2022 — which, in and of itself, is incredibly disappointing — but barely over 20%, with 40% of voters undecided at this late date in the election cycle? What part of the word democracy and citizen engagement are Vancouver voters not understanding in 2022?

Sure there are 15 names on the Mayoral ballot, and 60 more names of candidates running for Vancouver City Council —  which Keith Baldrey on Global BC’s evening news broadcast indicated may be turning voters off.

Hhheeelllloooo, that’s why VanRamblings is here: to provide you with insight into who’s running, which candidates are worthy of your consideration, who the “stars” are who have emerged during 2022’s civic election campaign, where the Mayoral candidates stand on the two most important issues in the 2022 Vancouver municipal election — affordable housing and public safety —  and much much more.

Several of the ten civic parties which are offering candidates in this year’s Vancouver municipal election are conducting exit polling. Here’s what representatives from each of the main parties have told VanRamblings …

  • Voters are voting slate only; that’s called plumping your vote. A mass of voters are voting, say, for ABC Vancouver, and ABC Vancouver alone, and not casting a vote for any candidates running with a rival civic party, so as not to “dilute” their vote. VanRamblings has been told that holds true for voters casting a ballot for Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s Forward Together six-candidate slate and, most specifically, with Colleen Hardwick and her TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver slate of candidates;
  • Voters are selecting only a few candidates to mark their ballot for, candidates they know and support, and only these three or four candidates they have selected;
  • Exit polling has shown that a number of voters are casting a ballot for all of the Council incumbents, because they’re passingly familiar with these candidates;
  • Many eligible voters have chosen not to vote for any of the candidates running for office to gain a seat around the Vancouver School Board decision-making table, nor are they casting a vote for any Park Board candidates listed on their voting ballot.

Internal party polling conducted throughout the election, continuing through recent days, suggests that the Green Party of Vancouver is in trouble with the electorate, with incumbent, 11-year Green Vancouver City Councillor Adriane Carr the party’s only hope for holding onto a seat on City Council, with incumbents Pete Fry and Michael Wiebe far out of contention to be elected to a second term of office.

The race has tightened in recent days, with TEAM’s Colleen Hardwick in a statistical dead heat with Mayor Kennedy Stewart. This is anyone’s race to win come Saturday.

In the final three days of Campaign 2022 for Vancouver City Council, both the Mayor’s race and the race to gain a seat on Vancouver City Council have begun to heat up. Most political observers have been saying for weeks now, positing throughout the campaign, that this year’s Vancouver municipal election will come down to getting the vote out on Election Day, Saturday, October 15th, and energizing voters in the final three days of the 2022 campaign for Vancouver civic office.

Here are plausible scenarios as to what might occur come this Saturday evening …

The Forum Research poll above shows that TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver Mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick, and her six Council candidate team to be very much in contention. In reading the poll above, voters have become aware that support for incumbent Mayor Kennedy Stewart has dropped like a stone in the past month.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart has dropped 11 points in the past month.

  • Colleen Hardwick and TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver. Just a month ago, Kennedy Stewart enjoyed the support of 35% of eligible Vancouver voters. Today that support has dropped by 11 percentage points, which places him in a near dead heat with Colleen Hardwick. Meanwhile, support for ABC Vancouver Mayoralty candidate Ken Sim has risen by 4 percentage points. Given the volatility in the polling —  not to mention the volatility of the voters in these final three days of Campaign 2022 — and particularly given Hardwick’s neighbourhood-focused campaign that has, throughout, opposed the construction of towers within family neighbourhoods across every region of Vancouver, there’s every reason to believe that Colleen Hardwick and her six-member TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver Council candidate slate could emerge as come-from-behind victors soon after polls close this upcoming Saturday evening.
  • Mayor Kennedy Stewart and his six-candidate Forward Together team could sweep the civic election for Vancouver City Council. How is that possible you ask, given what you see in the Forum Research poll above? Make no mistake, British Columbia’s provincial NDP are pulling out all the stops to see to it that Mayor Kennedy Stewart, and all 6 Forward Together Council candidates, complemented by the 4 OneCity Vancouver candidates for Council constitute the full 2022 – 2026 Vancouver City Council. The NDP have turned over their invaluable voter and membership lists to Forward Together and OneCity — phone banks are a buzzin’. There’s a get-out-the-progressive-vote campaign initiated by the provincial NDP the likes of which you’ve never seen. Doesn’t matter what the polls show, all that matters — particularly given this will be a low voter turnout civic election — is that you ensure your voter base gets out to the polls this Saturday to cast their ballot for Forward Together and OneCity, in the most intensive GOTV campaign Vancouver has ever witnessed.
  • ABC Vancouver sweeps the election, running on their law-and-order platform, with billionaires Chip Wilson and the Rocky Mountaineer’s Peter Armstrong spending millions — millions more than any other Vancouver civic party — while skirting provincial election regulations after having established a political action committee (PAC) that has spent millions on television, radio, social media and ethnic press advertising, all to ensure a Ken Sim victory on Saturday night, joined by ABC Vancouver Council candidates, incumbents Sarah Kirby-Yung, Rebecca Bligh and Lisa Dominato, who’ll be joined by “newcomers” Mike Klassen — a rock solid lock to be elected to Council — and fellow ABC Vancouver Council candidates, Peter Meiszner and Brian Montague. The icing on the cake for the ABC Vancouver campaign: when Peter Armstrong left the Non-Partisan Association, he took the NPA voter and membership lists with him. In addition, Kevin Falcon’s B.C. Liberal party is only too happy to turn over the party’s provincial membership and voters list to the ABC Vancouver campaign — which lists don’t count for much on Vancouver’s east side, but make a world of difference on getting out the vote on Vancouver’s west side.

As always, election night results will be skewed by the overwhelming turnout of voters in Dunbar, Kerrisdale, Point Grey and Shaughnessy, who vote to protect their class interests. Whereas turnout east of Main averages 14%, in Kerrisdale and Shaughnessy — not to mention, Dunbar and Point Grey — that figures tops 90% of eligible voters making their way to the polls to cast their ballot.

All of the above said, to confuse you even more, most civic election political observers believe that come Saturday evening, in all likelihood Vancouver voters will have elected another Pizza Council — with three incumbents, the Greens’ Adriane Carr, ABC Vancouver’s Sarah Kirby-Yung and COPE’s Jean Swanson topping the polls, followed by ABC Vancouver’s Mike Klassen, and TEAM’s Bill Tieleman.

Who’ll fill out the remaining five spots on Vancouver City Council? Most pundits believe some combination of Forward Together’s Tessica Truong and Dulcy Anderson,  the Greens’ Pete Fry, ABC Vancouver incumbents Lisa Dominato and Rebecca Bligh.

Beyond that: NPA newcomer, Arezo Zarrabian — who has impressed the socks off of anyone who’s heard her speak — incumbent NPA Councillor Melissa De Genova and her fellow NPA running mate, Ken Charko; TEAM’s outstanding candidate, Sean Nardi, and the Greens’ incredibly sympathetic incumbent Vancouver City Councillor, Michael Wiebe.

OneCity Vancouver incumbent Councillor Christine Boyle — although her polling numbers have been off for much of the campaign — could surprise everyone by gaining a seat on Council for a second term. If there’s a God in the heavens, TEAM’s Cleta Brown oughta find herself elected to City Council on Saturday evening, as must be the case with Green candidate extraordinaire, Stephanie Smith.

#VanElxn2022 | VanRamblings’ Vancouver Park Board Endorsements

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Do you want your parks and recreation system back, from the virtue-signalers and the do-gooders, who these past four years have promoted the notion that Vancouver’s parks system belongs to the influx of homeless newcomers, coming to our city for drugs, and free accommodation in our parks?

Children playing in parks, parks that are free of needles and crack pipes, human feces and detritus of every description — hey, that’s like so 1999. Parks aren’t meant for families in 2022, parks are no longer the green space, the backyards for the 56% of renters and 25% of condominium owners in our city, for whom parks in the past have provided rest, relaxation, solace, fresh air, comfy benches to sit on, and even some recreational activities, like tennis, soccer and pickleball. No siree, Bob — Vancouver parks now belong to the homeless folks visiting from Halifax or Edmonton, Québec City, or who have made their way up into Canada from the U.S.

Are you living under the delusion our Vancouver parks belong to you, to your family, your friends and your neighbours? Do you have no heart?

The homeless need a place to live. Parks are great, and none better than Vancouver’s parks, lush and green, with all those trees for cover.

However, If you believe the Vancouver citizens who elect 7 Park Board Commissioners to office every four years, that those Commissioners are meant to be stewards of Vancouver’s  parks and recreation system, then we’re here to tell you — as good-hearted as these folks might be — you’re certainly not going to want to vote for candidates for the Greens, ABC Vancouver, Vision Vancouver or OneCity Vancouver — because as socially-conscious as candidates from those parties may be, their kindness extends only to the homeless, not to you or your family, and certainly not to the children for whom Vancouver is home.

When it comes to children in our city, that well-intentioned crew could give a good galldarn about your children — better to learn the hard lesson now that life is tough, and sometimes we have to sacrifice playing on that slide or in the sandbox, to serve the interests of the “greater good” — in this case, the steady influx of homeless arriving in our city from across Canada, and in some cases the U.S., central and South America, and even Europe and the Far East.

Above you see the five Park Board candidates, plus an alternate, VanRamblings endorses in 2022 — that would be TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver’s incumbent Park Board Commissioner, Tricia Barker, her TEAM running mates Kumi Kimura, Kathleen Larsen and Michelle Mollineaux, plus the NPA’s Park Board candidate, Dave Pasin, and TEAM alternate, James Buckson — who believe Vancouver’s parks are for everyone, including the homeless who courts have ruled may, if there is no other shelter available, tent overnight in the parks across our city, but only if these woebegone citizens vacate the park by 7 a.m., in order that families and the general public may enjoy our parks system.

But that’s doesn’t happen, does it? Instead, Vancouver’s lush, green parks have become semi-permanent homes for those who arrive on our shores daily.

Long story short, before VanRamblings relates a story that informs our writing today, and why it is we think it is critical you cast your ballot for the TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver candidates for Park Board, plus the NPA’s Dave Pasin …

  • Tricia Barker, a fine, upstanding, incumbent Park Board Commissioner, a seniors’ wellness professional, who these past four years has championed the interests of our seniors and persons with disabilities communities, and as a practicing Tibetan Buddhist whose motto is “pick happy” enjoys walks through Vancouver’s parks system each and every day. Tricia takes her job as a steward of Vancouver’s parks and recreation system seriously, takes her job as an advocate for you and your family seriously, has worked with Vancouver City Council to increase funding to our parks and recreation system, worked with the Queen of Pools-in-Parks in our city, Margery Duda, towards ensuring that there will be wading pools for children in every neighbourhood, and outdoor swimming pools in neighbourhoods across the city. Chances are should Vancouver voters elect Tricia Barker to a second term on Park Board, come December the indefatigable Tricia Barker will be elected Park Board Chairperson by her colleagues, for 2023. We think that scenario is just a little bit of heaven for Vancouver citizens, for families and for children;

  • Kumi Kimura, for some while now has held the job as senior manager at the Musqueam Golf Course, so we’re here to tell you that Kumi knows the value of exceptional recreational facilities: they have shaped her upbringing and her career. As is the case with many of us, Kumi Kimura has spent hours, days, weeks, months and years enjoying every aspect of Vancouver’s abundant parks and recreation system, and was one of the first to acquire a OneCard when they became available. A secret? Kumi knows just about everyone in the city. Walk down the street, enter a room, and folks rush over to greet Kumi, and wrap their arms around her in a hug. Maybe 15 years working in Vancouver’s hospitality industry where she’s met thousands upon thousands of people, means that if you’re a good person — and make no mistake, Kumi Kimura is a very good person — affection from those you’ve met and worked with in the past results in the kind of good will Ms. Kimura engenders. Why would Kumi Kimura make a superb Park Board Commissioner, apart from the fact that she’s heartbreakingly bright, knows Vancouver’s parks and recreation system backwards, forward and inside out, and has years of experience in governance? Gosh, we just answered our own question, didn’t we? Tricia Barker and Kumi Kimura are a team, running for Park Board with TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver. Please save a vote for Kumi Kimura — you’ll be so very, very glad you did;

  • Kathleen Larsen. The incoming elected Park Board needs to hit the ground running, needs to re-assert Commissioner control and Commissioner priorities that serve your interests. What does that take? For a start, a sophisticated understanding of how decisions are made at the Park Board table, how one must conduct oneself at Park Board to get things done, years (decades) of experience in governance, in meeting and achieving goals that make a difference for the better in the lives of working people, families and children, seniors and persons within our disabilities community. Read these parts of Kathleen Larsen’s bio … “Kathleen has worked as a Community and Heritage Planner in the Lower Mainland for 27 years, and possesses a first-rate knowledge of local government legislation, planning processes, urban design and heritage conservation and preservation.” Save a vote, prioritize Kathleen Larsen as the candidate for Vancouver Park Board for whom you’ll mark you ballot when you cast your vote. We promise that come post-election you’ll be very, very glad you did;

  • Michelle Mollineaux has operated within British Columbia politics for years, generally working in the background as a campaign manager, as well as working within all levels of governmental bureaucracy to achieve the best outcomes for all British Columbians and, in recent years, for the citizens of Vancouver. Now, it’s time for Michelle to make her début as a front-and-centre public servant. As an immigrant and a “soccer mom,” Michelle’s understanding of the importance of sports and recreation is second to none. Working to transform and reclaim Vancouver Park Board as a functioning parks and recreation system that best serves the interests of all of us who call Vancouver home is Michelle Mollineaux’s primary goal, as she will focus her energies on upgrading our aging community centres, sports facilities and fields. Working tirelessly to keep Vancouver parks, and the city of Vancouver green and safe for everyone, Michelle — a dynamic and action-oriented member of the TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver slate of Park Board candidates — promises to do better, will do better, and will be ready from Day One to get to work on your behalf to ensure that community pools will be built, water parks will be open in the summer, and Vancouver’s many, many parks will be open to everyone to enjoy. Save a vote for Michelle Mollineaux. You’ll be darn glad you did.

  • Dave Pasin, we believe, is our brother from another mother. Dave is someone VanRamblings has known for a great long while. In recent weeks, we have spoken frequently about the current election cycle, and commiserated about the state of parks and the city — in this very confusing, and dare we say, contentious election, so any solace Dave could offer is good by us. Of all the candidates who’ve come forward to offer themselves up for public service, when it comes to Vancouver’s parks and recreation system, Dave Pasin is among the crème de la crème of candidates for Vancouver Park Board in 2022, given his years of service as a member of the Board of Directors for, at various times, the West End Community Centre, the Hillcrest Community Centre, and the Dunbar Community Centre. The every second Monday Park Board meetings at 1111 Beach Avenue has, for many years, acted as a second home for the affable Dave Pasin, so often does he present to the Board on the need for more community pools, increased support for our community recreation centres, and ensuring reduced-rate Leisure Pass access to our public recreation centres — particularly for seniors living on a fixed income, and Vancouver’s indigent population, but also for families and children who are doing their best to keep fit. Dave Pasin has pioneered an innovative all access programme for children, youth, teens and seniors, first at the West End Community Centre, and more recently at the Hillcrest Community Centre. Dave Pasin has told VanRamblings that he  looks forward to the opportunity to work with TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver‘s slate of candidates, to reclaim Vancouver’s parks for everyone. VanRamblings strongly encourages you to save a vote for Dave Pasin.

Andrea Pinochet-Escudero thinks she’s going to lose. Let’s prove her wrong. Yeah, sure, Andrea’s running with Vote Socialist, and you’re not a socialist — if you’re having a hard time wrapping your head around the notion of voting for a socialist, think humanist instead, because Andrea Pinochet-Escudero is certainly that, and more. Why would you cast a vote for Ms. Pinochet-Escudero, you ask? The answer to that question is simple: because you care about the city, and Andrea Pinochet-Escudero means well for our city. Ms. Pinochet-Escudero isn’t one of those virtue-signaling, holier-than-thou champagne socialists, given to the big lie. As the mother of two young boys, who just happens to be married to the great hope of our future, Derrick O’Keefe (who came within a hair’s breadth of winning a seat on Council in 2018), in 2022, Ms. Pinochet-Escudero has emerged as the Park Board candidate who advocated most for the construction of community pools, more so than was the case with any other Park Board candidate this year. COPE’s incumbent Park Board Commissioner, Gwen Giesbrecht — we’re endorsing her next — needs a seconder for her motions around the Park Board table, as Andrea will require of Gwen: that can only be achieved if you cast your ballot for the true HUMANIST socialists running for Park Board this election cycle — Andrea Pinochet-Escudero and Gwen Giesbrecht, who together will bring compassion, warmth of character, heart, unending intelligence, and a commitment to the democratic process to their role as Park Board Commissioners, and make no mistake, both Andrea and Gwen will be YOUR non-partisan voice at the Park Board table. VanRamblings urges you to please, please, please save two spots on your ballot, and fill in that oblong shape next to the names of Andrea Pinochet-Escudero and Gwen Giesbrecht. We promise: you’ll be glad you did.

Gwen Giesbrecht. VanRamblings has known Gwen Giesbrecht for 30 years, and all through those years when she sat as Chairperson of the Britannia Community Centre. When VanRamblings was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2016, Gwen played a pivotal role in helping put into perspective what was going on in our life in 2016 through 2017 — as did Vancouver School Board trustee, Allan Wong (who we’re also endorsing), who played a similar role to that of Gwen. In some measure, we believe we’re here today because of the kindness, the advice, the solace and support of both Gwen and Allan. Now, a bit about Gwen: We love strong women of principle and conscience. Women don’t come stronger — and full of good will, strong will and cheer, and more principled than Gwen Giesbrecht. For the past four years, as an incumbent Park Board Commissioner, Gwen has acted as the democrat on Park Board, for the first couple of years taking the role of Park Board Committee Chairperson — that’s the part of the meeting where the public is provided with an opportunity to present to our elected Park Board Commissioners on issues of concern to Vancouver’s good citizens, who couldn’t have asked for a fairer and more democratically-inclined Chair than proved to be the case with Gwen Giesbrecht. Going forward, VanRamblings sees Gwen as the tough, informed, no-nonsense conscience of Vancouver Park Board. VanRamblings is endorsing Andrea Pinochet-Escudero (who we love!), at least in part, so that Gwen might have a seconder for motions she places before the Board for consideration. Make no mistake: we NEED Gwen Giesbrecht on Park Board for the next four years (and Andrea, too!). Although Gwen’s a team player, woebetide the Commissioner who steps out of line … Gwen will be on them like maple syrup on pancakes.

The rationale for Endorsing the 7 Park Board candidates identified above

For much of VanRamblings’ adult life we have worked in and around the Downtown Eastside, and on Vancouver’s east side, in the neighbourhoods where we were raised, which we called home all the years we were growing up.

Over the years, VanRamblings has taught Grade 5 at Admiral Seymour Elementary, worked as a summer relief social worker out of both the Strathcona and Grandview Woodland Ministry of Human Resources offices (now called the Ministry of Children and Family Development), as well as taken on work as a Family Support Worker or Family Counselor, with various east side social agencies.

Dating back to 1996, VanRamblings was assigned by both the Pacific Regional Offices of Statistics Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation as liaison for the Downtown Eastside, and areas east. In recent years, we worked as an Outreach worker with the Lookout Housing Aid Society.

Much of our work involved working with families who lived in one of the many buildings within the Raymur Place housing project, now called Stamps Place.

A few years back, for a two-year period VanRamblings worked with children in crisis who lived in the Stamps Place neighbourhood, mostly boys and girls aged ten to twelve. The children were tender-hearted but angry, having been expelled from one school after another, and when we worked with them were tended to by ‘special needs’ educational assistants, and psychologists.

As such, VanRamblings’ experience in the area is extensive, given that our work involved one-to-one work with families in need, and more often than not — given our background as an educator — work with children in crisis, children — more often than not, girls, exploited or on the verge of being exploited by their parents, neighbourhood teenage boys, and area pimps.

Many of the children resident in Stamps Place have only one safe space where they might find respite from the misery of their lives: parks, in this case Strathcona Park, as Strathcona Park is located nearby Stamps Place.

In 2018, Vancouver voters elected a majority COPE / Green Party contingent as Park Board Commissioners, who responded to Vancouver’s burgeoning homelessness crisis — caused in the main by an influx of a new homeless population arriving in Vancouver from the Prairies, Ontario, Québec and the Maritimes — by opening up our parks system to tent encampments, not just in Strathcona and Oppenheimer parks, but in all parks located across Vancouver.

The impact of opening our parks to those who do not have a home — an issue the Courts have said is allowable, with the proviso this homeless population vacate the park no later than 7 a.m., a provision rarely if ever enforced. Thus many parks across our city have become home to a drug addicted, untreated mentally ill population, where crack pipes, needles, feces and detritus have taken over many of Vancouver’s parks, including children’s play areas.

For the 56% of Vancouver residents who are renters, and the 25% of Vancouver’s population who are condominium owners, Vancouver’s parks are residents green spaces, their de facto backyards, providing a place of solace in the open air, surrounded by trees and grass, a place of rest, recreation and reflection, not to mention playgrounds for their young and not-so-young children.

With tender hearts and compassion, five of our current Vancouver Park Board Commissioners over these past four years — COPE’s Gwen Giesbrecht, Vision Vancouver’s John Irwin and Stuart Mackinnon, and the Green Party of Vancouver’s Camil Dumont and Dave Demers — rather than act as stewards of Vancouver’s parks and recreation system, and given that all three levels of government — municipal, provincial and federal — have failed to provide homes for Vancouver’s ever-increasing homeless population, out of good will and conscience, turned over many of Vancouver parks to our homeless population.

There is no question that Ms. Giesbrecht, Mr. Irwin, Mr. Mackinnon, Mr. Dumont, and Mr. Demers in making Vancouver parks available as home to Vancouver’s homeless population  acted with humanity and good faith.

However, in turning Vancouver’s parks system into homeless encampments, the 81% of Vancouver’s population for whom our parks are a place of rest, relaxation, solace and recreation, all out in the open air, and a place where their children might play in safety … well, let’s face it, in the main throughout our city, that is no longer the case for most Vancouver residents. Vancouver’s parks have, cruelly, become a haven for those in need of care and shelter.

Back to Stamps Place. As we wrote above, for many years we worked with young children, mostly girls, who were exploited by their parents, older boys and pimps, as sources of income for the exploiters, and as sexual playthings — let us remind you, we’re talking about 10, 11 and 12-year-old girls.

The ONLY safe place for the girls who live at Stamps Place, apart from the time they spend in school, is Strathcona Park, because at Strathcona Park there are safe and protective eyes on them always, the park not open to the pimps, the girls’ parents or the teenage boys who mean to exploit these young girls. Parents, pimps and teenage boys on the prowl enter Strathcona Park at their peril.

As such, for a brief period each day snuggled securely within Strathcona Park these young girls are provided with the opportunity to simply be what we would wish for all young children: preteen girls full of joy and the wonderment of life, out playing with their friends in the open air, in a place that promises safety, a sense of awe.

From September 2019 through until April 30th 2021 — nearly two years — Strathcona Park was “home” to a homeless population where homeless residents engaged in property theft, vandalism, a place where rape, violent assaults and fires were not uncommon. The Strathcona Park encampment was itself a hot spot for homicides, sexual and violent assaults, drug trafficking, and stolen goods, where there will multiple incidents of fires.

For VanRamblings, the tragedy of the Strathcona Park encampment was that for a period of some 20 months, exploited young girls no longer had a place of safety where they could meet with their friends, a place of respite where they could rest and get away from their lives, if only for an hour or two.

To VanRamblings that is a human tragedy. Young girls exploited, with nowhere to go, with no one to turn to, as a homeless population “took over” their park, their place of refuge, the only safe place in their neighbourhood where they would not be exploited, gone. A human tragedy involving not just vulnerable young girls, but the hundreds of children enrolled at Admiral Seymour Elementary and Strathcona elementary schools — who, for 20 months, had no place to go, no place of solace, no place to play outside with their friends.

VanRamblings believes we cannot allow this human tragedy to continue, we cannot allow further homeless park encampments to deny our children the same opportunities with which we were provided growing up.

Thus today, VanRamblings endorses the full slate of the very fine TEAM … for a Livable Vancouver candidates for Park Board, as well as Dave Pasin, along with COPE’s Gwen Giesbrecht and Vote Socialist’s Andrea Pinochet-Escudero, who might act as the conscience on the 2022 – 2016 Vancouver Park Board.

We urge you to vote wisely, and in the interests of all Vancouver citizens, and most particularly for all the children in our city, who live across every neighbourhood in Vancouver, who require ready and safe access to our parks.

#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

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

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.