Coalition of Supporters
This is a group effort. This is a grassroots effort.
Many citizens and community groups, including 19 of our neighbourhood Community Centre Associations, are opposed to the decision taken by eight of the eleven City Councillors on December 13 last year to abolish the ELECTED PARK BOARD. Eight City Councillors do not have a mandate to eliminate the Park Board elected by 418,033 votes in October 2022. Fundamental democratic principles must be respected.
The Park Board has a mandate to protect, preserve and develop the parks and recreation facilities loved by the citizens of Vancouver. That is their ONLY mandate. Park Board Commissioners are elected to carry out that mandate and are accountable to Vancouver citizens at election time. City Councillors have a very broad mandate managing all aspects of City operations and development beyond parks and recreation. We are deeply concerned that parks and recreation will not receive the same priority attention that it has now with the elected Board.
The elected Park Board was created in the 1880s because the citizens at that time wanted to be sure that the pressures for real estate development did not compromise their determination to have a robust parks and recreation system. We have the same concern today. We all know how influential the development industry is on City Council. There is an inherent conflict of interest when the same elected officials must deal with both development proposals needing land assembly and parks preservation and expansion. The elected Park Board is a powerful bulwark against the loss of our park land. Examples of some treasures created by our visionary elected Park Board include: English Bay Beach, VanDusen Botanical Garden, The Stanley Park Seawall, Fraserview Golf Course, Sunset Nursery.
Citizen groups and organizations work closely with the elected Commissioners. Commissioners have the time and inclination to meet with the public and representatives of organizations to address matters of concern and to consider innovative proposals. The public have open access to bi-weekly meetings of the Board. City Councillors are very busy with the wide range of responsibilities they have managing City affairs. They will have far less time to work with community groups. This will be a source of frustration for those working to improve services and programs in their communities. We fear that they will be sidelined to dealing with City staff and cut off from effective communication with elected Councillors. The governance structure becomes less informed of community needs and concerns. It is a step backward eliminating this layer of elected governance, not a step forward as the Mayor would like us to believe.
The Mayor has yet to produce any evidence of the benefits of City Hall control over Parks and Recreation. What we do know is that he is trying to tell Vancouver citizens that the governance system is broken, by pointing to the disrepair of facilities such as the Aquatic Centre and Kits Pool. The facts are that City Council took control in 2010 of the specialized facility maintenance staff from the Board in the name of efficiency. Ever since, the Real Estate and Facility Management department in the City has failed to properly maintain these facilities and respond to work orders in a timely manner.
Legally, City Council cannot make this change in governance by itself. It passed a resolution at Council by a vote of 8-3, but it must ask the Provincial Government to amend the Vancouver Charter (legislation that lays out the powers of the City of Vancouver). It contains a provision for an elected seven member Board of Parks and Recreation. This is why we are asking you to sign our petition demanding that the Premier and all of the MLAs take no steps to dissolve the elected Vancouver Park Board unless requested to do so by the voters of Vancouver. If the Mayor wants to abolish the Park Board, he must go before the voters in the next municipal election in October 2026 stating clearly his intention to do so, and have the voters of Vancouver decide on its future.
Thank you for your support!
The Coalition of Concerned Citizens
Who are we?
We are a group of concerned Vancouver citizens.
It all started with a passing remark made to a friend over dinner one evening about being concerned about the steps that Mayor Sim was taking to abolish our elected Park Board. Shortly after this, that friend invited me to participate in a meeting of members of the social justice teams at Shaughnessy Heights United Church. (One of the members of that group had raised the same concerns as I had.)
That meeting resulted in the formation of a small group of similarly concerned people. (Basically, there were two concerns – one concern as to the manner in which the abolition of this elected Board was happening – for example without any public consultation and a second concern as to whether the abolition of the Board was a good or a bad thing for Vancouver.) The first step for our group was to learn more about the situation.
As we learned more, it became clear that our concerns were well founded. It also became clear that there were many other citizens who shared our concerns. Our numbers grew as other concerned citizens joined us (friends of members of the group, then friends of friends, then people that we encountered in our search for information etc.). It has been amazing to us to learn how many other citizens share our concerns. It has also been amazing how many people have extended help to us, including the son-in-law of one of our members who has taken the time and used his expertise to film the wonderful videos on this website.
To sum it up, we are a group of concerned Vancouver citizens. We have become a highly motivated group and, with our Coalition partners, are committed to doing all that we can do to ensure that these concerns are addressed and that that the voters of Vancouver have a say in what happens to our elected Park Board.
PS: As a result of this experience, we learned that a few friends getting together can lead to a movement and movements can change the course of events. We recommend getting involved.
The Coalition of Former Park Board Commissioners
Malcolm Ashford
Tricia Barker
Constance Barnes
Sarah Blyth
Roslyn Cassels
John Coupar
Casey Crawford
Libby Davies
Allan De Genova
Melissa De Genova
Camil Dumont
Alan Fetherstonhaugh
Dermot Foley
Gwen Giesbrecht
Raj Hundal
John Irwin
Aaron Jasper
Tim Louis
Stuart MacKinnon
Bill McCreery
Laura McDiarmid
Donna Morgan
Lyndsay Poaps
Christopher Richardson
Ian Robertson
Anita Romaniuk
Erin Shum
Michael Wiebe
Pat Wilson
Loretta Woodcock
As a former Park Board Commissioner, I am deeply concerned about the motion to change the Vancouver Charter and remove the Park Board as an elected body and stewards of our beloved Stanley Park and the entire parks and recreation system. There was a reason the PB was created 133 years ago through an act of the Vancouver Charter. “It has seven elected commissioners who are charged by the Vancouver Charter with determining the policy direction of the Park Board.[2] The board has a mandate to “provide, preserve and advocate… to benefit people, communities, and the environment.” This is their role as elected by the citizens. Once this autonomy is taken away, there is no responsibility and everything is fair game for developers. This has been my fear for awhile now and it appears as if the writing is on the wall. – Laura McDiarmid
The Association Presidents Group for 19 Community Centres
Statement of the Association Presidents Group
The Association Presidents Group (APG), representing 19 Vancouver Community Centre Associations, strongly supports the continuation of an ELECTED Park Board that is accountable to the voters of Vancouver. We believe this community based governance structure best serves the interests of Vancouver residents and is the reason we have an award winning, world class parks and recreation system.
The Mayor and 7 City Councillors do not have the authority to call for the elimination of a Park Board elected by the voters of Vancouver.
Voters in the October 2026 municipal elections can decide if they wish to make such a drastic change in governance and community control over decisions affecting Vancouver parks and recreation.
About the APG
Most of Vancouver’s community centres operate under a partnership between the Vancouver Park Board and individual Community Centre Associations (CCAs).
CCAs manage the day-to-day operations of the community centres, overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors. The community centre is staffed by employees of the Vancouver Park Board and also, in some cases, by employees of the CCA. The CCA works closely with the Vancouver Park board to make sure that the recreational, educational and social programs and events offered at each community centre are affordable, accessible and meet the needs of the unique community that it serves.
What We Do
Community centres provide recreational and educational programs and other social activities and services. The local CCA board is elected by local residents who are members of the association. This collaborative operational model is progressive and ensures the engagement and participation of residents in the operation of their local centre. In fact, other municipalities around the world are trying to replicate Vancouver’s CCA model because it not only ensures that the community’s needs are met, but it also directly engages citizens in meaningful and effective volunteerism. Vancouver Community Centre Associations have an admirable 60-year track record of responsible financial management, community engagement, volunteer commitment, investment in local facilities, and recreation leadership.
Who We Are
This website was developed and is managed by the Association Presidents Group, or APG. The APG has representation from 19 different CCAs who have signed a Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) with the Park Board and meet monthly to discuss common concerns including recreation programming, ongoing working relationships with the Park Board, and issues such as restarting operations in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and defending the operation of a democratically elected Park Board.
Current members of the APG:
| Champlain Heights Community Association | Hastings Community Association | Marpole-Oakridge Community Association | Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Society | West End Community Centre Association |
| Douglas Park Community Association | Kerrisdale Community Centre Society | Mount Pleasant Community Centre Association | Strathcona Community Centre Association | West Point Grey Community Centre Association |
| Dunbar Community Centre Association | Killarney Community Centre Society | Renfrew Park Community Association | Thunderbird Neighbourhood Association | |
| False Creek Community Association | Kitsilano Community Centre Association | Riley Park Hillcrest Community Association | Trout Lake Community Centre Association | |
| Sunset Community Centre Association |
This group works together in a collaborative manner to make sure that our CCAs remain independent and provide each of our unique communities with access to affordable programs that reflect their needs. We also use this site to engage with you and showcase our individual community centres and volunteers. We want to share some of our history, what we offer, and information about the exceptional volunteers who contribute to our communities with you.
VISIT THE APG WEBSITE:
There are a lot of useful documents there related to this issue for folks who want to explore more detailed information on the APG website, click the logo above.