Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is firing back at the provincial government about the park board referendum legislation announced last week.
In a statement, Sim says neither he nor the city council has ever formally requested that any provincial changes be exempt from the referendum for any parkland transfers to First Nations and he would like that detail removed from the legislation.
Last week, the B.C. government tabled legislation to dissolve the Vancouver Park Board, saying it came in response to a request from the City of Vancouver. The government also said the city requested that permanent parkland being transferred to First Nations be exempt from the assent vote.
“Had the province shared with us this legislation in advance, we would have made our position clear,” Sim said in a statement on Tuesday.
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“We value our strong relationships with the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation, and Tsleil-Waututh Nation, and remain committed to working together on shared priorities in the spirit of reconciliation. At the same time, I will not support, nor will I bring forward, a referendum that would allow any parkland to be transferred without the direct consent of Vancouver residents.”
The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation was established in 1889 as an independent statutory body to oversee and manage parks in Vancouver.
In December 2023, Vancouver city council passed a resolution to ask the province to dissolve the park board and transfer all the board’s powers, assets and obligations to the council.
Abolishing the park board has proven controversial.
Sim campaigned on keeping and fixing the elected body in the 2022 municipal election, but months later, he reversed course, saying it was too broken to repair.
Sim argues that cutting the body would eliminate red tape and redundancies, while saving the city about $7 million a year.
Critics — including four sitting park board commissioners, three of whom initially ran under Sim’s ABC slate — say it fills an important democratic role.
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