On Vancouver park board future, Mayor Ken Sim says the ball is in David Eby’s court

Dan Fumano: Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has made his first public ask of the new B.C. government: Hurry up and dissolve the park board.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim made his first public ask of the new B.C. government Thursday: Please get on with it and dissolve the park board.

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At a well-attended news conference  at city hall, Sim announced the city has done its homework, releasing its final report this week on the plan to bring parks and recreation under council’s jurisdiction.

Now, the only thing left is for the province to fulfil council’s request, Sim said, and make legislative changes to abolish the elected body, which is unique among B.C. cities.

And, Sim said, he expects it to happen pretty quickly.

Sim said Thursday: “We have a great working relationship with the premier’s office, and we fully expect him and their office to do exactly what they said they’re going to do.”

Sim still expects that change in spring 2025.

But it’s not entirely clear how quickly Sim’s wish might be fulfilled.

During an all-candidates meeting last month, Eby said the province “sent the city back with a list of homework” to do on the park board transition, and the city still had “a lot of work ahead of them.”

“It’s very unlikely this would be a priority for the province before the next municipal election,” Eby said then.

On Thursday, ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said the city’s final transition report means the homework Eby referred to last month is complete.

“The premier raised some questions. We took that seriously. The working group has done the homework. The answers are there,” said Kirby-Yung, a former park board commissioner. ”

In an email Thursday, Ravi Kahlon, the minister of housing and municipal affairs, said: “We have received the City of Vancouver’s transition report, and we are reviewing it.”

Kahlon reiterated that the government’s priorities are “the costs of daily life, strengthening health care, and building safe communities in a strong economy.”

Also, it sounds like leadership of at least one Vancouver First Nation is not on board.

On Thursday morning, the mayor’s office announced: “With Premier David Eby and the province’s commitment to making the necessary Vancouver charter amendments in the spring session, and the support from Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation, city council is prepared to move forward with this transformative change.”

Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow and the Squamish council chair, Khelsilem, both appeared Thursday beside the mayor and spoke in positive terms about their Nations’ relationships with the city and collaborating with them on this process.

But a few hours later, Khelsilem clarified the Squamish Nation position.

Although the city says the park board transition plan has the support of Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, Khelsilem said that’s inaccurate.

“They have support with conditions,” Khelsilem said.

Have those conditions been met?

“No.”

“One condition is that any changes in the short term to the Vancouver charter with regard to the park board also have to align with UNDRIP,” he said, referring to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. “The second is that there has to be a written commitment from both the province and the city to do a comprehensive review of the entire Vancouver charter, to bring the entire Vancouver charter in alignment with the principles of UNDRIP.”

Khelsilem described the level of engagement between the city and local First Nations on the park board changes as “very little to next to none.”

When Sim announced his plan last year to dissolve the park board, he said he expected the process to be completed by spring 2024.

Early this year, Squamish Nation leadership heard from the mayor’s office asking for their “unconditional support then and there,” Khelsilem said.

“I was surprised they were not expecting any period of meaningful consultation,” Khelsilem said. “They were asking for blanket support so the amendments could happen very quickly, and then they would consult us after the fact. And I said: ‘That’s not how this works. It’s not the 1980s anymore.”

Sim presented more high-profile backers of the plan Thursday, with statements of support from previous Vancouver mayors of diverse political backgrounds: former B.C. NDP premier Mike Harcourt, former B.C. Liberal premier Gordon Campbell, and Larry Campbell, Vancouver’s only mayor to represent the left-wing COPE party.

The city’s final transition report, Sim said, estimates this change could save the city $7 million a year through efficiencies, without cuts to services.

While the timing of when the change might happen remains a question, it seems to be a major priority for Sim. Eliminating the park board was not part of the 92-point platform ABC campaigned on in the last election, but it seems to have become a key part of the party’s first term in office.

“This wasn’t easy,” Sim said Thursday. “Other mayors have wanted to do this for 40 years, and they didn’t. Because they didn’t have the political support at the time or the political will. We are literally putting ourselves on the line and getting a bunch of heat on this because we care about the parks.”