 | Friday, June 18, 2021
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday. | | Does Vision Vancouver have a role to play in its city moving forward? | | |  | | | You know who thinks the City of Vancouver’s current conversation on reconciliation lacks vision?
Vision.
“There couldn't be a more important time to be talking about how governments need to be leading on this issue,” said former Vision Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer.
On Wednesday, she moderated the party’s first organized event since they were removed from power following the 2018 election — a panel discussion with several prominent Indigenous leaders in the region, discussing ways the city could play a more meaningful role.
“The mayor's response of renaming one street, to me, is exactly the kind of tepid signaling that is, I mean, we're past that time, right? Maybe ten years ago, it made sense to be like, ‘Hey, I see you. I hear you. And here's a gesture of what I'm doing wrong.’ We’re beyond the gesture phase now,” said Reimer.
“There needs to be deep ... work that clearly acknowledges the role of the perpetrator in the injustices of colonization. And that is what I'm not seeing.”It was a well-attended event for any local political party, with around 700 people, and an important one in advancing debates about what cities can do beyond flying flags at half mast and land acknowledgements.
But political parties don’t just hold events to advocate. Generally, they’d like to hold power. And while Reimer said she couldn’t speak for the current Vision board, she isn’t ruling out running for mayor next year, and was more than happy to champion the party.
“I think what I saw is that the city is dried tinder and just looking for leadership right now,” said Reimer.
“Vision has the decade of demonstrated ability to provide leadership and I think that came together in a very powerful way last night.”
Of course, Vision was all but extinguished from political office in 2018 for a host of different reasons. Whether they can learn from that defeat will go a long way in determining the success of whatever revitalization takes place over the next year.
As the initial campaigning for next year’s election on Vancouver’s centre-right has gained attention, so should the nascent movements on the centre-left.
“In the pandemic and as we move out of the pandemic, the list of difficult issues is going to be a lot longer than the list of not-difficult issues,” said Reimer.
Even if who will be leading the way on those issues remains hazy. | | |  | | | 1. Vancouver | The past was Vision and the future might be Vision, but what about the present? The next step of the climate emergency plan was revealed on Monday, with proposed details for its parking permit strategy announced. The latter half of the week saw Mayor Kennedy Stewart ramp up his criticism of the Vancouver Police Board and his push for the province to reform the Police Act. And a public hearing for a school and social housing development in Coal Harbour was put off — but rest assured it will be quite the discussion in a couple of weeks.
Read more | | | | |  | | | 2. Reconciliation | Speaking of both Stewart’s police criticism and reconciliation, there was more attention this week focused on B.C.’s second and fourth biggest cities continuing to say no to requests that council meetings begin with statements about the unceded land on which they're being held. We’ll see whether their reasons hold in the months to come.
Read more in the Richmond News | | | |  | | | 3. Pandemic | As case counts go down and restrictions start being lifted across the province, questions about “getting back to normal” will increase for local governments. To wit: Kelowna is debating about in-person council meetings, while Saanich council is stepping up pressure on the federal government to reopen marine borders. Read more in the Victoria News | | | | | |  | | | 4. Homelessness | Towns in all parts of B.C. are grappling with an increasing number of people needing shelter, and the North is no exception. Terrace council declared a crisis this week (a town hall is now scheduled), while a Prince George councillor is asking the province to step in and come up with a solution as the town hands out eviction notices to people living in homeless camps.
Read more | | | |  | | | 5. Surrey | During these very strange times, it’s a lot easier for a mayor to cut off an ornery speaker online rather than in person at city hall. Which is why someone from Surrey was able to make a supercut this week of Mayor Doug McCallum ordering 22 speakers to be disconnected, mostly for calling for his resignation. A bug or feature of virtual meetings — you decide!
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