6 Vancouver Park Board members named in private meeting report

Some ABC Party Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation commissioners violated provincial policies, according to a report from the board’s integrity commissioner.

The report says six out of seven commissioners met privately to discuss policy before public meetings took place.

That includes meetings at an ABC city councillor’s house — with Mayor Ken Sim present — where commissioners discussed how they could move forward on a motion regarding bike lanes in Stanley Park.

Coun. Pete Fry, who put forward the initial complaint that led to the report, says it’s crucial that local governments operate openly and transparently.

“We can’t make big decisions behind closed doors. We can’t direct major policy shifts without being accountable to the public and allowing the public to speak to it or to opine on it, or to protest it — or whatever the case may be — that’s our job. And that’s a fundamental of our job. And that’s the only reason we really are allowed to exist,” said Fry, explaining that provincial statutes defining the Municipalities Act date back to 1881.

Fry says the report shows what he describes as a “top-down approach” to policy in the ABC Party, with commissioners, trustees, and city councillors being told how they’re expected to vote.

He noted the recent expulsion of Rebecca Bligh after she criticized Sim’s plan to reduce supportive housing in Vancouver.

In a statement to 1130 NewsRadio, ABC President Stephen Molnar says the party disagrees with the integrity commissioner’s “narrow interpretation” of how elected officials can work together.

“The gatherings in question were informal strategy sessions without any binding decisions, thus not violating open meeting requirements,” Molnar said, comparing the events to caucus meetings, which also don’t involve binding decisions.

“We will continue to caucus, consistent with our understanding of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms-protected freedom of association, to develop policy ideas and maintain alignment with the platform voters supported.”

Fry also decried a leaked internal ABC memo showing the party’s original plan for the Downtown Eastside included possible provisions for “reunifying” Indigenous people to their home nations.

He says the notion is deeply offensive and a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The section was removed from the motion that’s set to be presented to council this week.

Fry says he’s pleased to see that and other parts of Ken Sim’s plan have been tapered back since the mayor announced it last month.

“The motion that the mayor has coming forward is a lot different from what he had suggested at in that memo, or what he had suggested at the Save Our Streets conference,” said Fry.

“He’s now carved out a bunch of exemptions in ‘supportive housing,’ including recovery housing, support for women escaping violence, families, seniors, health issues. There’s a whole myriad of carve-outs for support housing. What’s not carved out, though, and what seems to be the laser focus of this mayor, is to go after folks who are unhoused, so they don’t want housing for people who are unhoused. And I think the intent of the mayor’s motion is to block any of that kind of housing in the city of Vancouver, which I think is a mistake.”

Fry says the memo details the original direction of “no net new supportive housing” and says the mayor and councillors have likely backpedalled after hearing from the public.

“I do appreciate the mayor’s concern that Vancouver appears to be doing far more heavy lifting as far as supportive housing in the region, but there’s more complexity to that: we are a city. We are the big city. Other municipalities are trying to catch up. They don’t have the scale of problem that we have,” said Fry.

“‘No net new supportive housing in the city of Vancouver’ is completely inappropriate and misses a whole raft of vulnerable populations and really misunderstands what supportive housing is, altogether, let alone across the city of Vancouver.”