Vancouver mayor under fire over memo to ‘return’ Indigenous people

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is facing backlash after a leaked proposal suggested relocating Indigenous people from the city’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.

The leak triggered calls for an apology, with critics urging Sim to abandon the plan and reassure the public that it will not move forward.

On top of an apology, the BC Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN) is demanding the mayor and city commit to scrapping the “deeply troubling” idea, which it believes undermines Vancouver’s reconciliation efforts.

“It’s certainly concerning,” said BCAFN Regional Chief Terry Teegee. “This isn’t reconciliation; it’s rather, a slap in the face of many First Nations.”

The leaked memo, orginally reported on by The Globe and Mail, was circulated among councillors of Sim’s ABC party and proposed a “Re-unification roundtable” with First Nations, Métis, and other Indigenous groups.

The purpose of this roundtable was reportedly to relocate Indigenous residents back to their “home” communities.

Despite the changes made to the document after its leak, there are concerns that the mayor’s office may still be considering the proposal, and critics fear these efforts may be part of a broader gentrification strategy.

Teegee says roughly 30 per cent of the DTES population is Indigenous.

“It’s never a solution to forcibly displace many citizens of Vancouver, and it fundamentally ignores the rights of Indigenous and First Nations peoples in the city.”

Tegee points out that many Indigenous peoples move to urban cities in search of employment, education, housing, and healthcare services that are not available in their home communities.

However, for many Indigenous people, Teegee says cities like Vancouver are also where they are forced to confront the legacy of colonialism, including the devastating impacts of Residential Schools, the Sixties Scoop, and the chronic underfunding of services in rural First Nations communities.

“I think instead of forcibly moving people out, the city needs to build more supportive housing, and [develop] initiatives led by First Nations to deal with the social issues in the Downtown Eastside,” he explained.

1130 NewsRadio reached out to the mayor’s office for comment but did not receive a response.