Vancouver police say small Canucks watch party best for safety

The Vancouver Police Department says the city’s decision to host the upcoming Canucks game watch party in a small park was intentional. 

On Wednesday, Mayor Ken Sim announced a public watch party for the Canucks’ game against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, May 12. It’s taking place at Oak Meadows Park, in the Oakridge neighbourhood, with room for roughly 2,000 people.

VPD Const. Tania Visintin says police and the city wanted to avoid what she called “serious issues” from past events.

“It’s more appropriate than having a larger [public viewing party], like the one we’ve seen, in years past, downtown, which only created issues for us,” Visintin said.

In 2011, roughly 155,000 people attended a public watch party for the Stanley Cup Final, after which thousands of people rioted in the city, causing millions of dollars in damages.

Two weeks ago, Sim shared his apprehension about putting on a watch party at all, though he didn’t rule it out.

“We have to be incredibly responsible and thoughtful,” Sim said.

“We have a whole security infrastructure. We have, I think, the best police service on the entire planet, we have Vancouver Fire Rescue, we have paramedics as well. We have the history of, you know, 1994 and 2011. In fact, we’ve been going through the reports, and what we have to do is make sure we have a very safe event.”

Sim says if the Canucks progress to a third round of the playoffs, the city will open the PNE for another watch party. At the amusement park, Sim explained, another 6,000 people will be able to watch the games together. 

The mayor says it’s a good idea to have multiple viewing locations across the city. 

“If you’re living in South Van, you may want to stay in the neighbourhood as opposed to trekking downtown with the thousands and thousands of other individuals. So, it just gives more options, and it takes the pressure off the downtown core as well because I can tell you, a lot of people will be going downtown regardless of what we did,” he said.

“This just gives us more options to spread it out and have people enjoy responsibly.”

Visintin says there will be a police presence at Oak Meadows Park to make sure the party doesn’t get out of hand.

—With files from Hana Mae Nassar and Charlie Carey