COPE Vancouver City Council candidate Nancy Trigueros announced today that, when elected, she will put forward a motion to begin the process of allowing Canadian permanent residents who reside in Vancouver to vote in Vancouver municipal elections. 

Almost 50 countries, including New Zealand, as well as seven US jurisdictions, allow permanent residents to vote in their municipal elections.

“Many other cities across North America and the world are taking the step of allowing permanent residents to vote in local elections,” Nancy Trigueros. “So too should Vancouver.”

In 2018, City of Vancouver unanimously passed a motion which, if heeded by the province, would have allowed permanent residents to vote in municipal elections. However, in the four years since the motion was passed, no municipal voting rights for permanent residents have been extended. Eleven municipalities across Canada are currently working to extend voting rights to permanent residents. Trigueros wants Vancouver to be the first.

“All that has to happen, legally, is for the province to add three simple words ‘...and Canadian permanent residents’ to the relevant sentence in the Vancouver Charter,” said Trigueros. “I want city council to make it clear to the province that this a big priority for us.”

Read the relevant sentence in the Vancouver Charter here: Section 23 [Resident Electors] (1)(b).

As of the 2016 census, there were approximately 60,000 permanent residents living in Vancouver, making permanent residents about 10% of Vancouver’s total population. Canada is set to welcome over 400,000 new permanent residents in 2022, according to the 2022‒2024 Immigration Levels Plan.

After completing a comprehensive, often multi-year application process for permanent residency, permanent residents are required to follow travel requirements that maintain that they must be in Canada for two out of every five years. While permanent residents must follow these requirements and pay taxes, they are not eligible to vote. Meanwhile, people who own property in Vancouver but do not reside in the city (Non-Resident Property Electors) are allowed to vote in Vancouver municipal elections. 

“An individual who lives in Vancouver should not have less say than someone who owns property but does not live here,” Trigueros says. “This is Vancouver in 2022, why do we have a feudal voting system? By giving permanent residents the right to vote, government can better serve the 10% of the population who currently have no electoral voice.” 

For Trigueros, who moved to Canada from Mexico as a refugee in 1997, the issue is personal. “This is about fairness, and about building the best city we can build,” says Trigueros. “Having a voice encourages talented people to feel included and to stay.” 

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