These policies were approved by COPE members in August 2022. COPE is a democratic, grassroots, member-led party. Become a COPE member today.

 

Sticking Up for People who are Unhoused

A COPE Park Board will continue to ensure that people have the right to temporarily shelter overnight in parks. Ejection by force from public spaces for people seeking shelter is not the solution, housing is.

A COPE Park Board will continue to work with the City of Vancouver, and call on all levels of government, to support people who are unhoused and are seeking shelter in parks.

 

Public Washrooms and Water Fountains

A COPE Park Board will continue to address the shortage and enhance the accessibility of washrooms (and, in particular, gender neutral washrooms) and water fountains (for both people and dogs) by making these a priority in the Park Board’s Capital Plan.  

 

Public Swimming Pools

A COPE Park Board will consult with the affected communities to identify what constitutes adequate replacements for Vancouver’s lost outdoor pools. A COPE Park Board will also work to implement the VanSplash Aquatic Strategy for the 2023-26 Capital Plan.This strategy includes a rebuild of Mt. Pleasant Pool and protecting indoor pools at threat of closing (Templeton, Lord Byng), which are now protected from demolition for at least 10 years. A COPE Park Board will also work to enhance and improve all existing aquatic facilities.

 

Youth Programs

A COPE Park Board will ensure more free programs and use of facilities for youth.

 

Upgrade and Expand Community Centres

A COPE Park Board will continue to advocate that community centers and recreation facilities are upgraded and expanded to meet the needs of the growing population, and address the backlog of inadequate and deteriorating facilities that already exists, and will engage the public, including its partner community associations, to establish a timeline and priorities as goals in the capital planning cycle.

 

Create New Parks

A COPE Park Board will commit to existing Park Board policy to ensure that park space expands to meet the needs of Vancouver’s growing population by committing to the Park Board’s policy of 1.1 hectare of new park space per 1000 new residents, and the “5 minute walk from a park” criteria. This will be applied to new developments, as well as to historically deficient neighbourhoods. Citywide Planners have been promoting “parklets” and “green plantings” along streets but these, while beneficial from health and climate change mitigation, do not fulfill active recreational needs.

 

Fully Fund Parks and Recreation

A COPE Park Board will work with its colleagues at City Council to adequately fund parks and recreation services in both the Operating Budget and the building of new and renovated facilities in the Capital Budget. COPE will establish a mechanism to ensure that adequate funding of Parks & Recreation services and infrastructure is sustained.

A COPE Park Board will continue to support public funding for parks and recreation rather than relying on fee based services.

 

Universal Leisure Access Card

A COPE Park Board will work with City Council on the possibility of introducing Leisure Access Cards, similar to those available at Park Board facilities, at city-operated facilities, free or at lower fee to ensure universal access to increase leisure and cultural opportunities. 

 

Equitable Park Expansion

A COPE Parks Board will redefine the definition of adequate park availability to include both the distance travelled and the amount of green space available for the population.

COPE Parks Commissioners and City Councillors will work together to ensure sources of capital funding for both park expansion and community centre and recreation facility rehabilitation and expansion, in addition to Council commitments to housing and childcare during the period of the next (2023-2026) Capital Plan.

A COPE Park Board will support a full the re-evaluation and restoration of previous Development Cost Levies and Community Amenity Contribution rates.

A COPE Park Board will support the identification of opportunities for park acquisition and development, including those lands and funds included in the Property Endowment Fund.

 

Repurposing Park Land

A COPE Park Board will support a full and public consultation on any changes to the current use of the Langara Golf Course.This should include First Nations on whose unceded land the Langara golf course is located, the residents of the Langara area, current stakeholders (the golfers and users of the perimeter pathway), and other interested residents of Vancouver.

A COPE Park Board will oppose the loss of any land dedicated to parks and recreation to other purposes, unless there is a full land swap.

A COPE Board will maintain its opposition to the loss of any land currently dedicated to either Cottonwood or Strathcona Community Gardens to the rerouting of Georgia Viaduct traffic.

A COPE Park Board will oppose any loss of park land in Strathcona to accommodate traffic.

A COPE Park Board continues to oppose a Hydro substation under Nelson Park and the adjacent school.

 

Make Services Accessible to Diverse Communities

A COPE Park Board will commit to delivering services to different and diverse communities in Vancouver, and work in partnership with different cultural communities in Vancouver and in collaboration with other service agencies to identify City-owned and other spaces for this purpose. COPE supports the LGBTQ+ community centre in the West End.

 

Climate Action

A COPE Park Board will be outspoken on climate change and other environmental issues.

A COPE Park Board will develop clear policies on climate mitigation, which could lead to different approaches than those that have been taken since colonization, e.g. foreshore, slopes, tree canopy. Indigenous partnership is integral to this.

A COPE Park Board will plant and maintain more trees on Vancouver’s east side. Robust expansion of the tree canopy will help to mitigate climate change, increase soil stability and water retention, and provide cooling shade during summer heat waves and domes (mapping of heat zones shows that they are predominantly on the east side where the tree canopy is less). To this end Park Board will work with the City of Vancouver to take on more under-utilized spaces in order to develop the urban canopy in dense, under-served areas of the city. This can be done on a temporary basis or through long term agreements. A COPE Park Board also will support increasing low turf maintenance.

 

Green Retrofit Grants

A COPE Park Board will work with City Council to access Green Retrofit Grants for qualified non-profit and for-profit organizations operating cultural and leisure spaces at a reduced rate in order to preserve resources and retain neighbourhood character. This is also an Arts and Culture issue.

 

Invasive Species

A COPE Park Board will work with City and Park Board staff, with input from the public, including indigenous representatives, to identify parks which are negatively impacted from invasive species, and engage and educate the public to prevent the further spread of invasive species.

 

Maintain Ban on Cetaceans in Captivity

COPE Park Board will work to maintain the cetacean ban at the Aquarium.

 

Urban Food Forests

A COPE Park Board will consult with the public, City, and Park Board staff to identify appropriate land and resources to establish urban food forests, including design, site preparation, planting, and maintenance. Both native food forests and food trees representing Vancouver’s diverse communities, including Indigenous cultural food practices, will be encouraged. The focus will be on community building and education, including soil building, fruit tree care, seed saving, bee-keeping, composting, safety, and identification of unfamiliar plants. This work will be done in keeping with and in alignment with both local First Nations and the needs of our Urban Indigenous population.

 

Waste Management

A COPE Park Board will consult with the public and work with the employees who maintain our parks to identify means of reducing, reusing, and recycling waste in all parks.

 

Accessibility Via Walking, Cycling, and Public Transit

A COPE Park Board will increase active transportation, as advocated by the City’s Climate Emergency Response plan, to make walking, cycling and public transit a priority when siting new community centres, recreation facilities, parks, river and ocean waterfronts, which may or may not be designated as a park. This includes providing an increased number of bike racks at sites such as community centres and parks.

A COPE Park Board will work to restore a free fully accessible shuttle in Stanley Park, and work with City Council and local labour unions to create a shuttle along the waterfront from CRAB Portside Park to Spanish Banks.

 

Establish Hogan's Alley Community Centre

A COPE Park Board will support a community centre at Hogan’s Alley as a memorial to the lost communities which once lived there, with a mandate to both host cultural activities and provide a place for new immigrant communities, providing this is consistent with the City’s Task Force recommendations on Hogan’s Alley being included in the North-East False Creek consultations, and is in line with the Vancouver Park Board work on reconciliation and decolonization.

 

NEFC Park

A COPE Park Board will encourage the City of Vancouver and Concord Pacific to make good on their commitment made 25 years ago to build a park for people in North East False Creek on the former Expo lands.

 

Create Indigenous Healing and Wellness Centre at C.R.A.B. Park

A COPE Park Board will continue to work for an Indigenous Healing and Wellness Centre at CRAB Park.

 

Indigenous Naming Policy

A COPE Park Board will support the Indigenous naming policy in place, in alignment with reconciliation and decolonization.

 

Decolonization, Arts and Culture

A COPE Park Board will work to implement Culture/Shift to encourage arts and culture groups in the city to continue working through the office of the Manager of Decolonization, Arts, and Culture to have input into the design of new and renovated parks and facilities.        

A COPE Park Board will work with partner community associations and other organizations to expand and enhance arts and culture programs, including a concerted effort to outreach to arts and culture groups throughout the city, particularly those who either lack awareness of current opportunities, or who have not previously been given the opportunity to participate.

A COPE Park Board will establish Cultural Land Reserves to protect Vancouver’s dwindling and struggling facilities that exist, particularly in the Downtown Eastside, and rezone dedicated buildings within the Cultural Land Reserves so that they cannot be gentrified into condominiums.

A COPE Park Board will ask City Council to designate a new zoning category for cultural and leisure spaces in perpetuity to promote preservation and creation of these spaces. This is also a Council & Arts & Culture Issue.

A COPE Park Board will ask City Council and the Provincial government to change the Vancouver Charter to allow for a tax exemption for properties operated as cultural and leisure spaces by qualified non-profit organizations.

 

Support Unionized Workers

A COPE Park Board will continue to work with the City’s unionized employees, and to maintain and enhance the city budget, to identify budget improvements that are possible without laying off workers.

A COPE Park Board will consult with City staff and volunteers on the role of each, recognizing both the scope of work done by staff and the value of community engagement in enriching our parks and recreation system. A COPE Park Board will provide continued support and recognition of community volunteers.

A COPE Park Board will work with colleagues at City Council to institute a living wage for restaurant and contracted work.

A COPE Park Board will give priority to services being done in-house, and where this is not feasible, award contracts to local business, and avoid corporatizing services in Vancouver’s parks and recreations facilities.

 

No Privatization

A COPE Park Board will continue to oppose privatization of maintenance and services in parks, including the proposed new park at Oakridge Centre.

A COPE Park Board will oppose restricting public access to public spaces.

 

Accessible and Transparent Park Board

A COPE Park Board will work with the public to establish more comprehensive public consultation, which must include face-to-face interaction in addition to and improved web-based questionnaires and forums (on Webex). In particular, COPE will work to engage residents of Vancouver who may have barriers to participation, such as low income, physical or mental disabilities, a first language other than English, or cultural inhibitions. COPE will ensure that public consultation is conducted with respect by all parties.

A COPE Park Board will restore the practice of holding some of the Park Board’s regular meetings in venues throughout the city, especially in community centres, with an opportunity for residents of each community to tell the Park Board their issues and concerns at the beginning of each meeting.

A COPE Park Board will advocate for improvements to the Park Board’s meeting schedule and procedures to determine ways to increase public participation in Park Board meetings (both Committee and Regular Board Meetings).

A COPE Park Board will work with City Council to empower neighbourhoods to participate in budget discussions by conducting forums in the community at which residents can raise issues and have input in prioritizing both operating and capital expenditures.

A COPE Park Board will continue to work to ensure that the people of Vancouver and residents of the Hastings Park area in particular have meaningful access to and input into decision-making at Hastings Park.

 

Support Independence of Park Board and Community Centre Associations

A COPE Park Board will recognize the long history of Community Centre Associations (CCAs) in Vancouver, and their partnership with the Park Board under the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA), and respect their crucial role in creating an effective grassroots decision-making process responding to recreational, social, and cultural needs in their communities by consulting with the CCA Boards and their membership.

A COPE Park Board will oppose Vancouver City Council having total fiscal control over the Park Board.

A COPE Park Board will support an independent and elected Park Board.

A COPE Park Board will oppose any attempt by the City or Park Board to replace the Community Centre Associations by public-private partnerships (P3’s).

A COPE Park Board will support an overall increase to the operating budget received by the Park Board from the City of Vancouver total budget, and the restoration of any previous cuts to Park Board funding.

A COPE Park Board will continue to strengthen the Park Board’s partnership with existing CCAs, who effectively represent their neighbourhoods and consult with their membership to identify and address community needs.

A COPE Park Board will recognize and promote the value of union representation and Vancouver’s civic unions such as CUPE, who represent the vast majority of Park Board employees. COPE will support the expansion of the unionized workforce under the provincial labour code to include Community Association employees who fall within CUPE and/or any other union groups within Park Board jurisdiction, and are committed to working with the unions, as needed.

A COPE Park Board will ensure that any “System Wide Programs” brought forward by the Park Board under the new Joint Operating Agreements should only be implemented with full consultation with the Community Centre Associations.

A COPE Park Board will ensure equity throughout Park Board and Community Centre Associations services and programs, citywide. Any resident of Vancouver should be able to access a Community or Recreation Centre service or program. All residents of Vancouver should have physical and financial access to outdoor recreation facilities such as playing fields and courts. COPE will advocate for a review of the Park Board’s Leisure Access fee-reduction program with the goal of removing barriers which prevent people from accessing it and ensure that the level of fee-reduction is matched to the person requesting it.

A COPE Park Board will support Community Centre Associations to identify a fiscal framework which will allow them to become Living Wage employers. For those Community Centre Associations that are financially disadvantaged, this will require subsidies that will increase the Park Board’s Operating Budget, and require cooperation from the City to properly fund it.

A COPE Park Board will work cooperatively with other partners in the Parks and Recreation system, and will provide continued support and recognition of community volunteers.

 

Vote for Gwen Giesbrecht, Chris Livingstone, and Maria Hassan for Park Board