Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has asked the province to take urgent action to restrict what he described as “foreign interference” after a local union enlisted supporters from the U.S. to phone into a city council meeting this week.
But not everyone agrees with the mayor’s decision to also involve the police.
Sim became concerned, he said, after a public hearing on Wednesday, during which several people in California phoned into Vancouver City Hall to address council. The callers, who confessed upon questioning they had never been to Vancouver, used similar talking points and urged council to reject the so-called villages proposal, a contentious land-use plan that would add commercial and residential density to 17 areas around Vancouver.
Then, on Thursday, the president of Unite Here Local 40, B.C.’s largest union representing hotel workers, confirmed to Postmedia her organization had asked contacts in the U.S. to phone into the meeting. The president, Zailda Chan, insisted there was nothing wrong with this approach, which she called an act of solidarity with fellow workers across borders.
On Thursday, Sim wrote to Premier David Eby and Municipal Affairs Minister Christine Boyle, a former Vancouver councillor, to “urgently request” the province amend the Vancouver Charter so that only residents of Canada can register to speak at public hearings and other council meetings.
On Thursday morning, the city changed its public hearing procedures so that speakers who are not residents of Canada are placed at the end of the queue, said Sim’s letter to the province. While that immediate step was within council’s authority, Sim wrote, “a procedural change is not an adequate long-term solution. The city requires clear statutory authority to protect the integrity, accessibility and orderly conduct of its democratic processes.”
Sim also wrote that he had referred the matter to the Vancouver Police Department.
Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai met with Sim later Thursday to discuss the issue, said police spokesperson Const. Megan Lui.
The police department will review Sim’s complaint to “determine whether to investigate, and whether the VPD is the appropriate agency to investigate or if it should be turned over to RCMP,” Lui wrote in an emailed statement Friday. “At this stage, it would not be appropriate to speculate on the outcome of that review.”
It is not clear what law Sim believes may have been broken.
In an emailed statement, Sim’s office said the mayor’s request to the police “does not presume any particular finding” and “is intended to determine whether there are coordinated or organized efforts to disrupt the lawful business of council and to help inform any next steps.”
Political scientist Max Cameron agrees with Sim that participation at hearings should be limited to residents and others directly affected by council decisions. But he disagreed with the mayor’s decision to refer the matter to police.
“There is no place for non-citizens to take up public air time that belongs to local residents and property owners,” said Cameron, who teaches in the University of B.C.’s department of political science and the school of public policy and global affairs. “International labour solidarity is entirely legitimate, but we do not allow foreign citizens to vote, run for office, join parties, or contribute to campaigns. So why would we allow them to speak uninvited at public hearings?”
However, Cameron said he did not like the mayor involving the police.
“I don’t think we should criminalize any form of political expression unless it clearly violates our laws,” he said. “I doubt this rises to the level of a police matter. The chief constable sounded to me like he did not want to contradict the mayor, but neither did he say he thought a law had been broken. I do not think that this is a good use of police time and resources. It is a political matter and should be addressed as such.”
The leaders of Unite Here Local 40, meanwhile, have made their own request for an investigation, saying the mayor’s party, ABC Vancouver, should be investigated for its “treatment of predominantly racialized women workers who testified about affordability and how developers shape the city we live in.”
The union also called for “an immediate moratorium on major hotel and luxury-development hearings and approvals until its legal and human rights complaints are addressed and Vancouver voters have had their say.”
Thursday evening at city council, Chan, the union president, phoned into council during a public hearing on a downtown development. ABC Vancouver Coun. Peter Meiszner cited her comments to Postmedia, published online earlier that day, and asked whether she had “once again asked American allies to call in to this public hearing tonight?”
Chan replied, telling Meiszner she was “not under the code of law,” stating she would not “respond to questions with malicious intent.”
“I’m not here to answer your questions that have no relevance to my speech,” Chan said.
Meiszner responded that he believed the question was, indeed, relevant.
In an emailed statement Friday, the provincial municipal affairs ministry said it would consider Sim’s request and “whether a future legislative amendment should be made.”
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