The City of Vancouver is located on the ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh(Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁ / sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.
Over 52.5% of Vancouver’s 631,486 residents identify as a visible minority and 47% of the population is born outside of Canada.
We are in the early stages of developing our Equity Framework by which to guide our policies, practices and business decisions and we have a number of initiatives underway to provide the underpinnings for this work:
The City of Vancouver was designated a City of Reconciliation in 2014. Our goal is to form a sustained relationship of mutual respect and understanding with local First Nations and the Urban Indigenous community.and our efforts are guided by ourReconciliation Framework. Most recently, in 2018 our Parks Board, in support of the Vancouver Parks Board’s Truth andReconciliation initiatives, directed staff to undertake an analysis of the Park Board’s colonial root and current practices, and report back with their findings and recommendations to acknowledge any and all injustices uncovered as part of the “truth-telling” phase.
Emerging plans like the Creative City Strategy and the Greenest City Update have already begun to embed equity based approaches into its approaches. Our Engineering Department recently joined the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN)which connects local government practitioners to support an urban sustainability in U.S. and Canadian communities and drive change.
Our newly elected City Council (November 2018) is undertaking a new City-wide Plan using an equity based approach. This new plan will focus on accommodating growth, changing demographics and diversity, pursuing reconciliation, increasing housing that’s locally affordable, growing local jobs in a sustainable economy, providing local food security, improving transportation and public amenities, enhancing places for people and vibrant liveable neighbourhoods and ensuring our city does its part in tackling the climate crisis by rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.