Will Ken Sim condemn his Park Commissioner’s interruption of Indigenous land acknowledgment?

It would be funny if it weren’t so racist, divisive, and frankly repulsive: ABC Vancouver may have done the world’s first Land Speculator Acknowledgement.

At Monday’s Park Board meeting, ABC Commissioner Angela Kate Haer tried to interrupt the land acknowledgement. 

Her awkward attempt to derail the opening of the meeting with a “Point of Order” was ruled out of order and shut down by the chairperson. (See video of the incident here.) 

“The ABC Commissioner was effectively protesting the statement of the Indigenous Land Acknowledgement,” said former COPE Park Commissioner Anita Romaniuk, who was observing the meeting. “That is protesting the truth. This land in B.C. was never ceded by the Indigenous peoples. There can be no Reconciliation if the Truth is not acknowledged.” 

The Park Board, like the City of Vancouver, has adopted and begun to implement a robust set of policies on Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Haer’s actions on Monday undermine these efforts and echo the right-wing fearmongering that has come in the wake of a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision involving Indigenous rights.

“This racist interruption looks like an attempt by ABC to stoke division and divert attention from ABC’s brutal cuts aimed at Vancouver’s parks, community centres, tree canopy, and child care partnerships,” said COPE Co-Chair Tanya Webking. “The Park Board this week has been focused on hearing from the public about Ken Sim and ABC’s push for $15 million of cuts and $9 million in new user fees from the Park Board alone.”

Haer’s record on the Park Board has been abysmal. She went along with Ken Sim’s failed efforts to abolish the elected Board entirely, and is now providing cover for ABC’s deep cuts to services. 

Her comments Monday are the latest in a series of actions that call into question ABC’s commitment to Vancouver’s policies on Reconciliation, including: 

- Closing the City’s Equity Office, which had Reconciliation as a key part of its mandate;

- Contemplating, according to leaked planning documents related to the Downtown Eastside, forced relocation of Indigenous residents;  

- Amplifying a prominent residential school denying account on X, in a recent attack by Mayor Sim on Councillor Sean Orr. 

Ken Sim’s attempt to abolish the elected Park Board came after he was elected in 2022 on a promise not to abolish the Park Board. Park Commissioners voted down Ken Sim’s plan to abolish the Park Board, despite ABC Commissioner Haer voting to abolish her own elected position.