The candidate survey

Vancouver elects a council and a Park Board on October 17. Every candidate will say children should learn to swim; that sentence is free. The four questions below are not — each one asks for a commitment specific enough to check later, on a measure this site documents. Every candidate for mayor, council, and Park Board received them by email on September 28; all responses are published here verbatim.

1. The stampede. On August 25, Vancouver released its entire fall lesson season at one instant; 93% of children’s entry spots were gone the same evening. Burnaby, Richmond, and Surrey all use gradual or queue-managed release. Will you direct staff to replace the single-instant release before the next fall registration, and if not, why is the current design better?

2. The missing numbers. The City has never published a waitlist count in children (only “requests”), a staffing turnover rate, or a target for how many entry-level spots a fall should offer — and its fall entry gate has swung 40% year to year with no published explanation. Will you commit to a published quarterly aquatics dashboard — unique children waiting, spots offered against a stated per-child target, staffing levels — within your first year?

3. The locked door. In four years of catalogue data, Vancouver offered zero publicly registerable instructor certifications; Richmond sells the same credential to any resident for $638 and most of its courses fill with waitlists. With the Aquatic Centre closed, this fall’s catalogue posts no National Lifeguard course at all. Will you direct the Park Board to open instructor and lifeguard certification to public registration and subsidize the certification pathway, as Richmond, Surrey, and Burnaby each already do in some form?

4. The stalled program. Council voted unanimously and the Park Board five to one for free beginner swim lessons, then council left the funding to a later budget and the board set no deadline; the costed options sit in this site’s working answer at roughly $420,000 to $1 million a year. Will you fund a free-beginner-lessons program with an entry-capacity target — stated in spots per 100 kindergartners — in the 2027 budget, and which of the working answer’s options (A through D) is closest to what you’d support?

Responses

Ten candidates or campaigns replied between September 28 and October 5. One answered the four questions as asked. Five stated a position or commitment in their own format. Four acknowledged the survey without taking a position. Every reply is reproduced below, unedited apart from removed signature blocks and contact details. The “Touches on” column is this site’s reading of which question a reply addresses. It is not a score.

Replied without stating a position: Sacia Burton (COPE, Park Board), Noi Soudarack (Independent, Council), Tom Digby (Green, Park Board, incumbent commissioner).

Answered the four questions

John Irwin (OneCity, Park Board), September 28:

1. Yes, many times in the past I have queued up to attempt to register my children into Parks Board swimming lessons. Many times I was not successful, as I’m sure many folks were not able to register their children as well. A graduated release seems to be a more accessible option. Ultimately the Park Board requires the funding to provide more swimming lessons.

2. Yes, but I can’t promise to get this done in the first year, it would have to be explored by staff. It sounds like a good idea, realistically it may take one year to two years.

3. Yes, first I will ask staff to report back on the other cities’ programs, then I will collaborate with other Park Board Commissioners to craft a policy to increase and open up lifeguard training and certification.

4. Yes, I will work with staff, other Park Board commissioners, and School Board Trustees to work towards establishing a funding model for this. It won’t be free, it will be funded by tax revenues. I think it was a very poor policy roll-out that there was no funding for this in the last operating budget. I think option C (LAP and newcomers’ based on need) combined with option D (compressed lessons make good sense) is the best place to start. Then the board could have staff explore option B.

Also, if we could train more lifeguards, we could look at extended service hours in the pools, and perhaps even teach these children in the ocean in the warm summer months. This is what Joe Fortes did for a number of generations of Vancouver residents.

Stated a position

David Grewal (ABC Vancouver, Council), September 28:

Hi there, our campaign platform announcement today provides for free swimming lessons up to level 3, commitment to replace the Vancouver Aquatic Centre with a 50m pool, and we also announced two new pools (one at Sunset Community Centre and one at Marpole Community Centre). We also announced collaboration between our school Board and Park Board to provide facilities for kids in schools.

We are very much committed to improving and expanding access to swimming with both lessons and also significant investment in our facilities.

OneCity council candidates, via council liaison Alice Kassam, September 30:

We agree that learning to swim is an important life skill and that Vancouver needs to do a better job making lessons available to families. Too many parents are competing for too few spaces.

OneCity would support increasing the capacity of Vancouver’s swim instruction program, including additional funding where it is needed. But we also need to address one of the underlying constraints: having enough qualified instructors to actually offer more lessons.

We should look at approaches being used in other municipalities, including Burnaby’s work to expand the pipeline of aquatic staff by looking at swim-instructor-only positions, reducing unnecessary barriers to entry, and creating more opportunities for people to get the training and certification they need. Vancouver should examine whether similar approaches could help us recruit and retain more instructors.

We also believe it is critical to work with the Park Board, unlike Ken Sim and ABC, who have cut the financial and administrative ability to respond to the pressures in our parks and recreation services, programs and infrastructure. We must ensure that there is reporting on waitlist data for swimming lessons and instructors, and to integrate aquatic workforce management into capital planning.

Devyani Singh (COPE, Council), September 30:

Yes. $1 million a year is a rounding error next to this council’s $150 million-plus police budget increase, and every kid in this city deserves the chance to actually learn to swim. I’d commit to funding it.

Parris J. Williams (Independent, Council), September 28:

Thank you for reaching out and sharing the link to your website. I’ve taken a read and understand more about the situation. As a candidate for City Council, I agree with you that there needs to be change.

I appreciate you gathering reforms with examples of other Cities and how they make it work. If elected- I will commit to increasing funding for swimming instruction. I grew up on the island and took swimming lessons myself and believe it to be an essential for all.

Tamiko Suzuki (COPE, Park Board), September 29:

Thanks for reaching out and sharing these resources. I was asked what I’d do in the first 100 days if I get elected and your suggestion about changing the registration system seems so simple and doable. I will keep that in mind. As a former lifeguard and swim instructor who was trained in Vancouver many years ago, I am shocked that there are no courses offered anymore. That is also something I’d like to look into.

Replied without stating a position

Sacia Burton (COPE, Park Board), October 5:

Thank you for taking the time to not only share your frustrations with Vancouver’s swim program (which are valid and widely shared), but to take on the work of highlighting how other municipalities in the region are doing better by their community members.

This is an incredibly valuable analysis. I am filing this away for swim program policy improvement, and hope to be in a position going forward where I can work to advance these changes.

Noi Soudarack (Independent, Council), September 29:

Thank you for your email. I completely agree with you, I think we need to put more funding on community programs and things that will keep family and youths intact. Part of the reason I decided to run, was because I’ve noticed Vancouver no longer prioritizes family values. Too much of our budget has gone to drug - overdose crisis, which includes the need to increase policing, when we should be looking into programs that will combat these issues by focusing on the youth. I was part of a swim program growing up, we had lessons at our public swimming pool and it has taught me a lot of great life lessons. Like how to swim, properly dive and what to watch out for when someone is drowning. I definitely support your cause and effort.

Tom Digby (Green, Park Board, incumbent), September 28:

Have you been in contact with Park Board staff?

What do they say about your proposals?

Sent: September 28. Replies received through October 5 are included. Replies are published unedited; signature blocks and contact details are removed.