First Nations in favour of eliminating Vancouver Park Board

People run on the Stanley Park seawall at low tide in Vancouver, on Thursday, April 13, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Three First Nations are in favour of the Vancouver Park Board being dissolved, a letter to the province says.

In a letter sent Friday to Minster of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin, Minister of Municipal Affairs Anne Kang and Mayor Ken Sim, the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation say they support the city's request to amend the Vancouver Charter to eliminate the elected park board.

The letter said it has asked a technical team to meet with provincial and city officials "to immediately begin work on the proposed amendments" to the charter.

• READ MORE: Council gets update on proposed park board transition 

B.C.'s premier previously suggested the charter would not be changed without consultation with the host First Nations. 

"This is an important transition, there are significant First Nations engagement requirements anytime you're talking about governance transitions like this in our province,” David Eby said at a December news conference.

On Monday, Sim issued a statement about the nations' support.

"We are grateful to Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation for their invaluable support and continued partnership," Sim's statement said. "My team and I look forward to continuing our collaborative efforts with First Nations throughout this process to ensure our parks and recreation facilities get the care they deserve."

In their letter to the province, the nations also called on the province and city to "modernize" the charter by aligning it with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the requirements of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.