Hundreds of volunteers help clean up Chinatown amid increased vandalism

Hundreds of volunteers spent their Saturday morning in Vancouver’s Chinatown collecting garbage and painting over unwanted graffiti in an effort to clean-up the cherished neighbourhood.

According to Jordan Eng, the president of the Chinatown Business Improvement Association, more than 200 people from across the city took part in this year’s clean-up, which is the largest turnout he’s seen.

“To see people from all over the city come down to Chinatown, it's just heartwarming,” he said.

Chinatown has increasingly been a target of racist graffiti and vandalism over the last few years.

In April, the stone lions were defaced twice in one week.

The annual clean-up is an attempt to prevent more of these incident from occurring.

"Obviously Chinatown has been struggling with a lot of street disorder, graffiti, garbage," said Vancouver city councillor Pete Fry, who spent some time collecting litter in the morning.

"One of things you can do to stop crime and vandalism to some extent is keep it clean and tidy,” said local businessman and volunteer Nigel Bullers.

Volunteer Julian Soucy said he felt like it was important for people who don't necessarily live and work in the community to show up.

"I've seen the deterioration in this area, especially over the COVID-19 pandemic. And I feel like it's a bit of a civic duty for people to come out if they have some spare time,” he said.

"I think this is a marginalized group that isn't getting as much love as they deserve. And especially with more tourists and more people coming into town, we want to make sure that that breath of fresh air gets revitalized back into this community,” he continued.

Eng said he’s pleased with the massive turnout which he says shows there are a lot of people who do care for the community.

"We just want people to recognize that we've been here a long time. It's an important part of the history of Vancouver. And we are a resilient community,” he said.

The initiative also allowed for people to come together and learn more about one of Vancouver’s most historic areas while getting it in better shape for the much-anticipated return of tourism.

"Summer is almost here. This is really a great chance for us to really enhance what's wonderful about Chinatown and encourage folks to come back,” said Fry.

Organizers said they look forward to seeing a more lively and rejuvenated Chinatown in the coming months.