Vancouver Aquatic Centre 25-metre rebuild a First Nation’s land claim issue: Park Board chair

The Vancouver Aquatic Centre cannot be rebuilt as a 50-metre pool because of unsettled land claim issues with the city’s First Nations, according to the Park Board Chair.

Tom Digby is running for re-election as a Park Board commissioner with the Vancouver Green Party and was the Park Board chair when the decision was made to demolish the aging Vancouver Aquatic Centre.

The Park Board has previously stated that in order to rebuild a 50 metre pool, the facility’s footprint would need to be expanded to meet modern safety and competition rules.

“The province owns the lands there and the province refuses to allow us to expand the footprint, mainly because they haven’t settled up land claims with the First Nations on this very sensitive foreshore land,” Digby said in an interview with Global News Wednesday.

Chief Wayne Sparrow with Musqueam Indian Band confirmed a request was made to expand the footprint of the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, saying a letter was sent from the province to the MST Development Corporation, a partnership of the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation.

“(The province) wanted us to do a lease to the city,” Sparrow said. “Naturally, we wanted to sit down and have some discussion because it’s Crown land; there’s been a lot of issues with the Cowichan Case and third-party land.”

According to Sparrow, the province was proposing to lease the land to the City of Vancouver for as little as $1.

“If they lease it for a dollar, what’s our accommodation, 3 cents?” said Sparrow. “I keep stressing that the Crown has a duty to consult and accommodate us.”

So far there has been no meeting between the Province and MST Development Corporation, but Sparrow said it could still happen.

“We are always open to conversations; it’s Crown land and whatever the government decides they want to do about it, they have to come and talk to us.”

The comments come after a community group called Protecting Our Vancouver Aquatic Centre (POVAC) was granted an interim injunction in the B.C. Court of Appeal to immediately pause all demolition work until after the municipal election.

The group’s director and park board candidate for TEAM, Jon Girard, said the decision is a win for democracy.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome,” Girard said. “At minimum, when this facility is renovated or rebuilt, it needs to stay a 50m pool”.

The work has been paused until at least Nov. 3, one day after the first scheduled Park Board meeting.