Permit required to play soccer in Surrey Parks

Soccer on a beautiful, sunny day seems like a great idea, doesn’t it? Well, if you are planning on playing in a Surrey park, you will need a permit.

A video surfaced showing a confrontation between a group of people, a bylaw officer, and two Surrey RCMP officers. Law enforcement told the family of six adults and six children they could not play on the field and they had to leave.

“Listen to me, I’m in charge here today!” One of the RCMP officers said with a clap of her hands.

“Today, you will pick up your cones, and you will go home. You will make a complaint to the City of Surrey. There’s no signs, you don’t agree with the bylaw, you don’t like the rule. That’s your prerogative.”

One of the men in the group asked the bylaw officer if it was just for this field.

“It’s for all the city parks, sir,” she replied.

The description in the video says it happened June 28.

Vancity Buzz has reached out to the City of Surrey for comment on the bylaw.

Watch the video below:

Since when do we need a permit to take our kids to a park in Surrey? A Surrey resident sent this to me:My cousins and I took our kids to play at Brookside Elementary School around 7pm on June 28, 2015. While we were playing pass with our kids a bylaw officer named Hemu Narayan I.D (204350) came and told us that we had to leave the park because we did not have a permit to play there. We refused and explained how we are just playing pass with our kids and kicking a soccer ball around. We told her that we were not a team or a club of any sort we are just dads spending time with our kids. There were 6 of us adults and 6 kids just playing around. She called the police on us and had forcibly kicked off of the field. So my questions to city officials are that since when do we need permission from the city to play with our kids? If not our local parks then where do we take our kids to spend time with them? Why are we paying tax dollars to build parks that we do not have access to? The file number of the incident is 15-91-1427 and the RCMP officers name is V. Churchille.

Posted by Gurpreet Singh Sahota on Friday, July 3, 2015