'They're not from West Vancouver': Councillor's comments on Ambleside visitors spark backlash
Some West Vancouver residents are raising concerns after a city councillor said “hordes” of people go to Ambleside Park that she can tell “are not from West Vancouver.”
At a West Vancouver council meeting on April 27, councillors discussed a controversial paid parking program that the city started last September.
During a long council discussion on the matter, Councillor Christine Cassidy said that parking at Ambleside Park is cheaper than at other Metro Vancouver beaches. For example, it is $2.50 an hour compared to Vancouver’s Jericho Beach at $4.25 an hour.
“The genie is out of the bottle, so we are going to be attracting the hordes, whether we want them, or whether we don’t, whether we’re free, or whether at $2.50. They are coming,” she said.
“And you can just see it these days when you go down on those hot last few weekends, the crowds that were on that seawall, you could tell they did not live in West Vancouver,” she continued.
“And the reason I could say that they’re not from West Vancouver is the numbers that group together. It’s not you and your buddy or you and your wife or you and your children. These are groups of six or eight or nine. It’s an outing for the day. You’ve come to West Van for an outing.”
In response, some West Vancouver residents created a petition calling for Cassidy to formally publicly apologize and resign from office.
“The suggestion that one can determine whether someone ‘belongs’ in West Vancouver based on their appearance is harmful and unacceptable. Such language echoes a long history of exclusion based on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Whether intentional or not, it reinforces the idea that some people are less welcome in shared public spaces,” reads the petition.
Daily Hive Urbanized reached out to Cassidy and asked her how she could tell Ambleside Park users didn’t live in West Vancouver.
In an email, she responded saying that she’s been part of two petitions on the seawall in 2012 and 2013, along with three election campaigns in 2014, 2018 and 2022, where she said she learned that on sunny days and weekends, “the majority of individuals I spoke with did not live in West Vancouver. They were from throughout the Lower Mainland.”
She said that her statement was taken out of context.
“I made no reference whatsoever to race.”
Council voted to continue the parking program, despite the fact that businesses have complained that it causes them to lose revenue.
West Vancouver residents pay $0 for an annual pass.