Hello neighbours,
February was a full and eventful month. It began with the Official Community Plan Public Hearing and included many important issues, with key highlights below. On a more celebratory note, I had the pleasure of attending a Lunar New Year concert presented by the Tri-Cities Chinese Community Society, with Councillor Lubik. I also sit on the Metro Vancouver Indigenous Relations Committee and am a team member for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Inclusive Climate Action in Tunisian Municipalities (ICATM) project. And we held the first meeting of the Public and Social Media Communications Guidelines Task Force (agenda here); if you missed background on this task force, I covered it in my January update.
In this newsletter:
35th Annual MMWIG March, Vancouver
Rideau Canal, Ottawa
An assortment of photos from February events.
Parliament, Ottawa
Very cold Ottawa weather
Council Highlights
The city has a webpage called Council Highlights that shares the “Coles’ notes” version of recent regular council meetings, along with links to the relevant video and agenda sections – a useful resource if you want more details on any of the topics covered at a council meeting. Below are a few that matter the most to me.
Tree Protection Bylaw and Associated Bylaw Amendments - Three Readings. This update was initiated by Cllr Lubik and Mayor Lahti back in 2019. It has been a long time coming (for good reasons), but the bylaw will support our Urban Forest Management Strategy goals and also enable the identification of legacy trees.
Family- and Age-Friendly Homes Update to the Social Well-being Guidelines (SWG). We discussed adding a new chapter to the SWG to include language about unit minimum sizes, and directed staff explore using a bylaw to enforce these requirements.
2026 LMLGA Advocacy Motion - Increased Funding for Libraries. A similar motion went to UBCM last year, yet funding for libraries remains frozen at 2010 levels. Libraries have taken on an ever-expanding role in advancing provincial objectives for community well-being, all while shouldering the growing expectations without provincial support. I was glad to support the Library Board in advocating for this long-overdue funding increase.
Metro Vancouver Indigenous Relations Committee
BC Treaty Commission Update
The Cowichan Decision and the messaging around it have created uncertainty and anxiety among some Metro Vancouver residents. Through my role on the Indigenous Relations committee, I wanted to share what I've learned in the hopes of providing some reassurance or at least a different perspective.
At our first meeting of the year, the committee received a presentation from Chief Commissioner Celeste Haldane. You can watch the presentation here.
The BC Treaty Commission’s 2025 Annual report (page 6) addresses this issue directly:
In the Cowichan Tribes v. Canada, the BC Supreme Court declared that Cowichan Tribes have aboriginal title over a small parcel of land which includes private property interests. This declaration has created legal uncertainty regarding private property owners. While this decision is being appealed, the Treaty Commission wants to clarify that through the made-in-BC negotiations process private lands are only on the table on a willing-seller and a willing-buyer basis, and in other instances when a private land owner has wanted to return the land back to the First Nation in the spirit of reconciliation.
One of the many benefits of resolving the outstanding land question in BC, through the settlement of treaties and tripartite agreements, is for the very reason that the issues in the Cowichan case can be dealt with, by providing certainty over land and jurisdictions for all parties through honourable negotiations.
FCM ICATM Project
The Inclusive Climate Action in Tunisian Municipalities (ICATM) project runs from March 2024 to February 2029. Funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), the project helps Tunisian municipalities build resilience to a changing climate with a focus on inclusion, particularly for women and youth. The goal is help municipalities develop practical frameworks for anticipating, adapting to, and recovering from climate impacts, resulting in on-the-ground projects that address each community’s climate adaptation needs.
Port Moody is fortunate to have a team of highly skilled staff working on this project. It’s worth noting that this is a genuine two-way exchange with our Tunisian counterparts – we are learning from them as much as we are sharing our own experiences. This is not about Canadians imposing our own ideas, but about professionals from two countries working towards shared goals. I am genuinely honoured to collaborate with so many dedicated people on something as important as climate action.
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Committee
I’m fortunate to be the chair of the IDEA committee this year. Our first meeting in January was largely housekeeping – reviewing the workplan, going over how the committee system works, etc. February’s meeting was more substantial with two presentations: Sidewalk and Walkway Inspection Policy and Accessibility Plan.
On the sidewalk policy, the committee learned about the current policy and maintenance processes, then provided feedback on these three questions:
The City’s Accessibility Plan is also due for refresh. The committee provided feedback on a series of questions designed to help staff with the “direction-setting” phase. I’ll share more as that work develops.
Metro Vancouver Reports on Housing and Affordability
In 2025, Metro Vancouver Regional District released three major reports on housing and affordability:
Together, they connect the dots between regional trends and individual municipalities. I am working on a more detailed post linking the reports to our local context, but the short version is this: the data makes a compelling case that the affordability crisis is fundamentally a housing shortage problem, and the most affordable communities, when you factor in both housing and transportation costs, are those well served by transit. Port Moody, with two SkyTrain stations and a long-standing commitment to transit-oriented growth (see the 2017 OCP), is well-positioned to be part of the solution.
Council meetings links
OCP Public Hearing and Special Meeting (Feb 3)
Regular Council (Feb 10)
Council Standing Committee (Feb 17)
Regular Council (Feb 24)
Other useful things
Do you need a doctor? Register at the Health Connect Registry. The ministry uses this to measure need in a region. Signing up helps to demonstrate that primary care physicians are needed in specific areas.
Have you signed up for the Port Moody Events Newsletter? If not, email [email protected]. (I am not affiliated with the newsletter, just sharing a community resource.)
