Affordable housing. Deaths due to heat and drug poisonings. Canada Games Pool’s demise. These are but a few of the issues New Westminster residents, community groups, businesses and elected official grappled with in 2021.
Here is a look back at some of the major stories that made headlines in New West in 2021.
Heat deaths
New Westminster suffered the fourth-highest death toll in the province during the summer’s heat dome event.
When the BC Coroners Service released data about the summer's record-breaking heat wave, it revealed that 526 heat-related deaths were recorded in British Columbia between June 18 and Aug. 12. Between June 25 and July 1, when a heat dome resulted in temperatures of 40 to nearly 50 degrees in some B.C. communities, 28 deaths were recorded in New Westminster, which was the fourth highest of any community in B.C., trailing only the province’s three most populated cities – Vancouver (99), Surrey (67) and Burnaby (63).
At the July 20 police board meeting, Chief Const. Dave Jansen said officers responded to 38 sudden deaths in a one-week period during the heat wave.
“The coroners’ line was so inundated with calls that it actually stopped working for a period of time,” he said.
Mayor Jonathan Cote said the response to the recent record-breaking heat wave was a “failure” by the province’s medical response system.
“We recognize at this point though, there were terrible losses and there was a lot of suffering in the community related to the heat,” he said. “I think all levels of government, including the local government, need to look at the work we do to help and respond and to be able to serve our community. In all communities across the province, I feel we have let community members down. We have let seniors down.”
Council directed staff to update the city’s heat plan.
Drug poisoning crisis
It was a year of heartbreak for family and friends of people whose lives were lost to the drug poisoning crisis.
A December report from the BC Coroners Service showed 34 people in New West had died of illicit drug toxicity deaths in the first 10 months of 2021. The 1,782 lives lost across the province between January and October represents the highest number of deaths due to drug toxicity ever recorded in B.C. in a calendar year.
In 2020, 35 people died of illicit drug deaths in New Westminster. A record of 37 illicit drug deaths occurred in New Westminster in 2018.
The coroner’s report stated no deaths have been reported at supervised consumption or drug overdose prevention sites.
In April, a health contact centre opened in downtown New Westminster with the goal of saving lives. It provides a variety of services, including safe witnessing services, drug testing, harm reduction supplies, take-home naloxone kits, training on naloxone, education on safer drug use, referral to treatment centres and health services.
In March, New Westminster city council called on the federal government to help save lives by declaring the overdose crisis a national public health emergency and developing a comprehensive overdose action plan.
Homelessness
A “perfect storm” of crises – including a lack of affordable housing, the overdose crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic – has resulted in an increase in homelessness in New Westminster.
City staff say there has been a “significant increase” in unsheltered homelessness due to COVID, with service providers now estimating this population to be between 150 and 200.
Initiatives undertaken by the city include establishing a COVID-19 at-risk and vulnerable populations task force to address the essential needs of food-insecure and unsheltered people; setting up laundry and shower programs; and creating an interdepartmental working group on homelessness to address business and resident complaints related to homelessness and other social issues.
In September, city council directed staff to begin work on a new homelessness action strategy, which will provide a vision and a plan for addressing homelessness and its related issues for the next five years. The strategy, which is expected to be complete in early 2022, will identify needs and gaps and inform action interventions; assist the city and the faith-based and non-profit sector in the applying for grants from foundations and senior levels of government; facilitate collaboration and partnership building; and prioritize actions and inform advocacy, including with the senior levels of government.
On the housing front, council also supported plans to build an affordable housing project at 823 to 841 Sixth St. and an affordable housing project on Fenton Street in Queensborough. In September, BC Housing bought a site at 68 Sixth St. where it proposed to build 52 supportive housing units in a modular building, a project approved by council in December.
In November, council approved a temporary use permit so the Purpose Society can operate an extreme weather response program shelter or an emergency response shelter on the lower floor of the former Army & Navy department store.
Downtown livability
The City of New Westminster opts to take a “compassionate approach” to address livability concerns of downtown residents and businesses. Short-term actions aimed at improving livability in the downtown include increasing cleaning and waste receptacles and providing access to a public washroom or porta-potty in the downtown.
“Homelessness, the opioid and illicit drug epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic are all impacting the livability of New Westminster, in particular the downtown,” said a staff report. “Residents and businesses have corresponded with the city seeking assistance to address these challenges, including, additional waste cleanup and pickup; mental health outreach and support; addiction intervention, needle sweeps and outreach support; and new emergency shelter and housing with wrap-around supports.”
City staff determined the concerns raised by community members fell into five categories: the need to improve general cleanliness and provide for 24-hour, public toilets in the downtown; homeless outreach and increased emergency shelter capacity; opioid epidemic and illicit drug response; business support and engagement; and the need to work with Fraser Health in addressing mental health issues that are contributing to increased homelessness and illicit drug use.
At its October meeting, the New Westminster police board received correspondence from several downtown residents expressing concern about safety and livability issues, such as open drug use.
Canada Games Pool
Construction of the city’s much-anticipated new aquatics and community centre got underway in June and the city announced it will be named təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre, an Indigenous word meaning “Sea Otter House.”
Set to remain open until the new facility opened in 2023, no one dreamed Canada Games Pool’s days would be numbered when it closed for its routine maintenance shutdown at the beginning of September.
The city it had to delay the pool’s reopening by a couple of days because of flooding in a vault that houses mechanical equipment. Soon after reopening, heavy rains forced the facility to close again, when it was discovered there was a deficiency in the drainage system (that had recently been relocated to accommodate the new facility’s construction), which was the cause of flooding in critical mechanical areas of the pool.
While city staff and consultants worked on a plan to solve that problem, it was discovered that there was also a leak in the pool’s main tank.
After considering the “significant costs” and the eight-month timeline needed to complete the repairs, the city decided not to sink time or money into work required to reopen the facility. Until these issues arose, it had been scheduled to be decommissioned in August 2023 as part of the təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre construction project.
“The decision to close Canada Games Pool permanently was an incredibly difficult decision for city council to make. While we knew this facility would close in the near future, these certainly aren’t the circumstances in which we wanted to say goodbye,” Mayor Jonathan Cote said in a press release. “Canada Games Pool is a fixture in our city and has served our community and region for almost 50 years. The legacy of Canada Games Pool will always live on through the many fond memories our community holds of their time at this beloved facility.”
Sixth Street affordable housing project
A six-storey affordable housing development in the Glenbrooke North neighbourhood resulted in petitions against the proposal, a rally in support of the project and countless letters to city council.
The Aboriginal Land Trust Society applied to the city for an amendment to the official community plan, a rezoning and a development permit as part of its plan to build a 96-unit apartment building at 823 to 841 Sixth St. The six-storey apartment building will house members of the Indigenous and Swahili communities.
In February, the Glenbrooke North Residents’ Association voted 74 to 40 in favour of writing to the mayor and council stating the group opposes changing the official community plan (OCP) to allow a six-storey building to be built on the sites. In March, residents presented city council with a petition signed by more than 1,000 residents who oppose the OCP amendment.
In May, residents belonging to the Yes in New West group organized a rally in support of the project, which was heading to a public hearing.
More than 70 people spoke at the four-and-a-half-hour virtual public hearing on May 31, with a majority supporting the application. Council unanimously supported the project.
Supporters argued the project would provide much-needed affordable housing, is located close to schools, parks, amenities and transit, and would be a step toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Opponents expressed concern that the building’s height and density are too extreme as it’s adjacent to single-family homes and would create safety issues in the narrow lane behind the building.
City budget
2021 started with concerns about this year’s budget and ended with similar sentiments about the 2022 budget.
The city was on track to approve the 2021 budget by the end of 2020, when some councillors opposed a budget increase to the New Westminster Police Department. Council voted to send it back to the police board with a request to resubmit a budget that incorporated a 0% increase.
The police board, however, rejected the city’s request, saying the increases were for negotiated wage increases, personal protective equipment and naloxone and initiatives related to diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism.
Councillors Nadine Nakagawa and Mary Trentadue initially voted against the budget because it included an increase to the police budget. In February, council unanimously approved the city’s budget – including the police department’s budget – thus avoiding the need to possibly go a dispute mechanism with the province.
The ink had barely dried on the 2021 budget, when staff got crackin’ on the 2022 budget this past summer. In the fall, staff and council met for a series of budget workshops.
In December, council voted four-to-two in favour of instructing staff to convert the draft 2022 to 2026 financial plan into a budget that reflects a 4.4% property tax increase for 2022 and a $170.7-million capital budget for 2022. Trentadue and Nakagawa voted against the staff recommendation because of concerns the budget includes an increase for the police department.
Council will vote on the financial plan bylaw in early 2022.
Police Reform
Police reform was a hot topic in council chambers and at police board meetings in 2021.
In March, city council agreed to strike a committee to engage on the issue of policing reform and to provide recommendations to city council. It was part of the city’s efforts to prepare a submission to the province’s Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act, which is accepting submissions as part of its consultation on a variety of issues, including: the role of police with respect to complex social issues; the scope of systemic racism within British Columbia's police agencies; and the consistency of a modernized Police Act with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In the summer of 2020, many people took to the streets in protests and rallies across North America and Canada following a series of police-related deaths of Black and Indigenous people. They called for police reform in areas including use of force, institutionalized racism and police response to calls involving vulnerable people.
The New Westminster police board and city council have both passed motions in support of police reforms, such as reprioritizing resources away from the enforcement of laws that criminalize society’s most vulnerable people to services that would be better served by a public health or community care framework.
In the spring, the city prepared a written and a video submission for the Provincial Special Committee on the Reform of the Police Act.
“We need fundamental changes in the policing model to move away from a focus on enforcement to address the root causes of social issues that disrupt our community’s quality of life and well-being,” Coun. Nadine Nakagawa said in the city’s video submission. “We can create a safer, more inclusive and vibrant community by providing the right resources in the right places, and that doesn’t always mean policing. What we need is housing, health care and community services, so all members of our community have a chance to thrive.”
And, not to be forgotten:
Pier Park reopens
Westminster Pier Park reopened in April after being closed to the public since a massive fire destroyed the eastern section of the park in September 2022. It had been expected to open in February but the reopening was delayed because of issues regarding emergency vehicle access to the site.
Fire destroys businesses
Several businesses were destroyed – including the Heritage Grill – when fire gutted a heritage building on the corner of Church and Columbia streets in the wee hours of May 24. The building was home to the Heritage Grill, Pho Pho You, Happy Buddha Tattoos and MagnetiQ Club Lounge. Firefighters managed to stop the fire from spreading to the adjacent building. Within days, GoFundMe campaigns are created for all four businesses destroyed in the fire.
Komagatu Maru action and apology
In March, city council directed staff to start the process of naming the Q to Q ferry docks in Queensborough and downtown New Westminster – as well as the riverfront walkway in Queensborough – in commemoration of the Komagata Maru. Interpretative signage telling the story of the Komagata Maru will be developed and will recognize community members who participated in supporting passengers of the ship.
On May 23, 1914, 376 British subjects from India arrived in the Vancouver harbour, hoping to enter Canada. Instead, they were prohibited from leaving the ship and were forced to leave Canada on July 23.
The city later proclaimed May 23 as Komagata Maru Remembrance Day in New Westminster.
In September, the city formally apologized to the South Asian community and to the descendants of the Komagata Maru for the actions and words of city council at the time of the incident. As hundreds of people aboard the Komagata Maru were starving, thirsty and becoming ill while the ship was anchored in the Vancouver harbour in the spring and summer of 1914, New Westminster city council was actively urging senior governments not to allow those onboard to leave the ship.
Federal election
Incumbent NDP member of Parliament Peter Julian cruised to victory in the Sept. 20 federal election. He topped the polls with the support of 48.8% of voters, followed by Liberal candidate Rozina Jaffer (23.7%), Conservative candidate Paige Munro (19.7%), Green candidate David MacDonald (4.1%) and People’s Party candidate Kevin Heide (3.7%)
Glass recycling
New Westminster city council approved a curbside glass collection program starting in 2022 in an effort to reduce contamination in the recycling stream and to fill a gap created by the closure of the city’s recycling depot. Staff estimate the new service will result in an added cost of $12 annually for single-family households and an additional $10 for multi-family households.
Recycle BC audits showed an “increasing trend of high contamination” of the city’s curbside collection program – something that could result in fines to the city if it’s not reduced.
Mental health pilot project
In November, New Westminster welcomed the chance to take part in a mental health pilot project that provides a health response to mental health issues rather than a criminal response. The Peer Assisted Crisis Team pilot project is being managed by the Canadian Mental Health Association. A mobile crisis team that includes mental health specialists and trained peer crisis responders (people with lived experience with mental health or a substance issues and systems) would respond to mental health and substance-use crisis events – instead of police.
Cancer diagnosis
In an exclusive interview with the Record in November, Richmond-Queensborough MLA Aman Singh announced he had been diagnosed with colon cancer after undergoing the routine screening recommended by the BC Cancer Agency for people aged 50 and up. Singh’s treatment plan includes radiation and chemotherapy, followed by surgery. Elected in the Oct. 24, 2020 provincial election, Singh plans to keep working while undergoing treatment and is optimistic about his recovery.
Crisis response
In December, city council supported a series of actions and projects aimed at helping the city to address homelessness and to better respond to a variety of crises and emergencies. Staff “bundled together” what they deemed to be three separate but closely related items into one process, including a 52-unit supportive housing project at 60 to 68 Sixth St. and a 58-unit Indigenous housing project at 350 to 366 Fenton St. in Queensborough. It also included citywide bylaw amendments that would allow the city to respond more rapidly to projects that address an identified emergency or crisis, which would be done by “pre-approving” specific land uses on publicly owned/leased land that could respond to these emergency situations.
Renovictions bylaw
In December, the Supreme Court of Canada backed the city’s efforts to deter renovictions by dismissing an application for leave to appeal the city’s rental units bylaw amendment. That decision follows an April ruling by the BC Court of Appeal, which upheld the city’s right to adopt the bylaw amendment to deter the practice of renovictions and to help preserve affordable rental housing. In response to concerns about the increasing number of renovictions taking place in New West, the city amended its business regulations and licensing (rental units) bylaw to add new regulations to restrict evictions.
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