The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation has decided to restore lifeguard services at four beaches after contention over staffing.
In April, lifeguards began sounding the alarm that budgetary constraints were threatening their employment at Spanish Banks East, Spanish Banks West, Third Beach, Sunset Beach, and Trout Lake.
After the board’s decision to cut the funding, Vancouver city council was asked to pick up the costs.
Last week, after hearing from over 40 concerned residents regarding the essential service that Vancouver lifeguards provide, city council voted against a motion to provide the 600-thousand dollars in funding needed to reverse the lifeguard cuts, instead opting to pass the buck to the Park Board.
While ABC Coun. Mike Klassen recognized the concerns of those who spoke in support of the motion, he said the responsibility lies with the Park Board.
“If the Park Board is truly prioritizing these services, they would have properly funded this appropriately at their last meeting, where they had an emergency motion to discuss this topic,” Klassen said.
Cuts to lifeguards at Vancouver beaches prompt calls for water safetyCouncillors in favour of the motion and many of those in attendance were surprised by the result of the vote.
“I feel like this motion was easy to support as it originally stood,” said Coun. Sean Orr.
“I don’t think $600,000 in the grand scheme of things, considered we’ve already taken out of our reserves for a number of other things, is a lot when lives are on the line.”
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Vancouver Park Board Commissioner Tom Digby said the board was already in the process of hiring lifeguards for this summer, but stressed the $600,000 needed would have to come from somewhere.
“We may have to cut whole services altogether,” Digby said at the time.
“That might, in the end, be the only effective way to deal with this, rather than just diminishing all of our services across all the system.”
In an update Friday, the board says it has directed staff to continue providing lifeguard services at nine outdoor beaches this summer, with the notable exception of Trout Lake.
Commissioners decided at an in-camera meeting Monday.
“This was a difficult decision in the current fiscal environment, but we need to make sure our beaches are safe,” said Park Board Chair Tom Digby. “We have a long history of having excellent beach lifeguarding in Vancouver, and residents expect that.”
The Parks Board says a one-time reallocation of funds will pay for the summer staffing.
“Ongoing funding for these services will need to be established as part of the Park Board’s 2027 budgeting process.”
—With files from Kurt Black