Better School, Parks, Pipes, & Pools in Every Neighbourhood

At every age and stage, Vancouverites struggle to find connection, community, and the supports that they need.

Services aren’t sexy, but they’re critical to the city working for everyone. OneCity has a plan to build better schools, parks, pipes, and pools across Vancouver in every neighbourhood so that your postal code doesn’t dictate what community infrastructure you have access to.

The City owns some of the most valuable land in the region, and we have an opportunity to build integrated hubs of jobs, education, housing, and community services that will transform their communities:

• Kingsgate: A Public Partnership for Schools, Housing, & Community Services – Kingsgate Mall is located in one of the busiest corridors for transit in the country, and needs to be used to its fullest potential. This means dreaming big and re-imagining how Kingsgate can be the heart of the city. OneCity will work with public and private partners to:

• Keep the land in public ownership. 

• Build a public school with a vertical flex space.

• Co-locate a complete set of public services so Kingsgate can be a community hub for a new community centre, Indigenous childcare, public childcare, and before and after school care.

• Build affordable and subsidized rental housing. 

• Build a pool for Mount Pleasant. 

• Partner with Host Nations from the outset. 

• One Britannia: Community Infrastructure That Works Together for You – Britannia is East Vancouver’s hub, and it’s falling apart. OneCity’s School Board team will renew a plan with Council & Park Board and other public and community partners to rebuild the entire 18 acre site, including the schools, as one integrated public campus with:

• A rebuilt elementary and secondary school.

• A community centre.

• An ice rink.

• Fitness and recreation spaces.

• Public childcare.

• Food and social development programs.

• Non-market housing. 

Schools are the place where young Vancouverites grow and learn, and OneCity will make sure that everyone gets access to the best of Vancouver’s schools, regardless of their neighbourhood.

• Indigenous Languages, Culture and Student Success – OneCity will work in respectful partnership with the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) to strengthen Indigenous language learning, Indigenous-led land-based education, culturally safe student supports, and accountability for Indigenous student success. 

• Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in VSB Schools – OneCity will target provincial advocacy to improve staffing, funding allocation, and professional development for educators with experience supporting students with disabilities. 

• Protect school programs from cuts – OneCity will reverse recent cuts, establish minimum service standards, and protect arts, music, physical education and school libraries as core to public education, not discretionary programs that disappear when budgets tighten. 

• Student Mental Health and Substance Use Prevention – OneCity will expand school-based mental health and substance use services, strengthen prevention and early-intervention programs, and improve partnerships with families, health providers, and community organizations through a district-wide strategy.

• Universal, Nutritious School Food Program – OneCity will build a universal, nutritious school food program so that every VSB student, regardless of financial background, can access healthy food during the school day.

• Protected School Lands – OneCity will integrate school planning with neighbourhood growth, protect school lands for future generations, and keep school grounds available for responsible public use outside school hours. 

• Childcare for All – OneCity will place neighbourhood schools at the centre of a coordinated public and non-profit childcare system, with VSB-led pilots and planning.

• A Nuanced and Cautious Approach to AI in Schools – OneCity will adopt a learner-centered harm reduction approach to AI that recognizes the opportunities and true risks of using AI at a young age. We commit to new safeguards, AI literacy education, privacy protections and age appropriate access limits to AI in schools. Along with this, we’ll seek to limit AI chatbot access to Grades 10-12, while ensuring that human relationships and supervision is available at all times. 

OneCity recognizes the value and importance of community centres, pools, and infrastructure to every Vancouverite. We commit to policies that will expand access, safety, and services to our community centres.

• Every Beach Guarded and Every Pool Opened – OneCity ensure public pools are kept open, staffed with qualified lifeguards through city-run, equity-focused certification, and funded long-term so that communities aren’t left in a lurch because of poor planning.

• Build three new pools – OneCity will solve the 50M pool problem through new pools in Mount Pleasant (through Kingsgate redevelopment), Hastings Community Centre, and Marpole as locations for new pools.

What this means for you:

You know that your child will have access to good food, programming, and supports in Vancouver. You and your family can access community infrastructure no matter what part of the city you live in, and you can get around the city without coming up against unnecessary red tape or confusing bureaucracy.