Latest news with #PeteFry
CTV News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Vancouver council unanimously votes to re-instate funding for school meal program
City councillors unanimously approved a motion Wednesday to re-instate funding for the Vancouver School Board to provide meals to students in need. The motion, put forward by councillors Rebecca Bligh and Pete Fry, brings back $325,000 in annual support for the school meal program, until the VSB can secure alternative funding. The city previously announced it would reduce the funding to $162,500 due to budget pressures, and because of additional support coming from the B.C. government. 'We had sort of been told by staff that we were going to sunset that funding because there was new funding coming in,' explained Fry. 'We then learned that that funding would be insufficient to meet the needs.' The VSB learned in April that the anticipated funding allocations would be 'substantially reduced based on a provincial formula socioeconomic status index,' according to the motion. Bligh and Fry's motion also requires Mayor Ken Sim to push both the provincial and federal governments to step up, something he said he fully supports. 'The city stepped up in the past when, you know, senior levels of government didn't deal with their accountability – because it is a senior-level government accountability,' said Sim. The reversal was celebrated by school board trustees, who were alarmed when the city reduced the program's funding. 'Of course, it's never enough,' said board chair Victoria Jung, speaking outside council chambers Wednesday. 'The goal is universal food, universal food for all – and so we'll continue to ask for more funding, and to advocate for students and K-12 education in Vancouver.' Sim said there are funding gaps in the province, with students in Vancouver receiving less than those in Surrey. He said he'll be asking the province to address those concerns and to provide full transparency in how funding is distributed across B.C.'s 60 school districts. 'We are asking the province to be a little, you know, transparent in the sense that – show us how you allocate the funding, show us the formula, and then, you know, address any inequities because at the end of the day we are dealing with vulnerable families,' the mayor said. Sim also said the Vancouver School Board never raised concerns about the city's funding cut when it was first notified, which he called 'disappointing.' 'They had months to bring this forward during the city's budget process,' he said. Bligh said she's happy all councillors are on board with re-instating the funding. 'I am really grateful for the cross-partisan support on this issue,' she said. 'Universality around the school food program is the ultimate goal.' The city has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to the VSB annually in support of various food programs since 2014, serving 3,500 meals to students each day.
Global News
07-05-2025
- General
- Global News
Pets languishing in Vancouver shelter due to no-social media policy, volunteer says
A volunteer with the Vancouver Animal Shelter claims pets are waiting longer than necessary for their forever homes because the city of Vancouver is not utilizing the free and wide-ranging reach of social media platforms to showcase its adoptable animals. As of Tuesday, 11 pets, including six dogs, several guinea pigs, rabbits and gerbils, were up for adoption on the city's website which has links to an 'available pets' page. 'We have dogs that are sitting for eight, nine, 10 months,' said volunteer Rhianydd Bellis. 'There (are) animals that have been inside for over a year at this point.' 1:18 Global Okanagan Adopt A Pet: Wilbur & Templeton Bellis has written to the city's mayor and council, asking that they allow Vancouver Animal Shelter (VAS) to set up its own Facebook and Instagram accounts like other Metro Vancouver municipalities have done for similar animal facilities. Story continues below advertisement 'In my view, the city of Vancouver is prioritizing its brand over the visibility of its animals,' Bellis told Global News in an interview. The volunteer said many in the community are not even aware that VAS exists. 'Vancouver is the outlier here; every single municipal shelter in Metro Vancouver has a very successful social media presence,' said Bellis. Surrey, Langley and New Westminster all have dedicated Facebook and Instagram pages to highlight their adoptable animals. In a May 1 Facebook post, Langley Animal Protection Society (LAPS) said social media enabled it to reach over 1.4 million views in April alone. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Every single view, like, comment, and share means more eyes on vulnerable animals, more chances for them to be seen, supported, and adopted,' read the LAPS post. The online visibility, LAPS said, means more forever homes found, more medical care funded and 'more love and hope for those who need it most.' 'You're not just following us — you're saving lives. You're not just sharing a post – you're giving an animal a second chance,' stated the LAPS post. 0:47 Global Okanagan Adopt A Pet: Grain of Sand In Vancouver, potential pet parents must navigate several links on the city's website before being directed to a page featuring adoptable animals. Story continues below advertisement 'It's very clear that this centralized social media policy is undermining the city's ability to get its animals seen,' said Bellis. Coun. Pete Fry with the Green Party found his previous dog Ruby at VAS, which he said he only knew about as a resident of the Strathcona neighbourhood. View image in full screen Pete Fry and his dog Ruby. Submitted 'When I adopted her she'd been there nine months, she'd been adopted twice and returned twice,' Fry told Global News in a Tuesday interview. 'She was kind of a hard-luck case, she turned out to be an amazing dog though.' Fry agrees that a social media presence is needed to expedite pet adoptions and blames slow-moving bureaucracy and red tape for the city's current position. The City of Vancouver recently featured an adoptable dog bio on its Facebook page, and Fry said the April 10 post ended up being one of the most popular it has ever had. Story continues below advertisement 'I really do appreciate the volunteers who are strenuously advocating to make us move faster on this,' said Fry. 'At the end of the day, it's about fantastic dogs who are languishing in doggie jail, and honestly, they don't thrive in the pound necessarily.' On Monday and in advance of this story, Global News asked for access inside the taxpayer-funded VAS to film the adoptable pets, but the City of Vancouver denied our request, claiming visits require prior permission and are 'by appointment only.' The City of Vancouver also did not make anyone available for an interview on why its animal shelter has no social media channels, although an official spokesperson noted, 'Last August, Global News has featured some adoptable animals on the morning show which was greatly appreciated and impactful. We would be happy to do something similar when a spokesperson is available.' The city also issued a statement which did not directly answer questions from Global News. 'The City of Vancouver is deeply appreciative of the efforts of staff and volunteers involved with the care of animals at the City's animal shelter and shares the goal of spreading the word about adoptable animals in Vancouver,' it said. 'The City's social media channels are run by staff to ensure cohesion with our overarching social media strategy and industry and accessibility standards, along with allowing for community management support. Some smaller legacy accounts are still in use from a time when today's social media practices were not in effect.' Story continues below advertisement It added that 'work is underway to meet with staff and volunteers to better understand everyone's perspectives and explore a thoughtful, collaborative approach.' Bellis said she's been surprised by the amount of resistance and stonewalling she's encountered from the City of Vancouver on what she considers to be a no-brainer. 'It's very heartbreaking, and for me it's been extremely frustrating because the solution is so easy,' said Bellis.
Vancouver Sun
01-05-2025
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Opinion: Tenant rights shouldn't be an afterthought during redevelopment
Article content Vancouver city council voted 5-4 against a motion brought forward on April 16 by Councillor Pete Fry on behalf of the city's Renters Advisory Committee that sought to expand Broadway Plan tenant protections across the city. The Broadway Plan protections provide existing renters with the right to a replacement unit at a similar rent to their previous unit plus interim rent top-up support during the redevelopment of their buildings. Article content Article content Article content The city's general policy, however, does not include these specific protections, and tenants elsewhere in the city are at greater risk of being displaced into core housing need (i.e., unaffordable, substandard, or overcrowded housing) through the redevelopment of their buildings. Article content Article content The co-chairs of the Renters Advisory Committee, Nick Poppell and Colleen Wickstrom, both made presentations to council describing the challenges of tenants facing displacement and urged them to approve this motion in order to help protect tenants in other areas of the city not covered by the stronger policy. Article content But Councillor Mike Klassen, and the rest of the ABC councillors present at the meeting, found these arguments unconvincing. Indeed, Klassen cited Landlord B.C. CEO David Hutniak's concerns that the costs of the Broadway Plan protections on developers were preventing projects from pencilling out and moving forward. Article content Klassen argued that the best rental protections are to continue increasing the supply of new rental housing as much as possible and that expanding the Broadway Plan protections across the city risked conflicting with this goal amidst challenging market conditions for new development. Article content Article content Councillor Lucy Maloney countered that, while new supply is important, tenant rights should be seen as an essential part of the city's housing policies and not an option to include or remove depending on market conditions. Article content Article content Furthermore, Councillor Sean Orr argued that the focus should not just be on expanding the Broadway Plan protections across the city but also on further strengthening the protections themselves — such as by removing potential loopholes that could allow developers to avoid their obligations to tenants. Article content On the other hand, we can strengthen tenant protections to prevent displacement, but this makes it harder for redevelopment projects to pencil out and move forward, which limits the growth of much-needed housing supply in our region.
CTV News
28-04-2025
- CTV News
City Councillor attending Lapu Lapu festival speaks out on van attack
Watch Vancouver City Councillor Pete Fry tells CTV Your Morning about his experience attending the festival at the time of the attack.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Yahoo
Raw video: Vancouver councillor Pete Fry speaks after several people were killed and injured at the Lapu Lapu festival
Multiple people were killed and others injured when a driver drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party near 41st Avenue and Fraser Street this evening. This is Vancouver councillor Pete Fry.
