COPE Vancouver

Meet COPE's Team for Mayor and Council! Stephanie Allen is a housing policy expert with a background in non-profits, co-ops, and land trusts. She's fighting for better public services, community land trusts, and democracy that empowers residents to have a real say in their city. Sean Orr is an activist, musician, and writer. He's fighting for better tenant protections, artist-run Arts & Culture spaces, and libraries to be open 7 days a week. Solomon Yi-Kieran is a transit activist and student organizer. They're fighting for fast and free transit, bus shelters, and more transparent and accountable government. Chloe Leslie is a food security worker and community activist. She's fighting to make life easier for people, reducing waste, and supporting local businesses against predatory landlords. Dr. Devyani Singh is a Climate Scientist with a background in economics. She understands the root of the climate crisis and the affordability crisis are the same thing: the political power of the super-rich. Angela Liu is a political organizer and activist. She played an instrumental part in winning free birth control in BC. She's fighting for minimum standards for rentals, creating a rental registry to ensure everyone has a safe place to live. Together, we can take on Ken Sim and ABC, and take democracy back from the billionaires.

Stephanie Allen is running to be the next Mayor of Vancouver with COPE. She's fighting to make this city work for everyone, and call out the rigged system that creates high rents and homelessness. With COPE, we'll: Fight for our public services and community centres, supporting staff and increased hours, and opening libraries 7 days a week, Fighting for real tenant protections against displacement and demovictions, with city-wide policies that make developers pay for the cost of keeping tenants whole. Real accountability and transparency, with a lobbyist registry, an integrity commissioner with real enforcement power, and citizen assemblies. We can't let predatory wealth and private equity capture our politics and shut out working class people. We're fighting for Vancouver.

Exciting night for all COPE members! Packed house at the Rio Theatre in East Van, as we deliberate and vote on our candidates for City Hall, School Board, and Park Board. #EvictKenSim #FightForVancouver

It’s a “hotel” - that will kick out seniors and low income families to provide long-term rentals to tech workers.

May 17th is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexphobia, and Transphobia. Around the world, the far-right is working to erode hard-won rights for 2SLGBTQIA+ people, funded by ultra-rich donors who want to divide the working class and shift political discourse away from human rights, decency, and freedom. Their playbook is always the same: divide people, drum up fake fears, and take power to enrich themselves. We'll call it out, and fight for human rights. COPE will always fight against hatred in all forms. Vancouver is for everyone.

We’ve normalized an economy where replacing things is easier than repairing them! That drives up costs, creates waste, and keeps people trapped in a cycle of constant consumption. A publicly funded network of repair cafés would make fixing things affordable, accessible, and local while creating green jobs and building a real circular economy. #vancouver #vanpoli #cope #repair #repaircafe

Meet our Park Board Candidates! T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss is an indigenous matriarch of the Skwxwu7mesh, Sto:lo and Hawaiian people. They'll fight for sustainable green parks, affordable and enjoyable recreation, and to always support vulnerable people, families, and children. Sacia Burton is a co-director of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition. She's running for Park Board to ensure our parks, community centres, and public spaces are affordable, enjoyable, and sustainable for generations to come. Jamie Han was a youth organizer for the Lewis for Leader campaign. She's fighting for safer parks, more cycling infrastructure, real investment in public parks and recreation, and better parks, pools, and playgrounds for all. We got this.

Is Vancouver ready for a Mayor this real? We think so. Stephanie Allen is going to expose the system and fight to make it easier to build a life here. She's going to fight for real tenant protections, non-market housing, and community land trusts. She's going to fight the climate crisis in ways that make people's lives better. And she's going to tell the truth.

Meet COPE's School Board Candidates! Suzie Mah is a retired teacher, union activist, and parent who has been fighting the ABC School Board (and those that vote like them) since 2022. She's fighting to stop the sell-off of school land, cuts to programs, and school closures, and to prioritize funding for student supports ahead of ballooning administrative staff. Derrick O'Keefe is a writer and dad of two school-aged kids. He's fighting for better sports, band and art programs for our public school system to keep up with publicly-subsidized elite private schools Melanie Cheng is a parent and the former chair of Vancouver DPAC, who led the charge against the closure of Bruce Field, the selling off of Carleton Elementary, and is fighting for accountable VSB decision making for communities, and to use our public land for public benefit. Gwen Giesbrecht is the former chair of Vancouver DPAC, the former Chair of the Britannia Community Centre Board, and a former Park Board Commissioner with COPE. She's fighting for school meal programs, and to stop the public funding of elite private schools while our public school system is starved for resources. We got this.

It was a joyful night as our members voted for Stephanie Allen to be our candidate for Mayor and for Solomon Yi-Kieran, Chloe Leslie, Devyani Singh, and Angela Liu to run for City Council alongside Sean Orr. In just one year since our landslide by-election win, we've changed the conversation in Vancouver and won important victories - with just one City Councillor. Imagine what we can do at City Hall with Mayor Allen and four more Councillors. We can't wait to Evict ABC and get to work building the city we need and deserve. 📸 @ryanfunkphotography & @horizontal.deer

Today, the Integrity Commissioner ruled that Mayor Ken Sim abused his office to personally attack and harass an elected City Councillor, creating a hostile work environment. “This behavior from Sim, which is part of a pattern of harmful and personally targeted conduct against Sean Orr, is unacceptable for any leader” said COPE Co-Chair Sam Smart today, “Ken Sim must apologize and retract his harmful comments against not only Sean Orr, but everyone who speaks out with integrity against the genocide in Gaza.” “This ruling shows that Ken Sim has created a hostile work environment for his co-workers, but more importantly, he’s also created a hostile work environment for city staff,” said COPE Co-Chair Nate Stanley, “ABC’s widely-opposed slash-and-burn 2026 budget has created fear, uncertainty, and anxiety for the people who make our city work.” "A pattern emerging from Ken Sim is making stuff up to stoke anger in ethnic communities," said COPE School Trustee Suzie Mah, "He's using the city's diversity to divide people, instead of bring people together. That needs to stop." The investigator ruled that the “grave nature” and “wide-ranging impact of making the comments at the Press Conference” should be considered in any penalties levied by Council, and that Sim’s conduct “objectively harassed Councillor Orr.” “Ken Sim stooped to abusing his authority to harass an elected councillor. Under the current rules the Integrity Commissioner is powerless to hold Ken Sim accountable without the approval of the ABC council majority,” said COPE Mayoral Candidate Stephanie Allen today, “When I’m Mayor, we’ll give the Integrity Commissioner the power to independently levy meaningful penalties against politicians and work to repair against misconduct.” [Link in Bio to Press Release]

Last week Ken Sim and his ABC council voted twice to put lives at risk. Then, they approved a pilot project to sell out delivery workers and help pad the pockets of private equity investors in Silicon Valley. Embarrassing? Repulsive? Foolish? You pick the adjective.