Mayor Ken Sim is calling for free swimming lessons for every non-swimmer in the city of Vancouver, a review of aquatic infrastructure, and a return to “pre-COVID-19 operational hours” and drop-in access to Kitsilano pool.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

• Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
• Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
• Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
• Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
• Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

• Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
• Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
• Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
• Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
• Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

• Access articles from across Canada with one account.
• Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
• Enjoy additional articles per month.
• Get email updates from your favourite authors.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

• Access articles from across Canada with one account
• Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments
• Enjoy additional articles per month
• Get email updates from your favourite authors

Sign In or Create an Account

or View more offers

Sim has introduced a motion calling for universal access to basic swimming lessons and an expansion of aquatic infrastructure as a matter of “core public safety policy.”

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim wants free swimming lessons and Kits pool changes Back to video

The motion calls for city staff to work with the Vancouver park board to implement free access to beginner levels of swimming lessons, and explore partnerships with the Vancouver school board, community organizations and senior governments. He wants a report in 2027 on pool infrastructure and capacity potential.

Phil Skinder, director and head coach of the Pacific Lifesaving Club, applauded the mayor for recognizing basic swimming ability as a core public safety issue.

“Swimming is not simply recreation. In a coastal city like Vancouver, it is a life-saving skill,” said Skinder. He called the motion “one of the most positive public conversations we’ve seen around aquatic access in many years,” and especially supports the proposed exploration of partnership with Vancouver schools.

“We have been actively advocating for exactly this type of collaborative approach and have already completed much of the groundwork,” said Skinder. “We also know that if children do not learn to swim by the end of elementary school, many never fully acquire those skills later in life.”

The motion also calls for the parks board to update the VanSplash aquatics strategy, a 25-year plan to guide the renewal, design and development of indoor and outdoor pools, spray parks and beaches in Vancouver that focuses on a shift away from small neighbourhood pools to larger destination facilities that offer leisure, wellness and fitness in one location. The last such facility built in Vancouver was Hillcrest, which opened in 2011.

1. Advertisement 1

   Story continues below

   This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Since 1980, Vancouver has shut down many outdoor neighbourhood pools that provided free or low-cost recreation, including Sunset, Hastings-Sunrise, Marpole and Mount Pleasant.

Vancouver has only five outdoor pools. By comparison, Montreal has 12 times as many such pools though its population is just over twice as large, while Toronto has 10 times as many outdoor pools with a population more than four times as large as that of the city of Vancouver.

The proposed replacement of the Vancouver Aquatic Centre’s aging 50-metre pool, a key priority in the VanSplash plan, has been mired in controversy.

The $175 million rebuild of its aging 50-metre pool was swapped out by the park board for a 25-metre pool and increased leisure space, citing financial and site constraints. A legal challenge is underway by the Protecting Our Vancouver Aquatic Centre Society.

Park board commissioner Tom Digby was skeptical of Sim’s motion.

“The mayor doesn’t give a timeline, so it appears to be a campaign pledge. Making promises with no funding attached to them is just going to lead to disappointment,” said Digby.

In a statement to Postmedia, Sim said he is directing staff to consider “future costs through the city’s regular operating budget and capital plan processes as part of upcoming budget cycles.”

Public swim advocate Jody Vance said she fully supports the motion, but would have preferred the Mayor had stepped up far sooner. She plans to speak at the council meeting on May 20.

Vance has been vocal for several years about the loss of aquatic infrastructure in Vancouver, and the handling of Kits pool operations, which she says has become a “wedge issue” between the park board and the city.

“Can we please depoliticize this pool? An election is not until the fall. Just open the pool,” said Vance, who relied on the pool as a key low-cost amenity while raising her child.

“An entire generation of young people are missing out,” said Vance.

The aging beachside Kits pool, one of the few remaining outdoor pools in Vancouver, will not open until mid-June, while it undergoes maintenance and repairs.

Although the park board is making changes this year to the restrictive reservation system at the pool, which will allow drop-in users who arrive after 4 p.m. to stay longer than the 2½-hour time-slots currently allotted to daytime users, it’s not enough, said Vance.

“I am blown away by the number of people who I have never met who come out of the blue to say, ‘I’m with you. Keep fighting.’ We have lost our way as a city to manage our public amenities.”

The public can sign up online to speak in response to the mayor’s motion at the May 20 standing committee on city finance and services.