Natalia Bember
Council · Burnaby
Metrotown 12 yrs
About
I have lived in Burnaby for twelve years. I use a mobility scooter, I founded the Access World Foundation, and I run a small business. I am running as an independent.
Policy commitments
Buildings
We all want healthy, affordable, and comfortable homes. These policies will help to lower energy bills, cut pollution, and improve indoor air quality.
✓
Support electrification of new buildings.
Supportive
✓
Incentivize electric heat pumps and air filtration systems.
Supportive
✓
Incentivize renewable energy, battery storage, and smart-grid technologies in new and existing buildings to improve energy security.
Supportive
✓
Scale up energy retrofits for existing homes, businesses, and public buildings.
Supportive
✓
Implement a 'right to cool' bylaw to protect tenants during extreme heat events.
Supportive
Climate Justice
Our community is already experiencing the harmful impacts of climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution, and taxpayers are on the hook to upgrade and repair critical infrastructure.
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Endorse the fossil fuel treaty and commit to phase out fossil fuels.
Neutral
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Enact a moratorium on AI data centres to protect our energy and water resources.
Neutral
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Pursue available legal options to recover a fair share of the climate costs facing our community from fossil fuel companies and other big polluters.
Neutral
✓
Collaborate with Indigenous peoples as partners in the stewardship of the land, air, and water, and work towards reconciliation.
Supportive
Ecosystems
The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat all rely on healthy ecosystems. Nature can also help protect our community from extreme weather by controlling floods, protecting shorelines, and cooling neighbourhoods. Access to nature improves the health and well-being of residents, and supports biodiversity.
✓
Protect and restore ecosystems, which are essential to human survival, health, and economic well-being.
Supportive
✓
Expand and protect tree canopy, parks, and green infrastructure to cool neighbourhoods, clean air, and manage stormwater.
Supportive
✓
Prioritize native tree planting in all areas, especially those with low tree cover, higher population densities, and more vulnerable residents.
Supportive
✓
Create connected urban greenways for people and wildlife.
Supportive
Land Use
We envision vibrant, walkable communities that protect nature and improve food security.
✓
Build affordable homes near jobs, schools, shops, and transit.
Supportive
✓
Upgrade critical infrastructure for heat, fire, flood, and storm resilience.
Supportive
✓
Increase food security by supporting local agriculture and community gardens.
Supportive
Transport
Connecting neighbourhoods through public transit and active transportation networks will cut pollution, improve public health, and make our communities more affordable (and fun!).
✓
Deliver reliable, frequent, affordable local transit.
Supportive
✓
Advocate to improve regional public transit between communities.
Supportive
✓
Build bike and roll networks that are safe for everyone.
Supportive
✓
Expand EV charging infrastructure.
Supportive
Watersheds
Climate change, increasing populations, and overconsumption threaten our water security. Healthy watersheds and forests are critical to support clean drinking water, stormwater management, climate resilience, and biodiversity for future generations.
✓
Implement water conservation plans and educate the public to conserve drinking water.
Supportive
✓
Protect and restore watersheds as vital municipal infrastructure.
Supportive
✓
Develop and implement a water security plan.
Supportive
Zero Waste
Zero waste policies reduce pollution, keep waste out of landfills, build resilient local economies, and safeguard public health by shifting society away from a disposable culture toward a sustainable circular economy.
✓
Implement zero waste bylaws to divert organic waste and recyclables from disposal.
Supportive
✓
Support the development of a circular economy to eliminate waste and improve resilience.
Supportive
✓
Implement bylaws to eliminate waste from new buildings, renovation, and demolition projects and to use existing buildings as efficiently as possible.
Supportive
✓ Supportive
~ Neutral
× Opposed
– No response
Climate action
How have you contributed to climate action in your community through advocacy, past work, advisory committees, volunteer work, and/or reducing your personal carbon footprint?
I do not drive. I travel by transit and HandyDART, so a low-carbon life is simply how I live. Through the Access World Foundation I work on making public spaces usable for everyone, which is the same work as getting people out of cars and onto buses and sidewalks. I am not a climate campaigner, and I will not pretend otherwise, but I understand who suffers first when a city gets hotter.
Questions for Burnaby
Climate change is already driving up the cost of living (i.e., insurance, food prices, strain on our healthcare system). How will you provide leadership in moving our municipality towards meaningful climate action that addresses this issue?
I would start with the buildings we already have. Eighty-three percent of Burnaby's rental homes were built between nineteen sixty and nineteen seventy-nine. They are expensive to heat, expensive to cool, and dangerous in a heat wave. Retrofits and heat pumps cut bills and save lives at the same time, and a maximum temperature bylaw would protect tenants who cannot install anything themselves.
Second, transit. Burnaby has no heavy industry. Our emissions come from vehicles. The mayor sits on the Mayors' Council, which approves TransLink's plans, so there is a real seat at a real table. I would push to electrify the bus fleet faster and to make walking and rolling routes good enough that people genuinely choose them.
Third, shade. Tree canopy is cheap infrastructure. It cools streets, protects people who are outside, and costs far less than repairing heat damage later.
I would also be honest about what a councillor controls. Council does not set the building code or run health care. What it does control is what gets built, what conditions come with a permit, and what Burnaby asks the Province for. I would use those levers, and when something is not the City's job, I would find out whose it is and take it there.
Second, transit. Burnaby has no heavy industry. Our emissions come from vehicles. The mayor sits on the Mayors' Council, which approves TransLink's plans, so there is a real seat at a real table. I would push to electrify the bus fleet faster and to make walking and rolling routes good enough that people genuinely choose them.
Third, shade. Tree canopy is cheap infrastructure. It cools streets, protects people who are outside, and costs far less than repairing heat damage later.
I would also be honest about what a councillor controls. Council does not set the building code or run health care. What it does control is what gets built, what conditions come with a permit, and what Burnaby asks the Province for. I would use those levers, and when something is not the City's job, I would find out whose it is and take it there.
What specific policies do you promise to fight for to address transportation emissions, including making streets safer for walking and active modes of travel?
First, buses. Burnaby has no heavy industry, so vehicles are where our emissions come from. Burnaby has a voice at the table that approves TransLink's plans, and I would make sure Council sends the mayor there with a clear mandate on faster bus electrification and better frequency, because people only leave the car behind when the bus actually turns up.
Second, the surface people travel on. A route is only safe if it is continuous. In parts of Burnaby the sidewalk simply stops, and you have to cross to the other side to carry on. On a scooter that means going into the road. I would push for the new sidewalks programme to move faster, and for the priority list to be built around where the gaps actually strand people, not only around traffic counts.
Third, maintenance. Patched crossings and uneven surfaces make a route unusable for anyone with a walker, a wheelchair or a stroller. Quality control on repairs costs very little and changes who can leave the house.
Safe streets are not only a climate policy. They are the difference between a person getting out or staying home.
Second, the surface people travel on. A route is only safe if it is continuous. In parts of Burnaby the sidewalk simply stops, and you have to cross to the other side to carry on. On a scooter that means going into the road. I would push for the new sidewalks programme to move faster, and for the priority list to be built around where the gaps actually strand people, not only around traffic counts.
Third, maintenance. Patched crossings and uneven surfaces make a route unusable for anyone with a walker, a wheelchair or a stroller. Quality control on repairs costs very little and changes who can leave the house.
Safe streets are not only a climate policy. They are the difference between a person getting out or staying home.
How will you improve transit in Burnaby, using tools within your jurisdiction as a municipality?
Council does not run the buses, and I would not pretend otherwise. But the City controls the conditions that decide whether transit works.
Burnaby decides what gets built and where. Homes approved close to frequent transit produce riders; homes approved far from it produce car trips for the next fifty years. That is a land use decision, and it is entirely ours.
The City also owns the street. Bus speed depends on curbs, signals, lane priority and bus stops, and all of those are municipal. A bus stuck in the same queue as the cars will never be the faster choice.
Then there is the walk to the stop. A bus route is only as good as the path to it. If the sidewalk stops, or the curb is too high, or the snow is never cleared, that bus does not exist for a lot of people. Sidewalk gaps, curb letdowns, benches and shelters are all City responsibilities, and they cost far less than transit itself.
Finally, Burnaby has a voice at the regional table, and Council decides what it asks for. I would want those requests grounded in evidence from residents rather than assumptions.
Transit is not only the bus. It is everything around the bus, and most of that belongs to the City.
Burnaby decides what gets built and where. Homes approved close to frequent transit produce riders; homes approved far from it produce car trips for the next fifty years. That is a land use decision, and it is entirely ours.
The City also owns the street. Bus speed depends on curbs, signals, lane priority and bus stops, and all of those are municipal. A bus stuck in the same queue as the cars will never be the faster choice.
Then there is the walk to the stop. A bus route is only as good as the path to it. If the sidewalk stops, or the curb is too high, or the snow is never cleared, that bus does not exist for a lot of people. Sidewalk gaps, curb letdowns, benches and shelters are all City responsibilities, and they cost far less than transit itself.
Finally, Burnaby has a voice at the regional table, and Council decides what it asks for. I would want those requests grounded in evidence from residents rather than assumptions.
Transit is not only the bus. It is everything around the bus, and most of that belongs to the City.
What ideas do you have to solve housing affordability and homelessness issues and address climate change at the same time?
The same buildings cause both problems, so one repair serves both.
Most of Burnaby's rental homes were built between nineteen sixty and nineteen seventy-nine. They leak heat in winter and trap it in summer. Retrofits, insulation and heat pumps cut a tenant's bill and cut emissions in the same move. That is affordability and climate policy at once.
Cooling is the urgent part. New homes must now be built with a cooled room, so that problem is solved going forward. Older rental buildings got nothing, and that is exactly where the people most at risk live. The Province offers a free portable air conditioner with free installation, but only for low income residents who are medically vulnerable, and a renter must have their landlord sign a consent form first. One signature can end the whole application. That is a gap worth naming.
A council seat cannot rewrite tenancy law. It can attach conditions to business licences for rental buildings, and it can send a resolution to the Province through the Union of BC Municipalities asking that landlord consent stop working as a veto. Burnaby already knows how to ask the Province for things. It has simply never asked for this one.
And heat is not only a problem for people who are already unwell. It makes people unwell. Our population is ageing, so the number at risk grows every year.
Most of Burnaby's rental homes were built between nineteen sixty and nineteen seventy-nine. They leak heat in winter and trap it in summer. Retrofits, insulation and heat pumps cut a tenant's bill and cut emissions in the same move. That is affordability and climate policy at once.
Cooling is the urgent part. New homes must now be built with a cooled room, so that problem is solved going forward. Older rental buildings got nothing, and that is exactly where the people most at risk live. The Province offers a free portable air conditioner with free installation, but only for low income residents who are medically vulnerable, and a renter must have their landlord sign a consent form first. One signature can end the whole application. That is a gap worth naming.
A council seat cannot rewrite tenancy law. It can attach conditions to business licences for rental buildings, and it can send a resolution to the Province through the Union of BC Municipalities asking that landlord consent stop working as a veto. Burnaby already knows how to ask the Province for things. It has simply never asked for this one.
And heat is not only a problem for people who are already unwell. It makes people unwell. Our population is ageing, so the number at risk grows every year.
How can we make our parks and green spaces work harder for us in terms of rainwater management, carbon capture and food production?
Burnaby counts roads and pipes as assets. It does not count trees and soil the same way, and it should. A mature tree canopy manages storm water, cools a street and stores carbon, all at once, and it costs far less than the engineering that replaces it.
Permeable surfaces belong in the same category. Every hard surface sends water into a pipe that somebody has to build and maintain. Ground that absorbs water is cheaper than the pipe.
On food, community gardens are the obvious lever, and Council controls the land. I would want more of them, and I would want them designed so everyone can use them. Raised beds at the right height, firm level paths and a water tap within reach mean someone in a wheelchair, or a senior with a walker, can grow food rather than watch others do it. That costs almost nothing at the design stage and is expensive to retrofit later.
And shade is a health measure. If you are outside on a scooter in August, a tree is not decoration. It is the difference between making the trip and staying home.
Permeable surfaces belong in the same category. Every hard surface sends water into a pipe that somebody has to build and maintain. Ground that absorbs water is cheaper than the pipe.
On food, community gardens are the obvious lever, and Council controls the land. I would want more of them, and I would want them designed so everyone can use them. Raised beds at the right height, firm level paths and a water tap within reach mean someone in a wheelchair, or a senior with a walker, can grow food rather than watch others do it. That costs almost nothing at the design stage and is expensive to retrofit later.
And shade is a health measure. If you are outside on a scooter in August, a tree is not decoration. It is the difference between making the trip and staying home.
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