Jamie Han
Park Board · Vancouver
About
I'm a student activist fighting for universal and accessible public washrooms, better cycling infrastructure, and real investment in public parks and recreation for every neighbourhood.
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.
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Support electrification of new buildings.
Supportive
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Incentivize electric heat pumps and air filtration systems.
Supportive
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Scale up energy retrofits for existing homes, businesses, and public buildings.
Supportive
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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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Pursue available legal options to recover a fair share of the climate costs facing our community from fossil fuel companies and other big polluters.
Supportive
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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.
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Expand and protect tree canopy, parks, and green infrastructure to cool neighbourhoods, clean air, and manage stormwater.
Supportive
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Prioritize native tree planting in all areas, especially those with low tree cover, higher population densities, and more vulnerable residents.
Supportive
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Create connected urban greenways for people and wildlife.
Supportive
Land Use
We envision vibrant, walkable communities that protect nature and improve food security.
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Build affordable homes near jobs, schools, shops, and transit.
Supportive
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Upgrade critical infrastructure for heat, fire, flood, and storm resilience.
Supportive
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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!).
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Deliver reliable, frequent, affordable local transit.
Supportive
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Advocate to improve regional public transit between communities.
Supportive
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Build bike and roll networks that are safe for everyone.
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.
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Support the development of a circular economy to eliminate waste and improve resilience.
Supportive
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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?
One of the earliest form of political activism I had done was when I was in high school, where during a social justice fair, I had incorporated running a petition against the pipeline expansions. It was inspiring to see all those who were equally passionate about that issue, including Tamiko Suzuki who I now have the honour of running alongside for park board. During university in Ontario, through a coalition of various student groups and clubs including one co-founded by me, us students were able to successfully fight for better transit, including restoration of bus lines cut during the pandemic and preventing funding cuts.
Questions for Vancouver
What is your position on gas hookups for new buildings?
Gas hookups for new buildings implies in the first place that we would be continuing to encourage the use of gas. We need to transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources of energy, not just as park board but alongside council and schools too.
Will you vote to restore full funding for the Sustainability Office? In your view, what is the role of the Sustainability Office?
Although not specifically what park board commissioners can do, I will stand proudly in supporting COPE's council candidates when they vote to restore full funding for the Sustainability Office.
What is your view on a moratorium on AI data centres, given the natural resources they require?
I fully support having a moratorium on AI data centres. This is another classic case of tech companies pushing something we don't need into a city with bylaws that have yet to catch up to regulating it. The amount of money being thrown around to these tech companies is not worth the purported benefits and the harms it would present greatly outweighs it. Considering all the actual problems faced by the people, the money would frankly be better spent elsewhere.
Given the “controversy” of the Villages Plan, how do you envision accommodating the population growth of the City while dealing with the impacts of climate change?
As the city grows and densifies, already we see more and more people living in basement apartments, lane houses, townhouses and apartment buildings, all of which imply a lack of outdoor space which means more and more will rely on the public commons of the city such as parks, plazas, or community centres. It is important that the current stock of public spaces is improved, as well as adding new spaces alongside new developments but unfortunately we see problems on both fronts. The city has been woefully behind on its schedule of renewing old facilities, including the current city government ignoring park board recommendations that were crafted through careful consultation with local community centre associations. When it comes to the addition of new public spaces alongside growth, the people of this city were promised new facilities or public spaces, but that has not been followed through in all cases, and accountability from current city government has been lacking by letting these developers off the hook.
What is your plan to create climate safeguards for all of Vancouver’s inhabitants, including the unhoused population?
Climate change is here and the park board and city must prepare for the future. As we saw from the past like from the heat dome a couple years ago, it can become deadly, and the park board must do its part. For those that don't have elsewhere to go to escape the heat, community centres and other city facilities are often the only places one can go. A lot of facilities also close earlier than one may expect, which in the summer months mean that a facility closes before the summer sun begins to set. Without buildings to cool in, what else is left other than the shadows of trees, but even this poses a problem as the DTES has a lower than average tree coverage compared to other neighbourhoods. Less tree cover means that the average temperature will be higher, and there is also no shade for people to refuge under. These are all things that need to be rectified, and with a new council that will ensure that cooling kits are always under consideration, we can make sure that everyone in the city is supported.
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