Vancouver Charter


The Vancouver Charter is a provincial statute that incorporates the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The legislation was passed in 1953 and supersedes the Vancouver Incorporation Act, 1921. It grants the city different powers than other communities in the province, which are governed by the Local Government Act.

Additional Powers

Some of the additional powers and provisions provided by the Vancouver Charter include:

Previous Legislation

The city was first incorporated on April 6, 1886 under the Vancouver Incorporation Act, 1886. The Act limited voting rights to men who owned property at least the age of 21, and women who were single, divorced, or widowed, over the age of 21 and owned property. The act also forbid women from sitting as the mayor or as an alderman. The act also stated that "No Chinaman or Indian shall be entitled to vote in any municipal election".
The incorporation act would be repealed and replaced in 1900 and 1921 prior to the introduction of the Vancouver Charter.

Olympic amendments

On January 12, 2009 Vancouver's mayor Gregor Robertson requested an amendment to the Charter to allow the city to borrow $458 million to fund the completion of the 2010 Olympic Village in False Creek without seeking approval from taxpayers in an election-day plebiscite. Robertson said this was due to extraordinary circumstances. The amendment was passed on January 18, 2009 in an emergency session of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.