Vancouver council looks to reprioritize funding for Granville Bridge suicide prevention fence following death

Suicide prevention measures could soon be coming to the Granville Street Bridge, weeks after a tragic death on the crossing.

Editor’s note: If you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health, there are a number of ways to get help, including by calling or texting the Suicide Crisis Helpline at 988. A list of local crisis centres is also available here.

A Vancouver city councillor is hoping to re-establish the city’s commitment to fund suicide prevention measures on the Granville Street Bridge, following a death earlier this month.

On Wednesday, ABC Coun. Lisa Dominato will introduce a motion at council’s Standing Committee on Policy and Strategic Priorities.

Dominato said, if passed, the motion would give direction to staff to look at suicide-prevention fencing or infrastructure included in the 2027-2030 capital plan.

“A couple of weeks ago, staff had indicated that they didn’t think this should be included in the upcoming capital plan, but we think that should be revisited,” she said.

‘We can save that life’

On May 12, the Vancouver Police Department said, a woman fell to her death from the bridge after suffering a mental health episode.The lack of suicide-prevention barriers on the bridge prompted calls from advocates such as Stacy Ashton, the executive director of the Crisis Centre of B.C.

“We know that these kinds of incidents are very, very often best on an impulse, and that if we’re able to kind of prevent the possibility of following through on that impulse, we can save that life,” she said. “That’s why bridge barriers are so important.”

Jeremy Patterson, the operations manager of False Creek Ferries said for over three decades, said he has often had to pull people out of the water.

“It wasn’t something that I had thought about when I took the job,” he said. “And, depending on the incident and the outcome, sometimes it was a happy ending and sometimes not.”

Capital Plan

As per Dominato’s motion, the installation of suicide prevention barriers on the Burrard Bridge in 2017 has resulted in no known suicide deaths.

In 2024, former OneCity Coun. Christine Boyle tabled a successful motion called, “Installing Means Prevention Fencing on the Granville Street Bridge,” but that proposal was scaled back in March due to “funding constraints.”

At a March 10 council meeting, staff recommended council approve its recommendation not to allocate any additional capital funding to suicide-prevention fencing on the bridge, as well as adjustments to more than two dozen motions.

At the meeting, Vote Vancouver Coun. Rebecca Bligh tabled an amendment to prioritize the initiative, but it was voted down by ABC.

The staff recommendation was approved by ABC, with opposition councillors voting against it.

Dominato said the staff report dealt with a number of files and policy pieces.

“It was part of a larger package where they were recommending that we move in a different direction,” she said.

stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge

Other councils across Metro Vancouver have also advocated for similar measures on their bridges.

New Westminster Coun. Jaimie McEvoy said it was a priority for council when the new stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge opened.

“It was important because I was hearing from people who had been impacted by suicide, hearing from mothers and families of people who had lost people, and who had lost people in a preventable way,” he said.

If Dominato’s motion passes, it will ask staff to expedite completion of the conceptual design and costing work currently underway and report back to council as soon as possible with a confirmed cost estimate.

The motion also seeks to engage with the province and the federal government to share cost contributions.

In a statement to CTV News, the city said:

“The City of Vancouver remains committed to trying to achieve this objective and is currently advancing conceptual design work to better understand the potential costs and construction challenges.”