Vancouver Park Board restores funding for lifeguards at 9 beaches this summer

From April 22: After a wave of concern over lifeguards being cut at half of Vancouver's patrolled waterfronts, there are no answers on whether service will be restored.

After more than a month of public outcry, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation has reversed course on its plan to cut lifeguard staffing at beaches across the city this summer.

On Friday, the park board announced that it had directed staff to continue providing lifeguard services at nine beaches where they were previously slated to be cut.

The beaches where lifeguards have been restored for the upcoming season are Spanish Banks West, Spanish Banks East, Locarno, Jericho, Kitsilano, Sunset, English Bay, Second and Third.

Trout Lake will not have lifeguards this summer, as previously planned.

The plan to cut lifeguards from those 10 beaches was expected to save the park board $600,000, and was developed in response to the residential property tax freeze approved by city council last year.

“This was a difficult decision in the current fiscal environment but we need to make sure our beaches are safe,” said park board Chair Tom Digby, in the announcement.

“We have a long history of having excellent beach lifeguarding in Vancouver, and residents expect that.”

The park board said it has approved a “one-time reallocation of funding” in its 2026 budget.

“Ongoing funding for these services will need to be established as part of the park board’s 2027 budgeting process,” the announcement reads.

Park board commissioners made the decision to restore the funding at an in-camera meeting on Monday.

The plan was to employ lifeguards only at the five Vancouver beaches that see the heaviest traffic during the summer season.

CTV News was the first to report the proposed cuts, which prompted backlash from the union that represents lifeguards in the city. CUPE Local 1004 launched a petition to reverse the cuts, which had garnered more than 3,300 signatures as of Friday.

Green Party councillor and mayoral candidate Pete Fry put forward a motion that asked city council to reverse the cuts, but that proposal was punted back to the park board by Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC majority.

“The responsibility for setting service levels and allocating resources is within the operating budget of the Vancouver Park Board, and that includes lifeguard staffing and hours,” said ABC Coun. Mike Klassen, at the time.

“Where we find ourselves today has nothing to do with a zero per cent property tax increase, this has everything to do with the park board not properly prioritizing lifeguards at our beaches.”

Sim’s “zero means zero” budget required park board commissioners to find $15 million in savings compared to their initial budget proposal for 2026.

The board ended up achieving that goal largely by increasing fees and parking charges.