The Hot Pink Paper Campaign:
Centring the voices of communities who are often not heard at city hall.
The Hot Pink Paper Campaign (HPPC) is an issue-based campaign that amplifies the priorities of equity-deserving residents in the City of Vancouver through:
Community Engagement. In the lead-up to the municipal election, WTC runs deep engagement with residents and community organizations to identify priority issues for women, girls, and gender non-conforming people in Vancouver. We prioritize hearing from groups who are often excluded from democratic processes and who face systemic oppression in our city.
Candidate Commitments. This engagement shaped eight evidence-based policy priorities. During the 2022 Vancouver election, we asked candidates for mayor and council if they’d pledge to implement these policies if elected. All current city councillors, including Mayor Sim, enthusiastically committed to implementing our policy asks.
Council Accountability. Our work doesn’t stop after the election. We monitor council agenda’s and track voting records to determine if our elected representatives are following through on their commitments to equity-deserving communities. Through annual progress reports, we keep the communities that shaped our policy asks in the loop on whether their elected representatives are making meaningful progress, maintaining the status quo, or moving backwards.
Read our two-year report below. ⤵️
Our 2022-2026 Policy Asks
2. IWG2S+ People’s Healing Lodge
3. Reducing Barriers for Affordable Housing
4. Protecting Tenants from Heatwaves
5. Alternative Models to Community Safety
6. Washrooms for All
7. Fully Fund Climate Emergency Responses
8. Affordable and Accessible Transit
Run Your Own Hot Pink Paper Campaign
Key Takeaways at the Halfway Point
This year, council made some progress on their 2022 commitments to equity-deserving communities––but they also took major steps backward. At this pace, realizing their HPPC policy commitments will require bold action in the remainder of their term.
Green and OneCity councillors consistently voted in alignment with their HPPC commitments but ABC councillors’ track record was mixed.
Council took steps forward on washrooms, protecting tenants from heatwaves, and promoting IWG2S+ Peoples healing. They also made some promising decisions related to non-policing models of community safety––but those sat alongside trends of over-policing, criminalization of poverty, and alarming revelations about police accountability, governance, and culture.
Council contradicted their climate emergency commitment through a surprise reversal of Vancouver’s ban on methane in new buildings. Councillors Lisa Dominato and Peter Meiszner split with their ABC colleagues and voted against ending the gas ban, signalling just how far this decision strays from Vancouver’s tradition of climate leadership.
While was some progress on reducing barriers to non-market housing, we continue to see insufficient attention to non-profit, social, and co-op housing. In some cases, council’s decisions appeared to be more focused on easing the burden for wealthy developers and mansion owners than providing social and rental housing to those who need it.
Equity is not only about policy outcomes––it’s also about how decisions are made. We are not alone in our concerns over trends in the process and tone of decision-making: a lack of transparency, attempts to silence criticisms, and disregard for the value of democratic engagement. We will continue to push for opportunities for equity-denied communities to be heard in City Hall.
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Final Report: Action on Systemic Barriers to Women's Participation in Local Government (2020)The final report offers an overview of this three-year project, concentrating on four areas in which women participate in local civic life: as candidates and elected decision-makers; as participants in citizen-led municipal advisory bodies; as municipal employees; and as participants in city-led public engagement efforts. See the report
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Voter Engagement, Electoral Systems, and Diverse Women’s Political Representation: A Brief Review (2019)"Using the 2018 Vancouver, BC elections as a case study, this brief review looks at representation on city council and who votes in municipal elections. See the review
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Pathways to a Women-friendly Surrey: Outcome Report (2018)This outcome report presents the expertise of women participating in a forum held in Surrey, BC. The forum set out to find out why and how women become involved in the city, what helps and supports a woman candidate and what barriers or challenges she faces. See the outcome report
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Hot Pink Pathways to a Women-Friendly Vancouver: Outcome Report (2018)This outcome report presents the expertise of women participating in a forum held in Vancouver, BC. The forum set out to find out why and how women become involved in the city, what helps and supports a woman candidate and what barriers or challenges she faces. See the outcome report
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Barriers Facing Women in Politics Briefing Note (2018)Submitted to the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women. See the briefing note
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Systemic Barriers to Women's Participation in Local Government Project's Literature Review (2017)Literature review of major research pieces and providing an overview of identified barriers to women's involvement in local government. See the literature review
How can you take action?
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Send a message to council asking them to follow through on their HPPC commitments.
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Participate in Watch Council to learn more about local government and help us hold council accountable.
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Subscribe to Watch Council Alerts to ensure you don’t miss important upcoming council decisions.
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Sign our petition urging council to increase funding for public washrooms in Vancouver.
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Become a WTC member to support our work.
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Learn how to run your own campaign with WTC’s toolkit.
Help us hold City Council accountable.
Consider becoming a member (membership starts as low $10/month) to contribute your time to our Watch Council program. Your support enables us to sustain this work.