Vancouver Park Board restores funding for lifeguards at 4 beaches this summer

After mounting public pressure, the Vancouver Park Board has reversed course and found funding for lifeguards at nine beaches.

A previous version of this story reported lifeguard service had previously been cut at nine beaches. The board initially cut service at five before restoring service at four of them. — 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 several beaches across the city this summer.

On Friday, the park board announced that it had directed staff to continue providing lifeguard services at four 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, Sunset Beach and Third Beach.

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

The plan to cut lifeguards from those 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, including Kitsilano Beach, Jericho Beach and English Bay.

Digby told CTV News that in order to make the decision, the board had to pull funding from another area of the budget.

He said the board eventually decided to delay the installation of accessible facilities at Kensington Pool.

“The Kensington Community Center is on both the mayor’s list and the park board’s list for high-priority renewals and replacements,” he said.

“So, we decided that spending the money this year could be delayed because, in three years’ time, there’s very likely to be a full reconstruction going on there.”

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.

The B.C. and Yukon Branch of the Lifesaving Society also took a vocal stance in opposition to the cuts, and issued a statement Friday celebrating their reversal.

“With this essential service in place, Vancouverites and visitors can more confidently enjoy the outdoors this summer, knowing trained professional lifeguards are available to welcome beachgoers, promote safe behaviours, de-escalate situations and act quickly when lives are at stake,” said Lenea Grace, the branch’s executive director, in the statement.

The Lifesaving Society notes that fewer than one per cent of drownings in B.C. happen in lifeguard-supervised areas, meaning the other 99 per cent happen in places where there are no lifeguards.

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.”

Almost 50 speakers showed up in support of Fry’s motion, including Grace, according to the Lifesaving Society, which commended councillors and park board commissioners for voting to fund lifeguard service.

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.