Vancouver Park Board should apologize for Harry Potter event, commissioner says

One of the Vancouver Park Board commissioners who voted to approve an upcoming Harry Potter attraction in Stanley Park now wants the city to issue an apology to the transgender, gender diverse and Two Spirit community.

Commissioner Tom Digby said he was unaware of the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling — author of the seven Harry Potter novels and several spinoff books — when the board voted to host the event this holiday season.

“I was shocked because the views of the author are completely inconsistent with how the Vancouver Park Board treats transgender, gender diverse and Two Spirit individuals,” Digby said.

“If I had known, I never would have approved this in the first place.”

The approval drew swift backlash from LGBTQ2SAI+ groups, which pointed to Rowling’s comments about the trans community — including the suggestion that trans “ideology” will “end up wreaking more harm than lobotomies” — and to the legal fund the billionaire recently launched to support challenges to trans-inclusionary policies in women’s spaces in the U.K. and Ireland.

Related: Backlash grows ahead of Harry Potter event in Vancouver

Digby said he’s heard the community’s concerns, and is introducing a motion next week calling on the board to reaffirm its support for inclusionary spaces, as set out in the city’s 2016 Transgender, Gender Diverse and Two Spirit (TGD2S) Action Plan.

The motion does not seek to cancel the Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience event, which is scheduled to begin on Nov. 7, but directs staff to ensure it “runs for one season only.”

Digby said in early discussions with fellow commissioners, he hasn’t heard much support for a full cancellation of the event, which the city expects will bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.

It is “understood” that Rowling will also financially benefit from the event, according to his motion.

The motion notes the hosting decision was made at a closed-door meeting, with no opportunity for public feedback. It suggests that “requests for confidential approval by potential suppliers shall be viewed with extreme skepticism going forward.”

“Normally, when there’s a major public event in one of our parks, we have an in-camera session and we have a public session for that,” Digby said.

“I do wonder if the planners of the event knew that this would be a politically sensitive issue, perhaps more than a bit of an out-of-date park board commissioner.”

CTV News has reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences, which is putting on the event, for comment on the commissioner’s concerns. This article will be updated if a response is received.

Digby said an official apology to the TGD2S community would be appropriate to address “the pain that this approval is causing,” particularly as members face the withdrawal of legal protections and access to health care in other jurisdictions.

Related: Alberta government appeals injunction of transgender health-care law

“They’re fighting, constantly, these battles,” Digby said. “And now their own beloved park board is stepping in and hosting this Harry Potter event.“