A FIFA-specific bylaw was approved by Vancouver city council Wednesday, enabling $1,000 tickets to be issued for a range of infractions during next year’s World Cup. The bylaw covers the period from May 13 to July 20 of 2026 and will allow city officials and police to issue tickets levying hefty fines for things like “distributing advertising matter on streets” and “defacing or postering furniture, light standards, poles on streets” and “placing advertising matter on vehicles on streets.” The goal, staff said at Wednesday’s meeting, is to ensure “brand protection” and target bylaw violations that run afoul of the city’s contractual obligations. “As part of the host city agreement, we have certain requirements that we need to adhere to, and that will be the focus of the additional enforcement during this time,” said Jessie Adcock, FIFA host committee lead. Coun. Pete Fry asked whether people promoting local businesses or events would be swept up in enforcement of the bylaws and was told discretion will be used to target only blatant and “egregious” violations in the form of co-ordinated unauthorized marketing campaigns or hateful and offensive material. “We will be very busy, and it’s not meant to go after people in sort of a proactive manner, that is just unrealistic in terms of the resources we have,” Adcock said. “We will have leeway in how these are enforced but we need the black-and-white regulations in place so that we can enforce when we need to.” Another change enabled by the bylaw relates to graffiti and the obligation of businesses to remove it in a timely manner. An existing bylaw gives businesses a week to remove graffiti without risking a financial penalty—either in the form of a fine or a bill from the city for its removal. During the World Cup, that window will shrink to 24 hours and the fine for failing to comply with an order to remove graffiti is set at $1,000—a change Fry characterized as potentially “onerous” for businesses. Karen Levitt, deputy city manager, told council there are two reasons for tightening up the rules on this. “One is that there will be commercial graffiti, like pop-up ambush marketing. The second is hateful graffiti,” she said. “We need these rules in place to make sure that we don’t have that graffiti on the worldwide stage with billions of people, literally, watching Vancouver.” The FIFA bylaw also expands the areas where a permit is required for street performing to include, for example, the sidewalks outside the Vancouver Art Gallery and Science World, Terry Fox Plaza, and some SkyTrain stations. “The current by-law allows street performers to perform in many areas in Vancouver without a permit,” the report to council said. “The proposed amendments temporarily suspend the majority of those permit-free areas. These restrictions are required in order to manage crowd flow, reduce congestion, and ensure public safety during the event period.” Street performing without a permit is one of the infractions that comes with a potential $1,000 ticket. The report was approved unanimously, with Fry abstaining.
