This record covers Derrick O'Keefe's COPE candidacy for the Vancouver School Board, the 2018 run for city council, and the party positions O'Keefe is running on. Each item names its source.
No public appearance by this candidate was confirmed in the sources checked on September 22, 2026. The voting dates below apply to every voter. An empty day is a gap in the research, not proof that nothing is happening.
Checked September 22, 2026 · All event times are Vancouver local time. Recheck the organizer before travelling.
On dates without a confirmed appearance the public schedule is unknown; the candidate may still have activities that day. This static page changes only when its research is updated.
01 / Introduction
About Derrick O'Keefe
Derrick O'Keefe appears on the City of Vancouver's final 2026 candidate list for School Board, with ballot number 323. The City records the affiliation as COPE.
The party page says O'Keefe works as a journalist and writer and has advocated for public education.
The COPE schools page describes O'Keefe as a journalist and a parent, and says the experience brought to the race is advocacy for public education.
The Tyee described O'Keefe as a journalist when listing COPE's four school board candidates in August 2026.
O'Keefe ran for Vancouver city council with COPE in the 2018 municipal election and received 38,305 votes, finishing 14th in a race for 10 seats and not winning a seat.
O'Keefe writes for COPE's own news page. A post on July 21, 2026 about the first mayoral debate of the People's Primary carries the byline.
O'Keefe appears on the October 17, 2026 school board ballot at number 323 for COPE, alongside COPE candidates Suzie Mah, Melanie Cheng and Gwen Giesbrecht.
voche.me assembled this profile from the official candidate list and the campaign material linked under Sources. The campaign has not been contacted, and no candidate-supplied content appears on this page.
Published positions and selected commitments, separated by election cycle. Status labels describe the evidence reviewed, not a numerical score or a complete audit of the platform. Council approval is different from delivery.
9 commitments shown · Checked Sep 22
2026 · FundingCampaign pledge
Full funding for every learner
Work for fully funded, high quality education for every student, whatever their learning needs.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
This comes from COPE's own schools page, which lists it among O'Keefe's priorities. School funding is set by the provincial government, and the page does not say how a trustee would change that.
What still needs checking
What a Vancouver trustee can do to raise provincial funding, and what O'Keefe would ask the province for first.
Bring in universal meal programmes in Vancouver schools.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
COPE's schools page lists this among O'Keefe's priorities and the party also lists school meal programmes among its commitments. No cost or timeline is given.
What still needs checking
What a district-wide meal programme would cost each year and where the money would come from.
This is COPE's position: pause Microsoft Copilot accounts and all student use of generative AI and chatbots in district schools until wider consultation with the community has taken place.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The Tyee put the question to all seven parties in August 2026 and recorded COPE's answer, listing O'Keefe among the party's four trustee candidates. On September 10, 2026 COPE said it is the only progressive party to have signed the PACES pledge against AI in Vancouver schools. O'Keefe is not quoted in either source.
What still needs checking
Whether O'Keefe states a personal position, and what the district's own consultation on Copilot has found.
This is COPE's platform: push back against provincial underfunding of public schools, oppose ABC's cuts, and support school meal programmes, free transit for teenagers and defibrillators in schools.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
These commitments are on COPE's schools page as party positions for the whole school board team. O'Keefe is not quoted on them.
What still needs checking
Which of these a school board can deliver on its own, and which need the province.
Each entry below names its source. Campaign material is the candidate's own account. Nothing here is presented as a verified outcome unless the entry says so.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
Recent appearances / Read and watch
Talks, interviews & statements
Read original statements and reporting, or open the publisher’s video. A summary of a speech is labelled separately from a full recording.
Statement
Post on the first mayoral debate of the People's Primary
Writing on COPE's news page, O'Keefe pointed readers to CBC radio coverage of the first People's Primary mayoral debate, which featured COPE's mayoral candidate Stephanie Allen and other progressive candidates, and framed the election as a fight against Ken Sim and the wealthy backers of that campaign.
Records are labelled by type, including official findings, civil proceedings and political disputes where applicable. Each entry identifies the response found in the sources and the latest status verified for this page.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
News coverage / Original publishers
Read the reporting
A dated reading list from independent publishers. The headings below are voche.me summaries; follow each link for the original article, context and any corrections.
Reporting
The Tyee
Where Do Vancouver Parties Stand on AI?
Katie Hyslop asked all seven Vancouver parties about artificial intelligence in schools and about data centres. COPE asked for a pause on all student use of generative AI pending consultation, and O'Keefe is named among the party's trustee candidates.
Sources checked September 22, 2026. Official records establish decisions; campaign material establishes stated positions; reporting adds investigation and context. None alone establishes every claim.
COPE's platform page still carries its April 2025 by-election material, so the party's 2026 school board commitments recorded here come from its schools page. Georgia Straight reporting from June 2018 on O'Keefe's council nomination could not be opened, so the account of earlier journalism and activism rests on what the party and The Tyee say. No personal campaign website, no 2026 interview and no forum appearance naming O'Keefe were found. No independent source was found for the claim of advocacy experience in public education.
Research status
What voche.me has checked
Evidence reviewed on September 22, 2026: Current campaign material; biographical claims require corroboration.
Campaign page read on September 22, 2026. 3 stated positions and 1 background fact recorded here, each checked against a quotation from that page.
Checks still to do: Verify professional roles and request individual commitments with costs.
The ballot name, office, ballot number and party label come from the City's final candidate list. Everything described as campaign material is the campaign's own account and has not been confirmed by an independent source.
03 / Background
Experience & community
2018
Candidate for Vancouver city council, COPE
O'Keefe received 38,305 votes and was not elected. COPE won one council seat that year, taken by Jean Swanson.
2026
Writer, COPE news page
O'Keefe writes posts on the party's news page, including coverage of the People's Primary mayoral debate in July 2026.
