COPE on safety: care teams for mental health calls, a violence task force, safer streets
COPE would move mental health calls away from police toward peer-assisted care teams, create an intimate partner violence task force, back safe supply and supervised consumption, and restore the sex worker safety position. It would lower speed limits on high-risk streets.
FIGHT FOR VANCOUVER · PAGES 22 TO 23
Make The City Safe for Everyone: what the Fight for Vancouver says
COPE's safety chapter treats safety as a wider question than policing. The party would plan city infrastructure for climate events and earthquakes, add suicide prevention barriers on bridges, and act on the five calls to action for cities from Battered Women's Support Services, including an intimate partner violence task force. It would make Vancouver a Restorative Justice City, which means responding to harm by bringing together the people affected, as set out in the Restorative City framework.
On health and drugs, COPE backs drug testing, safe supply and supervised consumption sites, along with voluntary treatment. It would restore the sex worker safety planning position that the platform says Ken Sim and ABC cut, and support safe workplaces and a safe exit from the sex trade. The party also lists what it calls ABC's safety failures, including cuts to cooling kits for heat waves and to climate retrofit funding.
On policing, COPE would take mental health calls out of police priorities and fund peer-assisted care teams (PACTs) in their place. It would challenge the legal structures that tie the city to what it calls unelected police boards, and seek an audit of the Vancouver Police Department. Council approves the police budget, but the Vancouver Police Board works under BC's Police Act, and most of its members are appointed by the Province.
The last part of the chapter is about streets. COPE would lower speed limits on high-risk streets, create permanent school zones, repaint crosswalks, fund curb cuts and add protected left turns. It also names ultra-bright headlights, and the platform credits a 2026 motion by Councillor Sean Orr with prompting a national consultation by Transport Canada, the federal transport department. Street design and speed limits on city streets are Council decisions, while headlight rules are a request to the federal government.
THE PARTY'S NUMBERS
Figures in this chapter
Calls to action for municipalities from Battered Women's Support Services that COPE would carry out
The party's figure, page 22Responses the platform says Transport Canada's headlight consultation received
The party's figure, page 2318 COMMITMENTS
What the party says it would do
Plan for climate events and earthquakes
COPE would give priority to city planning and infrastructure upgrades for climate events and earthquakes to save lives and prevent future disasters.
- Who has the power
- City Council Council approves the capital plan and the city's emergency planning.
Stop intimate partner violence
The party would carry out the five calls to action for municipalities from Battered Women's Support Services (BWSS), including an Intimate Partner Violence task force, support for community victim services and transition houses, and better local data collection on intimate partner violence.
- Who has the power
- City, with others Council can create a task force and fund local services. The platform names community-based victim services and transition houses as the groups it would support.
Infrastructure and programs to reduce suicide risk
COPE would support infrastructure that reduces the risk of suicide, such as barriers on bridges and other high-risk places, and programs to step in and support people in crisis.
- Who has the power
- City, with others The city controls its own bridges and streets, while crisis health services are provincial.
Expand voluntary treatment and fight stigma
The party would address mental health and addictions by expanding access to voluntary and compassionate treatment and frontline services, and by fighting stigma about drug use and poverty.
- Who has the power
- Province Health services and treatment beds are run by the Province, so the city can only press for more.
Address the root causes of survival crime
COPE would fight to address the root causes of survival crime: mental health and addiction problems, and homelessness.
- Who has the power
- City, with others Council funds shelters and outreach, while health care and most housing funding come from senior governments.
Make Vancouver a Restorative Justice City
The party would endorse and fund the Restorative City framework.
- Who has the power
- City Council Council can endorse a framework and fund it through the city budget.
Support evidence-based overdose responses
COPE would address the overdose crisis by supporting drug testing, safe supply programs and supervised consumption sites.
- Who has the power
- City, with others The city can support and give space to these services, but drug policy and health services are provincial and federal.
Restore the sex worker safety planning position
The party would restore the sex worker safety planning position that the platform says Ken Sim and ABC cut, and support front-line services that protect vulnerable people from violence and exploitation. The platform says the position was created after the 2012 Pickton Commission.
- Who has the power
- City Council Council decides city staff positions through the budget.
Safety for people in the sex trade
COPE would expand support for the safety of people working in the sex trade and create policy so sex workers can work in safe environments, including the right to a safe exit from the industry.
- Who has the power
- City Council Council can set city policy and fund support services.
Move mental health calls away from police
The party would remove mental health calls from Vancouver Police Department priorities and move funding to community safety programs for acute mental health crises, such as peer-assisted care teams (PACTs).
- Who has the power
- City, with others Council approves the police budget, but the Vancouver Police Board directs the police department.
Challenge police board structures and audit the VPD
COPE would challenge the legal structures that it says tie the city to unelected police boards, and push for democratic community oversight and an audit of the Vancouver Police Department.
- Who has the power
- Province The Vancouver Police Board works under BC's Police Act, and most of its members are appointed by the Province, so only the Province can change that structure.
Community safety programs for protests and events
The party would set up community safety programs that manage protests and community events with public safety captains, without adding to police budgets through overtime and overpolicing.
- Who has the power
- City Council Council approves event permits and the city budget.
Lower speed limits on high-risk streets
To reduce pedestrian deaths, COPE would lower speed limits on high-risk streets.
- Who has the power
- City Council The city owns and designs its streets.
Road upgrades and permanent school zones
The party would upgrade roads and create permanent school zones.
- Who has the power
- City Council The city owns and designs its streets.
A protected bike lane on Broadway
COPE lists support for a protected bike lane on Broadway among its steps to reduce pedestrian deaths.
- Who has the power
- City Council Broadway is a city street, and the city designs its own streets and bike lanes.
Better crosswalks and curb cuts
The party would improve and repaint pedestrian crossings and fund curb cuts, the ramps from sidewalk to street.
- Who has the power
- City Council The city owns its sidewalks and crossings.
Tackle ultra-bright headlights
COPE would tackle ultra-bright headlights, which it says increase road risk. The platform says a 2026 motion by Sean Orr prompted a Transport Canada consultation that received almost 380,000 responses, and that the motion went to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, where cities across Canada endorsed it.
- Who has the power
- Federal government Transport Canada, the federal transport department, ran the national consultation on headlights, so the city can only press for change.
Expand protected left turns
The party would expand protected left-turn signals and road design, starting in the areas of greatest need.
- Who has the power
- City Council The city owns its streets and traffic signals.
WHO WOULD HAVE TO ACT
Where the power sits for this chapter
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Questions about make the city safe for everyone
What would COPE do about mental health calls to police?
COPE would remove mental health calls from Vancouver Police Department priorities and move funding to community programs for mental health crises, such as peer-assisted care teams (PACTs). The party says alternatives to police as first responders can reduce costs (platform, page 22).
Does COPE support safe supply and supervised consumption sites?
Yes. COPE says it would address the overdose crisis by supporting drug testing, safe supply programs and supervised consumption sites. Drug policy and health services are provincial and federal, so the city's role is support (platform, page 22).
What does COPE propose on intimate partner violence?
COPE would carry out the five calls to action for municipalities from Battered Women's Support Services, including an Intimate Partner Violence task force, support for victim services and transition houses, and better local data (platform, page 22).
Can Vancouver City Council control the police?
Council approves the police budget, but the Vancouver Police Board directs the department. The board works under BC's Police Act and most of its members are appointed by the Province. COPE says it would challenge that structure and seek an audit of the VPD (platform, page 22).
What would COPE do about road safety in Vancouver?
COPE would lower speed limits on high-risk streets, create permanent school zones, repaint crosswalks, fund curb cuts, add protected left turns and support a protected bike lane on Broadway (platform, page 23).
What does COPE say about ultra-bright headlights?
COPE would tackle ultra-bright headlights. The platform says Councillor Sean Orr's 2026 motion prompted a Transport Canada consultation that drew almost 380,000 responses. Transport Canada is a federal department, so the city can only press for change (platform, page 23).
ON THE BALLOT
The COPE candidates behind this
Sources
Every commitment on this page comes from the party's own material, marked SAYS SO ITSELF. It proves what the party says it would do. Who holds each power is our own addition, from the sources listed after it.
- Fight for Vancouver: COPE 2026 Platform (PDF) SAYS SO ITSELFCOPE · pages 22 to 23 · checked
- Vancouver Police Board: meet the board Vancouver Police Board · checked
- Are headlights too bright? Nearly 380K Canadians told Ottawa their answer Global News · checked