All OneCity Vancouver Councillor Candidates’ Commitment to the Centre (A Letter to Filipino BC)
OCTOBER 9, 2026
On October 7, 2026, we wrote to every mayoral and council candidate with three concrete asks for municipal support for the Filipino Community & Cultural Centre.
OneCity Vancouver’s council candidates: Lucy Maloney, Iona Bonamis 陶思穎, Jarrett Hagglund, Frances Bula, Caitlin Stockwell have responded. Here’s what they’ve committed to:
Dear RJ, Kristina, and everyone at Filipino BC,
Yes, yes, and yes.
You asked us for three commitments; all five OneCity candidates for City Council make all three. We have also written down how we would keep each one, so you can hold us to it after October 17.
RJ, you were OneCity's first candidate back in 2014. You know why this party exists: to make City Hall show up for every neighbourhood, not just a few.
Why South Vancouver, and why now
South Vancouver has been told to wait for a long time. In June 2023, more than 30 people from South Van came to City Hall to back a motion from OneCity's councillor at the time, Christine Boyle. It asked the City to close the gap in services for South Vancouver and Marpole. Research they pointed to found the area had fewer arts and cultural spaces, and worse transit, than the rest of the city. The motion passed. We don't think the job is finished.
Your Centre helps finish it. A cultural home, a food hub with South Vancouver Neighbourhood House, and affordable homes, all on one site and right on major transit routes. That is how we think a city should build: put what a neighbourhood needs in one place. It is the same idea behind our plans for Britannia and Kingsgate.
It also came from the right place. Two years of listening and more than 2,000 responses is a plan the community wrote for itself. City Hall's job is to get behind it.
1. Faster approvals: yes
We will bring a motion to the first regular council meeting of the new term. It will tell staff to put the 396 SW Marine Drive rezoning at the front of the line, with one named staff lead and a public timeline aimed at breaking ground in 2027.
Last December, council voted to give priority review to the Main Street hotel and cultural centre proposal. Your project deserves the same treatment.
2. City funding: yes
Ottawa and Victoria have stepped up. The City should too.
There are two parts. First, any Community Amenity Contribution tied to this rezoning should go to the Centre itself. Second, we will ask staff to report back within 90 days with options for a direct City contribution to building the Centre, so council votes on a real number.
3. Funding before the doors open: yes
A building with no programs is just a building. You have run programs for three years, mostly without steady public money.
We will advocate with the province for multi-year, stable supports for cultural centres to cover program development and staffing through planning and construction. Multi-year matters: it lets you hire and plan instead of reapplying every twelve months. We will also investigate providing a mandate to an independent Arts&Culture Council to provide funding to Cultural & Community groups.
One more thing we would add
When the Main Street proposal came to council last December, Councillor Lucy Maloney moved an amendment to require long-term legal protection for the cultural centre, so it would survive if the developer sold the site or went under. She also seconded an amendment to name Filipino BC and Mabuhay House among the groups City staff would work with. Both were ruled out of order.
We would bring that same protection to your project: rezoning conditions that keep the Centre in community hands for good. A promise like this should outlast any one developer, and any one council.
The rest of our plan for South Van
A cultural centre works best when people can get to it, and when the neighbourhood around it gets its fair share too. Our platform already commits to:
● Faster buses. Traffic signals across the city that give buses priority, and work with TransLink on bus priority routes so every part of Vancouver has fast, frequent service.
● A new pool in Marpole. Part of our plan to make sure your postal code doesn't decide which services you get.
● Mobi bike share in South Vancouver. We want to keep Mobi going and bring it to more neighbourhoods, including yours.
● More room for arts and culture. A yearly count of cultural spaces with a goal to grow them, and approvals for small cultural and community spaces in weeks or months instead of years.
● Cleaner streets for all. OneCity’s Clean Streets and Public Waste Bins Program will restore reliable public garbage access, expand public recycling beyond downtown to South Van, create a public bin map, and set a clear citywide service standard.
Thank you for three years of work to get this far. We would be proud to help finish it.
In community,
Lucy Maloney, Iona Bonamis 陶思穎, Jarrett Hagglund, Frances Bula, Caitlin Stockwell OneCity Vancouver candidates for City Council
We’re grateful to OneCity Vancouver’s council candidates: Lucy Maloney, Iona Bonamis 陶思穎, Jarrett Hagglund, Frances Bula, Caitlin Stockwell for making this commitment toward the Filipino Cultural Centre and for recognizing the significant contributions and impact of the Filipino community, as well as the importance of having a permanent home for our community. This project has been more than three years in the making, shaped by the voices, work, advocacy, and support of so many people across our community.
As we hear from the other mayoral and council candidates in response to our October 7 letter, we’ll keep you updated on their commitments and what they are proposing for the Centre. Thank you to everyone who has continued to believe in this vision, speak up for it, and help move it forward — we’re building this together.
