By Lois E. Jackson

When will the rapidly-growing residential community at the University of B.C. have its own democratic and accountable local government?

The UBC area—and some rural lands in Metro Vancouver, such as Barnston Island in the Fraser River and the west side of Pitt Lake—do not lie within the boundaries of the City of Vancouver or any Metro Vancouver municipality.

A family with a farm on Barnston Island and a professor who lives in one of the new high-rise towers at UBC have at least one thing in common: They both live in one of the unincorporated areas that are collectively known as “Electoral Area A". Every three years, instead of voting for a mayor and council, these Canadians elect one person as their representative. That person becomes one of the directors on the Metro Vancouver board—which represents communities with a total population of almost 2.5 million people.

The UBC campus and the University Endowment Lands are the only urbanized lands in Metro Vancouver without their own municipal councils and local government. An estimated 16,000 residents and students now live there. By the year 2020, that residential population is projected to grow to 24,000.

Until recently, Metro Vancouver oversaw land use administration on the UBC campus. Situations where UBC acts as proponent, developer, and approver for development projects have been cause for concern for some time. A recent UBC proposal to move and shrink the UBC Farm to make way for more development is but one example. The inherent conflict of interest contributes to a lack of accountability in the burgeoning UBC campus on Point Grey.

Metro Vancouver attempted last year to introduce land use development provisions that would have made progress toward increasing accountability. This was by no means unusual, given that every other major Canadian university situated within a heavily urbanized metropolitan area operates under a zoning bylaw. However, introduction of a zoning bylaw of any kind was opposed by the university. In November 2009, UBC president Stephen Toope called Metro Vancouver’s proposal “an attempt to intervene in the governance of UBC in a way that could be devastating to our academic freedom".

Metro Vancouver agrees that academic freedom is one of the hallmarks of a democracy. Another is a citizen’s right to have a democratic and accountable local government.

In May 2010, the Province of British Columbia enacted Bill 20. That law contains a provision that makes the B.C. minister of community and rural development responsible for local and regional land use planning on the UBC Point Grey campus. The UBC board of governors will be responsible for development of a land use plan, as well as the process of public consultation associated with it. Under the new authority, the minister will be able to adopt a local land use plan prepared by UBC. Metro Vancouver continues to be the regional government and will supply regional utilities and services. With the transfer of Metro Vancouver’s local and regional land use planning responsibilities to a provincial ministry, future plans for accountability remain unclear.

However, this is not a viable long-term solution since it does not address the long-standing board priority of finding an alternate governance system for UBC.

On several occasions, the Metro Vancouver board had asked Victoria to initiate a new governance system for UBC. The board never asked for, or expected, the bill now passed by the legislature.

In recent years, UBC has grown into much more than a university. It is a vibrant and diverse community with expanding scope, a growing population and international recognition for innovation and sustainability. The Metro Vancouver board supports governance reforms that will lead to greater accountability at UBC—accountability of the sort that provides access to formal democratic avenues found in other Metro Vancouver municipalities.

The minister of community and rural development and UBC have agreed that it is time to explore a more representative form of local government for the Point Grey peninsula. The speed in travelling this road to democracy will depend on the interest and involvement of the university and residential communities.

Metro Vancouver would hope that the Province of B.C. will work with area residents and UBC to develop democratic and accountable governance structures, because sustainability and accountability go hand in hand. UBC residents and students deserve no less.

Let their voices be heard. Let them have their own democratic and accountable local government.

Lois E. Jackson is the chair of Metro Vancouver’s board of directors. She is also the mayor of Delta.