City of Vancouver to pay for councillor Tim Stevenson's trip to Sochi Olympics

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      Vancouver city council has unanimously voted to send city councillor Tim Stevenson to the Sochi Olympics next year to advocate for LGBT rights with the International Olympic Committee.

      Council approved a motion brought forward by Mayor Gregor Robertson to send the Vision Vancouver councillor as the former host city’s representative.

      Stevenson, who is gay, plans to meet with IOC officials to urge them to include a non-discrimination clause for LGBTQ people in its charter. He will also advocate for cities to include a Pride House in future bids to host Olympic games.

      An amendment to the motion introduced by Green councillor Adriane Carr and approved by council will see the city cover the cost of Stevenson’s expenses, while a fund consisting of community contributions will pay for two other team members to travel to Russia.

      “This is an incredibly important initiative,” said Carr. “We pride ourselves in Vancouver in being an embracive city, a city that isn’t discriminatory, that lauds diversity, and inclusiveness, and I think that this initiative that would put Vancouver on the forefront globally of fighting for those same things is really important.”

      The move follows criticism from NPA councillor George Affleck around private donations from developer Peter Wall and real-estate marketer Bob Rennie, who have each offered to contribute $25,000 for the trip.

      Mayor Gregor Robertson said he was “extremely frustrated” at the debate around the funding of the trip.

      “Transparency was built into this initiative from the beginning,” he said. “For there to be an unfounded perception of conflict whipped up by a trashy tabloid and Councillor Affleck’s twisted political agenda is unbelievably unfortunate, and it is now behind us. And we need to move on and deal with the human rights issue up front."

      Affleck called Robertson's comment "shocking" and political in itself. 

      "It's important for me to ask tough questions—I think it's my job to address issues when there are issues, and it's not being political, it's just doing my job," Affleck said in a phone interview. 

      He said he will be looking for a report on Stevenson's expenses when the councillor returns from Russia. He added he agrees the councillor's initiative is important.

      "Since the moment Councillor Stevenson told me about it, I thought that is a great idea, and it's an important one to do, and I commended him. And it's brave—he's taking a risk, and I have to applaud that."

      Before debating the motion, council heard from several speakers who expressed their support for the initiative.

      “This motion today faces a history that is still in the making, but by its example will help to ensure that pains experienced by LGBTQ people in Russia and elsewhere around the world, LGBTQ athletes, and LGBTQ children aspiring to be included athletes, need not be lived again,” said Dean Malone, the co-chair of Vancouver’s LGBTQ advisory committee.

      “We can’t change Sochi, but we can work to make sure it is not repeated.”

      Amendments added to today’s motion call for the City of Vancouver to provide “a modest budget” to cover Stevenson’s expenses in Sochi and for the city to oversee a fund generated by community contributions to support other aspects of the initiative.

      The approved motion also calls for the project to be seen as part of “an ongoing initiative for the City of Vancouver to advocate for human rights with the IOC, with staff to report back on other opportunities available”.

      Comments

      17 Comments

      Alan Layton

      Dec 18, 2013 at 2:44pm

      This is just wrong. Robertson is the mayor and should be going to Sochi for the handing over ceremony. He was the face of Olympics for Vancouver and I'm sure he's more than capable of lobbying the IOC as a side issue. There's no need to send Stevenson as our representative. The entire issue has gotten way out of hand and I hate seeing the Olympics used for political purposes...such as Gregor making sure he keeps the powerful LBTQ vote next election.

      stuart

      Dec 18, 2013 at 3:22pm

      This is just another political ploy by the Vision-less Business Party to support and condone the Sochi rich person's private party.

      stuart

      Dec 18, 2013 at 3:24pm

      We, the taxpayers, are paying for this holiday trip ... not "the city of Vancouver".

      John

      Dec 18, 2013 at 5:06pm

      This is totally wrong. The Vancouver tax payer is now coughing up the money for political interest during a sporting event? Another brutal move by a brutal mayor.

      Fustrated 'couverite

      Dec 18, 2013 at 5:08pm

      What's your freaking problem Mayor Robertson?! Seriously! Why are you always disregarding public opinion?

      Vancouver Watcher

      Dec 18, 2013 at 6:34pm

      What a waste of time and money. Does anyone with half a brain think that Putin and his thuggish followers will even care what Vancouver thinks? Especially when expressed by a lightweight like Stevenson.
      Vision Vancouver is in trouble with the voters and they are trying to pander to any group that they can. The gay community is a group that is being pandered to incessantly. It is too bad that the gay community have such a weak member of council to supposedly "represent" them. This is just another attempt to get a feature story in Xrta West. Fortunately, the gay community knows when it is being used and will not respond to such pandering.

      casper

      Dec 18, 2013 at 11:12pm

      Do you really have to waste our money on this? He might be coming home in body bag and the Russian mafia aren't the kind of people who you want to antagonize.

      RUK

      Dec 19, 2013 at 12:01am

      @John

      This is exactly the right time to be making political statements. Games have the world's media available to them. If you have something to say, you can say it and be heard. It's not what the games are for, of course, so there is the risk of annoying people - but not threatening, hurting, nor even inconveniencing them (no one watches the games to see what the mayors had to announce).

      Alan,
      Of course there is some political advantage to this. I would be surprised if you would advocate a system whereby politicians strove to do unadvantageous things. If you mean it is not sincere, that it is pandering, well I guess that's a possibility but Tim Stevenson strikes me as a good representative for Vancouver and there's no reason to think he is incapable of arguing his points re fairness.

      hmmmm

      Dec 19, 2013 at 5:13am

      Trashy tabloid? Seems like the mayor has committed to going to war with the Province. He doesn't seem to care how he is perceived anymore. The funding thing looked bad. He could've handled this better, cuz now Carr and Affleck get the win.

      Grant davis

      Dec 19, 2013 at 8:13am

      Save the money to cleanup after the 2014 Canuck riot