On August 19, a small group of anti-immigration activists planned to hold a rally at City Hall. Barely a handful showed. And more than 4,000 people from every walk of life flooded the area for hours to assert that North America’s so-called alt-right is not welcome in Vancouver.

There, the Straight caught up with Jean Swanson, an independent candidate for council in a by-election scheduled for October 14. Swanson talked about Vancouver’s efforts to become a sanctuary city, a term that describes municipal policies designed to give undocumented immigrants safe access to local services such as health care and libraries.

Vancouver city council—which is dominated by the mayor’s Vision Vancouver party—voted in favour of such a plan in April 2016, calling it “Access to City Services Without Fear”. But Swanson argued it doesn’t go far enough.

“The city’s current access-without-fear policy does not apply to the police, who can still tell people to reveal their immigration status,” she explained. “This means that many people without immigration status—largely racialized people who are the targets of white supremacists—are afraid to even go to the police. If they do, they could be detained and deported. This isn’t right.”

In March 2016, the Straight reported that the Vancouver Police Department had referred more cases to Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) than any other force in southern B.C. In 2015 (up to December 7), that number was 321, resulting in 47 CBSA investigations. In 2015, the number did however decline to 144, resulting in nine CBSA investigations.

In a recent phone interview, Sergeant Jason Robillard, a spokesperson for the force, said the VPD generally only contacts the CBSA in the course of an investigation of something more serious than a matter of immigration.

“Usually it has to do with identify of people where we need them to help us if we can’t find out what an identity is,” Robillard said. “We’re certainly not looking for anything to do with immigration.”

Vision Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer noted that the police department operates with a degree of autonomy. She maintained that with the access policies adopted in April 2016, council went as far as it could.

“We’re very aligned [with Swanson] wanting the police to get involved with an access-without-fear policy,” Reimer told the Straight. “My sense is the police are committed to doing that. It’s about figuring out how to do it.”

Swanson argued there has to be more that local politicians can do.

“One potential policy I support is about making Vancouver a truly sanctuary city,” she said. “A place where all people, whatever their immigration status… are free to access city services and live their lives without having their immigration status checked and shared with border services.”