VANCOUVER - The B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled that the City of Vancouver and the Park Board cannot proceed with plans to demolish the Vancouver Aquatic Centre until November 3, the day after the newly elected Park Board commissioners hold their inaugural meeting.
The interim injunction was sought by TEAM for a Livable Vancouver Park Board candidate Jon Girard and the Protecting Our Vancouver Aquatic Centre Society (POVACS).
"This is momentous," Girard said. "Interim injunctions are among the hardest things to win in any court, and we just won one against the City. The Court didn’t decide what kind of pool Vancouver gets - it made sure the people’s representatives still get to decide."
The fight centres on the size of the replacement pool. Vancouverites voted in 2022 to approve $103 million in borrowing for the Aquatic Centre renewal. In March 2025, the Park Board approved a replacement facility with a 25-metre pool after staff said a 50-metre pool could not fit within the existing footprint without sacrificing other amenities. The ABC-led City Council endorsed the 25-metre design.
In September 2026, the B.C. Supreme Court dismissed POVACS’s legal challenge to the 25-metre plan, ruling that the 2022 plebiscite question authorized borrowing but did not specify pool dimensions. Demolition of the existing 50-metre facility had been scheduled for early October.
Public outcry over the downsizing led ABC to reverse course and back a 50-metre pool, according to TEAM. Girard, a competitive swimmer, says the Aquatic Centre is where competitive swimmers train, where masters and clubs swim lengths, and where the city hosts meets. "A 25-metre replacement can’t provide that," he said.
Fellow TEAM Park Board candidate Mayeli Alvarez said: "We deserve a say in how our public facilities are renewed. Are we going to continue letting bureaucrats and developers reshape the city we live in?"
POVACS crowdfunded over $115,000 from the public to cover legal fees.
TEAM mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick said the win is temporary unless voters elect TEAM Park Board candidates on October 17: "Let’s make sure to elect TEAM Park Board candidates to ensure the retention of a 50-metre pool at the VAC."
Vancouver votes October 17.
Source: TEAM for a Livable Vancouver (media release, October 13, 2026); Protecting Our Vancouver Aquatic Centre Society (saveourvacpool.ca)
