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Vancouver Park Board staff have cut lifeguard coverage at five of the city’s 10 staffed beaches, and some water safety groups are concerned about the effects on public safety.
The park board said in an emailed statement that the reduction “allows our lifeguard staff to be deployed where they have the greatest impact, including increased capacity at outdoor pools.”
The sites that will no longer be supervised are: Spanish West, Spanish East, Sunset Beach, Third Beach and Trout Lake, according to the park board.
It added the change will not result in layoffs, but lifeguards will be “reallocated to other beaches and outdoor pools where demand is higher.” The number of auxiliary lifeguard staff will be reduced during the summer season.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said in an email to CBC News that decisions around lifeguard staffing are made by the park board.
“In 2026, Park Board received a $1.2 million increase to their budget. I too, am curious as to why Park Board has made the … decision to reallocate lifeguard staffing away from five city beaches,” Sim said.
Park board commissioner Tom Digby said the lifeguard changes were a direct result of the budget passed by Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC majority on council. (Nav Rahi/CBC)
Tom Digby, park board chair, said the mayor’s remark “seems like a very bizarre statement.”
He said because of inflationary increases, the park board has had to eliminate $11 million worth of operating costs from its budgets, resulting in dozens of layoffs.
“This is a direct consequence of this ‘zero means zero’ budget,” Digby said, calling it an “austerity budget.”
An empty lifeguard chair at Sunset Beach, Vancouver. (CBC)
Sim’s ABC-party majority council passed its 2026 budget with a freeze on municipal property taxes.
The budget includes cuts of more than 10 per cent to the city’s arts, culture, planning and sustainability departments, along with laying off up to 400 city employees, according to internal city hall memos. It also includes increases to many parks and rec fees.
Sim promised at the January meeting when the budget passed to “keep life manageable for residents and businesses.”
Digby said the park board will review the staff decision because it involves a significant change of use.
“We want to make sure our beaches are safe. We have a long history of having excellent beach lifeguarding in Vancouver, and residents expect that. So if we’re going to change that, we would certainly need to communicate it.”
Park board commissioner Scott Jensen also blamed Sim’s “zero means zero” budget, which he said “prioritizes political optics over the safety and well-being of our community,” and said he will raise concerns about public safety directly with staff.
Trout Lake in East Vancouver is one of the beaches that will be affected by the changes. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)Water safety groups worried
Dominique Labrosse, the general manager of the Jericho Sailing Centre Association, said he’s surprised and disappointed to hear that lifeguard coverage could be reduced at some Vancouver beaches.
“Our beaches are busier than ever, and I’m worried that we’re going to see some safety lapses and some people who may get hurt or worse than that as a result,” he said.
He noted Spanish Banks may not be quite as densely busy as a beach like English Bay, but added the former is still a “huge stretch of beach that serves a lot of people.”
People are seen at Vancouver’s Spanish Banks beach in September 2023. Lifesaving groups are critical of the decision. (Justine Boulin/CBC)
He said he’s expecting the volunteer-run Jericho Rescue, which runs out of the sailing centre, to experience increased requests for help.
Labrosse said the value in lifeguards isn’t just in life-saving, but also in preventing a situation that would require life-saving from happening in the first place.
He noted he’s worried that some of the beaches that have their lifeguards cut are part of the park board’s program allowing alcohol in parks and beaches, including Spanish Banks.
“I’m worried that we’re going to see more incidents along our waterfront.”
A lifeguard is seen at Spanish Banks in September 2023. (Justine Boulin/CBC)
Lenea Grace, the executive director of Lifesaving Society B.C. and Yukon, said cutting lifeguards is a public safety issue.
“Drowning is preventable, but it requires the support of those trained lifeguards, and so we are disappointed to hear this news,” Grace said.
She noted that 99 per cent of drownings in B.C. happen in unsupervised waters that are not lifeguarded.
Grace added while she appreciates the park board is keeping lifeguards at extremely popular beaches with higher rates of incidents, such as Kitsilano, English Bay and Second Beach, all of Vancouver’s beaches are popular.
“Removing lifeguards from five out of 10 beaches is a drastic reduction in the investment in public safety.”