At the VPD training academy’s opening ceremony this week, the backdrop of the celebratory affair was hard to ignore.
Looming above the senior police officials, the smiling municipal and provincial politicians, and assorted other dignitaries in the Woodward’s complex’s atrium was a reminder of one of the most tumultuous moments in Vancouver Police Department history.
The nearly two-storey tall photo mural titled Abbott & Cordova, 7 August 1971, created by celebrated Vancouver artist Stan Douglas, depicts the violent riot that broke out at the intersection where Woodward’s now stands. The so-called “Gastown riots,” an important point in Vancouver’s history, led to a 1971 B.C. Supreme Court inquiry that was highly critical of VPD conduct, accusing some officers of “unnecessary, unwarranted, and excessive force.”
Riot mural hangs over February announcement by Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim that a police academy would be built in space recently by London Drugs in the Woodward building at 51 Abbott St. in Vancouver.
The VPD academy is being welcomed by many local businesses and residents as a positive force for law and order in the troubled neighbourhood — but it’s upsetting others, and ruffling feathers within Simon Fraser University’s school for the contemporary arts, the VPD’s neighbours at Woodward’s.
Tensions at SFU Woodward’s have been developing for months.
After Vancouver’s council approved a plan in February to open the city’s own police academy in the former London Drugs location at Woodward’s, the VPD started renting event space from Simon Fraser University. Starting in the spring, some SFU students and faculty members started complaining of feeling uneasy at the sight of VPD officers wearing military-style camouflage, body armour, and weapons inside university spaces for these events.
In early September, a group of students put up posters around Woodward’s. Under the heading “NO GUNS ON CAMPUS!!” the poster urged people to sign on online petition, calling on SFU to amend its policy to forbid any rental groups from bringing loaded firearms into university spaces.
Students and faculty alike were surprised to see all the posters removed within 24 hours, an unusual step in a university setting where all kinds of posters are commonly found in public spaces.
But what happened next was more disturbing, said Peter Dickinson, director of the school for the contemporary arts. Campus security guards reviewed security video to identify the people who put up the posters. They then approached at least two members of the SFU community, a grad student and a professor, questioning them about their role in the campaign.
These incidents left the professor, who said they were erroneously implicated in the poster campaign, and the student both “understandably upset and rattled,” Dickinson wrote in an email last weekend to the school’s graduate students, in which he described the events as “very disturbing.”
“I am sorry that this harassment and trampling of your rights has occurred,” Dickinson wrote.
Reached Friday, Dickinson told Postmedia: “It’s a complete overreach, an over-reaction. … In my 20-plus years of teaching at SFU, I’ve never seen a response like this.”
In an emailed statement, SFU said contracted security guards “inadvertently removed” the posters.
“Security were not directed to question students or employees about the poster campaign,” SFU said.
![VANCOUVER, BC – September 10, 2026 – Outside the VPD Training Academy on Abbott street in Vancouver, B.C., September 10, 2026. (Arlen Redekop / Postmedia staff photo) [PNG Merlin Archive]](https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_vancouver_sun_articles_512/e8159636963868a0a8ac7d4544e6e553.jpg)
VANCOUVER, BC – September 10, 2026 – Outside the VPD Training Academy on Abbott street in Vancouver, B.C., September 10, 2026. (Arlen Redekop / Postmedia staff photo) [PNG Merlin Archive]
The VPD’s senior deputy chief, Howard Chow, told Postmedia that the department had no part in asking SFU to remove the posters.
“Absolutely not,” Chow said, adding that the department respects the public’s right to protest.
The VPD polices hundreds of protests and demonstrations each year, Chow said. “One of the most important jobs is to be able to protect the public’s right to express their points of view and perspectives and opinions. That’s part of our democratic society.”
“This is certainly not unfamiliar territory for us. Whenever we move into any kind of space, there’s going to be some that don’t want us there, and they’re entitled to that perspective,” Chow said. “But that means we’ve just got to work harder to build that relationship.”
Chow said the department has a “tremendous relationship” with the SFU administration, and looks forward to continuing to be neighbours for years to come.
On the huge art installation commemorating the Gastown riot in the Woodward’s courtyard, Chow said: “It’s an important art piece.”
“It’s part of our history. We’re proud of our history. There’s been moments in time when mistakes have been made,” Chow said. “It’s about evolving, learning from our mistakes. … We’ve grown with this city, and we’ve changed with the times.”
Asked whether he’d like Douglas’s artwork removed from Woodward’s, Chow gave the same response was he did about the posters: “Absolutely not.”
“I’m glad it’s there,” Chow said. “It should stay there.”
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