{"id":821124,"date":"2026-07-23T15:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/821124\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T15:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:59:10","slug":"foreign-interference-vancouver-mayor-calls-emergency-meeting-after-california-residents-call-in-to-public-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/821124\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Foreign interference&#8217;: Vancouver mayor calls emergency meeting after California residents call in to public hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says he has organized an emergency meeting with the City Manager and Vancouver Police Department Chief Steve Rai after several individuals from California called in to speak at a public hearing on the city\u2019s Villages plan Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt tonight\u2019s public hearing, there were numerous individuals obstructing council business. It is clear that this is foreign interference,\u201d Sim said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly those affected by land-use decisions should speak before council, not those calling in from Southern California.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sim posted a clip to social media that included an excerpt from the meeting. In the audio of that clip, councillors can be heard addressing a U.S. resident, identified only as \u201cChristina,\u201d and asking her reasons for getting involved in a council meeting.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">At tonight\u2019s public hearing, there were numerous individuals obstructing Council business. It is clear that this is foreign interference. Only those affected by land use decisions should speak before Council, not those calling in from Southern California. <\/p>\n<p>We will be reporting\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MAcDhRvaPA\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/MAcDhRvaPA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mayor Ken Sim (@KenSimCity) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KenSimCity\/status\/2080169990150668501?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung asked the caller if she had ever been to Vancouver. Christina answered that she had not.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is your personal motivation for speaking and calling into a foreign country and another city that you have not been to?\u201d Kirby-Yung asked.<\/p>\n<p>Christina responded, \u201cI\u2019m concerned about the precedent that these things can set.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Kirby-Yung asked Christina to elaborate on that point, the caller did not respond.<\/p>\n<p>The councillor asked the caller if she was a hotel worker or a union member. Christina said she was neither. Kirby-Yung asked her if she had called in to other city councils in other cities. Christina responded that she had called in to meetings in Los Angeles and Ontario.<\/p>\n<p>Coun. Brian Montague can be heard asking Christina for more information about something she had mentioned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou talked about development cost levies in your speaking points,\u201d Montague said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m wondering if you can explain to us what development cost levies are?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The clip ends with the sound of Christina coughing.<\/p>\n<p>Sim says the incident will be reported to the \u201cappropriate authorities for a proper investigation,\u201d and that the emergency meeting will look into discussing \u201cimmediate actions to protect our democratic institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n<p>Add CityNews Vancouver as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=vancouver.citynews.ca\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"add-trusted-source-badge\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778189171_473_google-trusted-badge.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"198\" height=\"63\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says he has organized an emergency meeting with the City Manager and Vancouver Police&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-821124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}