Big changes for dog owners could come to Vancouver’s Pacific Spirit Park

One of Metro Vancouver’s busiest parks could see big changes this summer, as the regional district looks at options to change the way dogs and their owners use the park.

Pacific Spirit Regional Park, located on Vancouver’s west side, has over 55 kilometres of mixed-used trails, some of which currently require dogs to be on a leash and the remaining 65 per cent is designated as “leash-optional.”

Metro Vancouver Regional District says it is currently reviewing its Pacific Spirit Dog Management Plan in response to “safety incidents, user conflicts, and ecological impacts involving off-leash dogs. … This review will assess and seek to make improvements to the trail designations, signage, and public education and bylaw enforcement program.”

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One park user and advocate who presented their ideas to the Regional Parks Committee on Wednesday wants to see the majority of the trails in the park move to leash-required.

“In 2023, I was running through Pacific Spirit … and a dog was off-leash, running around uncontrolled on the trail,” Annie Cierna, a UBC assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine, explained. “The dog charged me, broke my leg, and permanently damaged my knee.”

“I have gone through two rounds of crutches, knee surgery, and many, many hours of physical therapy to be able to be back even walking here today,” she added.

Cierna’s plan, which was co-created with the regional district’s Elected Director Jen McCutcheon, was spawned from her injury. The plan itself would see the trails south of West 16th Avenue become leash-required only, with the northern portion of the park — toward Spanish Banks — become leash-optional.

As it stands, the different kinds of trails in the park intertwine with each other, something which Cierna believes is confusing.

“There is a complete mismatch of trails where some trails go from leash-optional to leash-required, and then back to leash-optional. The trail where I had my accident is one of those examples,” she said.

“It makes it incredibly confusing for both people in the park and difficult for park staff to then also enforce.”

Cierna wants the system simplified, for what she believes benefits all park users.

“It’s easy for park users to understand, and it’s easy for park employees to enforce. It has the big advantage of providing safe trails for park users; that includes dog owners, the dogs, and everyone else who’s walking and biking through the park,” she said.

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“Importantly, it also supports equity for people who are afraid of dogs. This is actually fairly common in many cultures. Vancouver is a wonderful place, that is incredibly multicultural, and we have many immigrants who come from cultures where off-leash dogs are incredibly dangerous. This makes those people very afraid to be in the park and may prevent them from even accessing the park altogether,” Cernia explained.

She says that the simplification of the leash requirements would also protect vulnerable people, including children, seniors, and people with disabilities. She adds the plan would protect wildlife in the park, too.

Cierna would like to see the changes come into effect by summer this year, as it’s the busiest time in the park.

Adding to Cierna’s comments to the board, McCutcheon says the current layout of the trails is “unusual” compared to the other parks run by Metro Vancouver.

McCutcheon is aware that the plan to remove the leash-optional trails will be controversial.

“There will be pushback if we move to this, but I think what we’re not hearing as much, is the sort of silent majority, that I’m hearing from,” she said, adding that people don’t often report if they’ve had an accident involving a dog.

Many dog owners and Pacific Spirit Park users took to social media on Wednesday after hearing of Cierna’s proposal. Many agreed with Cierna’s assessment that the intermingling of different designated trails was confusing, but the solutions to that problem ranged.

“I would rather they make it opposite – the area by the beach is hilly and less open and has cliffs which are less off-leash friendly. The area by 16th should be the off-leash area,” one Reddit user suggested.

“I support this. It doesn’t make sense that the on-leash and off-leash trails are so intertwined. It’s confusing to keep track of, and I’m constantly checking the map on my phone to figure out where I am,” another shared.

Another Reddit user characterized the proposed change as “insane.”

“Dog attacks are not an inherent problem of off-leash areas. This just removes the best off-leash areas in the city when we’re already horribly underserved. If dogs are attacking people they’re still going to do it in the northern off-leash area, and it’s not as if their owners will leash them in the southern section anyways if they’re stupid enough to let a dog that will attack people off in the first place,” the Redditor stated.

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“Deal with the actual problem, the fraction of 1% of dogs that are actually aggressive or problematic,” they added.

Other parkgoers called for heavier enforcement from park rangers, higher fees for dog registrations to fund enforcement, and fines for people who have unregistered dogs.

“As an owner of a Border Collie, this is awful. That was the only go-to spot I could find where there is enough space to let him get proper exercise and 99% of the dogs and owners were fine. Instead of changing rules that punish everyone, put some effort into finding these shit owners and fine them,” another person stated.

“I don’t think this is a dog attack issue, but I see more and more people afraid of dogs,” one user said, echoing Cierna. “They were also trying to ban the leash area of my local park, Quilchena Park. But I also see that a lot of dog owners don’t have control of their dogs and interfere with cyclists runners, etc. In some areas of the world, your dog needs to pass a class to be able to go off leash so education rather than punishment of all, that would be a better incentive for people to train their dog and be able to put them off leash, than punishing everyone because of a few.”

Pilot program will be implemented this year: Metro Vancouver Regional District

According to the district, at the end of the review period, it will develop and implement a “phase one” for a pilot period. The district says monitoring will continue during 2025.​

In a statement to 1130 NewsRadio, Richard Wallis, park operations supervisor, shared that reports in recent years include “dog-related injuries to park users and dogs, as well as aggressive behaviour by off-leash dogs. Injuries include broken bones and bites that require stitches, and park users have reported being chased or knocked down, startled, jumped on, nipped, and scratched. Dogs have also been bitten or injured.”

The district did not provide the exact numbers of these injuries, whether they were determined to have stemmed from an “aggressive” dog, or whether they occurred due to an accident. “However, it will be considered as part of the review,” Wallis added.

“Off-leash dogs also cause ecological damage to the parks’ forests, streams, and other natural areas. As the number of dogs visiting the park increases, so does damage,” he stated.

“Park staff patrol the trails daily. With over 55 kilometres of trails, they provide presence in the park on a priority basis. Staff will continue to provide regular patrols, education, and enforcement during the pilot.”

The district says it will be consulting with xʷməθkʷəýəḿ (Musqueam) First Nation, Electoral Area A (University Endowment Lands) residents, those who hold a Commercial Dog Walking permit for Pacific Spirit Regional Park, and other stakeholders.

“Members of the public will also be able to provide feedback by emailing our Information Centre at icentre@metrovancouver.org,” it added.

“Dog owners visiting Metro Vancouver regional parks are reminded that they are legally responsible for their dogs’ behaviour. Dog owners must clean up after their dogs and dispose of any dog waste appropriately, have a leash with them at all times, and ensure the dogs are within sight. Dogs in public spaces must always be under control of the responsible owner.”

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