Vancouver hospitality workers file petition seeking judicial review of public hearings
Posted June 8, 2026 7:01 pm.
Last Updated June 9, 2026 1:00 pm.
Hospitality workers are seeking a judicial review of public hearings on housing in the city.
UNITE HERE Local 40 says that four of its members, all hospitality workers, submitted a petition to the BC Supreme Court seeking a judicial review of two public hearings that were held in May — one on May 5, the other May 7.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!The petition argues that the previous hearings from earlier this year were difficult to follow for many of its members.
UNITE HERE Local 40 spokesperson Michelle Travis said, “The petitioners seek to quash approvals of the ‘Fast-Track’ mass rezoning and the 888 Cambie project due to a flawed public hearing process and to have those two items be sent back to Council for another public hearing.”
“The workers’ lawyer served papers to City Hall when they filed the lawsuit.”
UNITE HERE Local 40 president Zailda Chan says that language barriers, technical difficulties, and confusion during the hearings prevented some from fully taking part.
“Many of our members are from their immigrant communities whose first language is not English,” Chan told 1130 NewsRadio.
“And so, they spoke in their languages; they had their own translators ready. It was inaccessible. There were technical difficulties in having their message translated.”
The meetings in question took place on May 5 and May 7. In both public hearings, City Council listened to proposals about housing agreements on Arbutus Street, Broughton Street, West 1st Avenue, and Main Street.
“We don’t expect these kinds of barriers to happen in this kind of city. Their voices were not heard that day. They were muted.”
The union is calling out what it perceives as an unfair process and hopes that its petition is successful.
“I’m here because I support their petition to allow a process that should be democratic to immigrant people. In the meantime, you have counsel listening very clearly to billionaire developers who are passing and want to use a lot of the land in the city for high luxury rentals and hotels,” Chan said.
In a message to 1130 NewsRadio, City Hall acknowledged that the petition was received but that it would not provide any further comment.
Editor’s note: a previous version of this story had stated the union had delivered the petition to City Hall. The story has been updated to reflect that it was four hospitality workers — not members of Local 40 — who filed a petition to the Supreme Court of BC.
– With files from Raynaldo Suarez.
