‘Foreign interference’: Vancouver mayor calls emergency meeting after California residents call in to public hearing
Posted July 23, 2026 7:49 am.
Last Updated July 23, 2026 6:43 pm.
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’s Villages plan Wednesday.
“At tonight’s public hearing, there were numerous individuals obstructing council business. It is clear that this is foreign interference,” Sim said.
“Only those affected by land-use decisions should speak before council, not those calling in from Southern California.”
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 “Christina,” and asking her reasons for getting involved in a council meeting.
Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung asked the caller if she had ever been to Vancouver. Christina answered that she had not.
“What is your personal motivation for speaking and calling into a foreign country and another city that you have not been to?” Kirby-Yung asked.
Christina responded, “I’m concerned about the precedent that these things can set.”
When Kirby-Yung asked Christina to elaborate on that point, the caller did not respond.
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.
Coun. Brian Montague can be heard asking Christina for more information about something she had mentioned.
“You talked about development cost levies in your speaking points,” Montague said.
“I’m wondering if you can explain to us what development cost levies are?”
The clip ends with the sound of Christina coughing.
Sim says the incident will be reported to the “appropriate authorities for a proper investigation,” and that the emergency meeting will look into discussing “immediate actions to protect our democratic institutions.”
