A prominent member of the Musqueam Indian Band who planned to seek a council nomination with the Non-Partisan Association and align himself with a Hector Bremner mayoral run has yet to file his candidacy papers with the party.
Wade Grant said the NPA board’s rejection of councillor Bremner’s bid to compete to represent the party as its mayoral candidate in the Oct. 20 municipal election has caused him to contemplate whether to seek a nomination.
“The situation is not ideal, obviously,” said Grant, who worked for three years with former premier Christy Clark as a special advisor on Indigenous affairs. “For me, right now, I’m taking a little bit of time to talk to people close to me and make sure I make an educated decision as to what the future holds for me.”
Grant has served on the Vancouver Police Board and was an economic development officer with the band. He is a former band council member and once ran against current chief Wayne Sparrow in his community’s election.
Grant said he joined the NPA because it best reflects his values.
“To me, it was about finding the right fit to build a bridge where communities could come together where traditionally that hasn’t happened,” said Grant, who was the co-chairperson of a city-led project in 2011 to bring Indigenous people and new immigrants together in dialogue. His grandfather was an immigrant from China.
In announcing his interest in seeking a council nomination, Grant aligned himself with Bremner’s “let’s fix housing campaign” and hosted at least one meet-and-greet with Bremner on the Musqueam’s homelands in Southwest Vancouver.
Bremner and Grant have been featured in photos together on Facebook. In one post, they are knocking on doors on the reserve. In another post, Bremner is seated at a table with Grant’s mother, Wendy Grant-John, and stepfather, Ed John.
“Honoured to join Wade Grant and the Musqueam Nation to discuss how we move forward together in real reconciliation,” Bremner wrote in his April 7 post.
Two weeks ago, the NPA board rejected Bremner’s bid to compete against other candidates in a race to become the NPA’s mayoral candidate. NPA president Gregory Baker said the party’s so-called green light committee raised serious concerns about Bremner’s bid, which led the board to reject his candidacy.
Grant said the decision has created “a bit of a rift” between the board and “Hector’s camp,” but emphasized he doesn’t have all the details about what led to the board’s decision, saying there are two sides to every story.
“It’s important for me to carefully find out all the information I can before I make a decision,” he said.
The move by the board triggered potential council candidates Adrian Crook, Scott De Lange Boom and Jorge Julian Prieto to either leave the party or consider other options leading up to the election. Some NPA board members also left the party.
Baker has since provided Bremner with a confidential letter explaining the board’s decision. Bremner has not released the letter but posted a lengthy response to it Wednesday on his Facebook page. The response was written by Mike Wilson, Bremner’s campaign manager.
“The reasons you provided for the board’s rejection of Hector’s candidacy are without merit,” wrote Wilson, referring to accusations of conflicts-of-interest and concerns about Bremner’s history as a lobbyist. “The fact is, the NPA board has been manipulated by one of the candidates for mayor and his supporters.”
Bremner, who was elected in last October’s byelection, would not say whether he will stick with the party and seek re-election as a councillor, or launch an independent run for council or the mayor’s chair, which is being left vacant by the retiring Mayor Gregor Robertson.
He has promised, however, that his name will be on the ballot Oct. 20.
Grant’s pursuit of a council seat comes as Ian Campbell of the Squamish Nation, whom Grant has known since he was a teenager, announced Monday that he will seek the mayoral nomination with Vision Vancouver. Campbell’s father is Musqueam, his mother Squamish.
Grant said he understands the significance of Indigenous leaders such as himself and Campbell campaigning for municipal office but wants to see a day where Indigenous people are commonplace in government.
“The important part for me is that we need to have a diverse amount of people who are seeking leadership in our city, and the city [government] needs to reflect the diversity and inclusion that we want to incorporate,” he said. “But I’m not running as an Indigenous candidate, I’m not running as a Musqueam member, I’m running as a citizen of Vancouver because I feel that’s really who I am.”
The NPA has not set a deadline for prospective council candidates to seek a nomination with the party, but the race for those seats is expected to occur in June.
@Howellings
