Hospitality workers push City Hall for new housing hearings

Hospitality workers are calling on the City of Vancouver to hold new public hearings on housing affordability after language barriers and technical failures derailed their participation in earlier proceedings.

Unite Here Local 40 submitted a petition to City Hall requesting a revised hearing process. Union president Zailda Chan said the previous hearings on May 5 and May 7—which addressed housing agreement proposals on Arbutus Street, Broughton Street, West 1st Avenue, and Main Street—were inaccessible to many members.

"Many of our members are from immigrant communities whose first language is not English," Chan told 1130 NewsRadio. "They spoke in their languages; they had their own translators ready. It was inaccessible. There were technical difficulties in having their message translated."

Chan emphasized that the barriers prevented meaningful participation: "Their voices were not heard that day. They were muted."

The union also framed the hearings as unbalanced, noting that developers and their counsel had clear access to the process while immigrant workers did not. "We don't expect these kinds of barriers to happen in this kind of city," Chan said.

City Hall acknowledged receipt of the petition but declined to provide further comment.