Andrea Reimer

Andrea Reimer is a Canadian politician, who served on Vancouver, British Columbia's City Council from 2008 to 2018. She was first elected in 2002 to the Vancouver School Board as a Green Party candidate.[1] She was defeated as a Green Party candidate in her re-election campaign in 2005[2] and then joined the Vision Vancouver party to support Gregor Robertson's mayoral campaign.[3] She subsequently ran for and won a council seat in the 2008 municipal election.[4] After serving four terms on council, she chose not to run for re-election in the 2018 municipal election.[5] She is currently an adjunct professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, and served on the UBC Board of Governors as a provincial appointee from December 2019 to October 2020.

Background

Reimer was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and put into foster care.[6][7][8] When she was 8 months old, she was adopted by a couple from Vancouver[6] who subsequently relocated to Calgary[9] prior to her starting school.[7][8] Reimer's adoptive parents divorced when she was a pre-teen.[6]

Reimer started smoking and drinking at the age of 10, and started to experiment with illicit drugs at the age of 11, and LSD at the age of 12.[7][8] She was homeless between the ages of 14 and 19,[6][10][11][12][13] which included travel to places throughout Canada, the United States, Asia, Central America, Europe and North Africa.[7][9] During this period she dumpster-dived, got arrested several times, got involved in hard drugs, and developed addictions.[6][7][8] When she was 18, Reimer worked in El Salvador at a low income housing project, which she later cited as the catalyst for her environmental awareness.[14]

Although an atheist, at 19 Reimer enrolled at Concordia University to major in religious studies.[6] She dropped out during her first year after six weeks of classes,[8][9] and moved to Vancouver.[6][7] In Vancouver, Reimer joined a government sponsored job training program and started working with Gordon Neighbourhood House Youth Works. She was then sent for a practicum to the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.[7][8]

Reimer eventually worked her way up to become the executive director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee,[7][15][16][17] where she was paid approximately $2000 a month.[18] While executive director of the Wilderness Committee, Reimer supported the creation of a carbon tax by the BC Provincial Government.[15] It was subsequently passed.[15] In 2007, she was chosen by Al Gore to deliver the Inconvenient Truth presentation to local audiences,[14][16][19][20] which she delivered to over 10,000 people.[7]

Reimer has volunteered with many community organizations including serving as:

She serves as a Director of Environmental Education Action Project,[27] and sits on the Vancouver Foundation's Health and Social Development Advisory Committee.[28]

Political career

Green Party

Reimer joined the Green Party in 1996, and volunteered on the 1996 provincial election, the 1999 civic election, the 2000 federal by-election and the 2001 provincial election.[9] She has held internal elected office as Communication Chair, Green Party of BC (1999–2002) and Chair, Green Party of Vancouver (2002–2008). Reimer was the first Green Party candidate ever elected to a school board seat in Canada, when she was elected in 2002.[1][15][29] She ran for re-election as a Green Party candidate in 2005 yet was defeated.[2]

Vision Vancouver

Reimer joined the Vision Vancouver party to support Gregor Robertson's mayoral campaign,[3] which she co-chaired. She subsequently ran for[15][17][30] and won a council seat in the 2008 municipal election.[4]

School Board

As a School Trustee, Reimer supported efforts to remove vending machines[31] and corporate logos from schools.[32] She pushed for getting school garden programs into schools.[33]

In January 2003, she supported the Green Party's position against bringing the Olympic Games to Vancouver in 2010 due to concerns about the money it would require.[15] In 2008 she characterized her position as still ambivalent about the money spent on the Olympics but prepared to put her full energy into ensuring the Games were as good as possible.[15][34]

City Council

As City Councillor, Reimer was a member of Gregor Robertson's Greenest City Team.[35] The team was tasked with catalyzing immediate action on green issues, a ten-year action plan to become the world's greenest city and creating an environment supportive of green economic development in the city of Vancouver.[36] Reimer introduced a motion, which passed, to open Vancouver city data to the public and endorse the principles of open source.[37][38][39] Reimer introduced a motion, which passed unanimously, to allow Vancouver residents to keep hens in their backyards.[40] The motion was opposed by the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Vancouver Humane Society, and the BC Poultry Association.[40] The proposal was brought forward as a result of a recommendation from the City of Vancouver's Food Policy Council.[41]

Reimer's other appointments on Vancouver City Council included:

  • Chair, Standing Committee on Planning and Environment[19]
  • Vancouver Economic Development Commission[19]
  • Joint Childcare Council[19]
  • Family Court-Youth Justice Committee[19]

Reimer also sat on the Metro Vancouver Regional District board[42] and was appointed to the Regional Planning Committee,[43] Agricultural Committee,[43] Electoral Area A Committee[43] and GVRD/UBC Joint Committee.[43]

Twitter controversy

In October 2009, Reimer posted on Twitter regarding the British Columbia Minister of Housing and Social Development Rich Coleman's weight[44] in response to provincial legislation proposed by Coleman to bring homeless people to shelters during extreme weather, even against their will.[45] Reimer posted that instead of police bringing homeless people to shelters during extreme weather that she was thinking of introducing legislation to have the police bring Coleman to Jenny Craig, an international weight loss company, on his next visit to Vancouver.[45][46][47] Coleman responded by calling the comment amateurish and from a Councilor that "doesn't know any better."[44] Reimer later apologized for the posting.[45]

Family

Reimer and her husband have a child.[6][13] They live near Trout Lake in East Vancouver.[19]

References
  1. "2002 Election Results" Archived 2005-03-14 at the Wayback Machine, Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  2. "2005 Election Results" Archived 2006-09-13 at the Wayback Machine, Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  3. Naiobh O'Connor. "Green Party staple opts for new Vision". Vancouver Courier, May 7, 2008.
  4. "2008 Election Results",Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  5. Howell, Mike (14 September 2018). "Andrea Reimer takes a pass on becoming Vision Vancouver's mayoral candidate". Vancouver Courier. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  6. "VancouverCourier Issue 04". Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
  7. "Andrea Reimer: Wilderness, Family, City Hall", Vancouver Observer, December 10, 2008.
  8. Linda Solomon. "The Wild Side of Intellect", Today's Vancouver Woman, August 22, 2008.
  9. Janet Steffenhagen. "Protest started early for school trustee", Vancouver Sun, December 10, 2002.
  10. "Andrea Reimer’s Rising Star" Archived 2009-12-13 at the Wayback Machine, Today's Vancouver Woman, August 23, 2008.
  11. Garr, Allen. "Vision wannabes pulling out the stops", Vancouver Courier, September 19, 2008, Page 10.
  12. Tsakumis, Alex G. "She's got vision" Archived 2013-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, 24 Hours, September 12, 2008.
  13. O'Connor, Naoibh. "Street smarts", Vancouver Courier, July 25, 2004, Page 1.
  14. "Crusaders for a green planet: Our emerging leaders", Vancouver Sun, February 17, 2007, Page B-2.
  15. Mike Howell. "Vision quest;Energetic and flooded with members, Vision Vancouver led by Gregor Robertson believes it's poised to take over city hall. But as a "progressive" party backed heavily by developers and casino operators, what does it really stand for?", Vancouver Courier, September 24, 2008.
  16. Doug Ward. "Vancity boss takes green lessons from Al Gore", Vancouver Sun, January 13, 2007.
  17. Gerry Bellett. "Former Green seeks Vision; Ex-school trustee Reimer will run for city council nomination", Vancouver Sun, July 17, 2008.
  18. Glenn Bohn. "Green winner will tackle Liberals: SCHOOL BOARD: Andrea Reimer says she expects 'tough times' ahead Series: Civic Election 2002", Vancouver Sun, November 18, 2002.
  19. "Councillor Andrea Reimer", Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  20. "Raisin’ Issues" Archived 2008-03-21 at the Wayback Machine, Today's Vancouver Woman, Accessed October 6, 2009.
  21. ""CCEC Credit Union 2007 Annual Report"" (PDF). Ccec.bc.ca. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  22. "Canadian Women Voters Congress - About Us" Archived February 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  23. Your Local Farmer's Market Society, 2008 Annual Report
  24. "Vancouver Food Policy Council Members - Previous", Vancouver.ca
  26. "Toxic Free Canada, 2008 Annual Report" Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  27. Environmental Education Action Project, 2008 Annual Report
  28. "Vancouver Foundation - Our Leaders and Advisors", Vancouverfoundation.bc.ca
  29. "Speakers" Archived April 29, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Women's Campaign School Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  30. Catherine Rolfsen. "New faces vying for city seats; Vision, NPA slates have candidates targeting key demographics", Vancouver Sun, October 11, 2008.
  31. Naoibh O'Connor "Fit for a Teen?". Vancouver Courier, October 11, 2003
  32. Naoibh O'Connor. "Trustees pondering commercialization policy", March 11, 2005
  33. Naoibh O'Connor. "Seeds of Learning". Vancouver Courier, May 14, 2004
  34. Brandi Cowen. "Councillor Andrea Reimer's First Six Months on City Council". Vancouver Observer, June 24, 2009
  35. "Members of the Greenest City Team", City of Vancouver website, Accessed October 10, 2009.
  36. "How can we make Vancouver the world’s greenest city?", City of Vancouver website, Accessed October 10, 2009.
  37. "City of Vancouver set to back open source, open standards, open data", Georgia Straight, May 14, 2009.
  38. "City of Vancouver embraces open data, standards and source", CBC, May 22, 2009.
  39. "Vancouver becomes role model for open source" Archived October 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, InfoWorld, June 11, 2009.
  40. "Vancouver latest municipality to allow urban chickens" Archived July 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Vancouver Sun, March 4, 2009.
  41. "Vancouver Food Policy Council Minutes, January 14, 2009", Vancouver.ca
  42. ""Metro Vancouver, Board Members"". Archived from the original on 6 May 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  43. ""Metro Vancouver, Committee Members"". Archived from the original on 17 October 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  44. "Think before you Tweet", CKNW, October 30, 2009.
  45. "Vancouver councillor apologizes for Twitter message", CTV, October 30, 2009.
  46. "Impolitic Twitter post prompts apology", CBC, October 31, 2009.
  47. "Low Blow", 24 Hours, October 30, 2009, Page 3.
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