Burnaby will head to the polls on Oct. 15 and vote for eight city councillors and seven school trustees. Mayor Mike Hurley has been acclaimed for a second term after receiving no challengers.
The Burnaby NOW asked every candidate running for office in the upcoming civic election to respond to a questionnaire on issues facing Burnaby today.
Candidates were given strict word limits and a deadline to submit their answers. Answers exceeding the word limits are marked. For details on how and where to vote, see our voter’s guide.
Questionnaires have been edited for clarity.
Name: Jasmine Nicholsfigueiredo
Current occupation: Union president and college instructor
Short biography (50 words maximum): I have lived in Burnaby over twenty years with my husband Morgan, and our daughter Shirley.
I have spent a decade working with youth and the community, examining local economies, inclusive housing, transit, etc.
I am currently a union president and the vice-president of the 10,000-member Federation of Post-Secondary Educators.
Why are you running for city council? (150 words maximum): I am running for Burnaby city council because I know that the changes made at the local level have the most impact on our daily lives.
I am committed to doing the hard work to make Burnaby a more livable city. To do this we must first tackle the housing issue by providing more rental units, co-ops, rowhouses, and a vast array of affordable, accessible housing.
We need to ensure our city is a 15-minute city, where you can visit the dentist, buy your groceries, and get to school all within a close distance.
As well, we must increase our greenspace, protect our streams and waterways, and ensure we are promoting a green economy. I am a strong collaborative leader who will bring a fresh perspective to the council table and work towards resolving these issues.
What are the top three issues facing Burnaby today, and what are your plans to address them? (250 words maximum): Three issues facing Burnaby are the lack of affordable housing, the climate crisis and unavailable child care.
For housing to be affordable, and accessible, we need to be creative in our designs, flexible in our zoning and innovative in our partnerships. Our town centres need to be multi-use, designed to include daycares, and essential services, as well as market condos, rentals, and subsidized housing all in the same development.
City council must see partnerships with third-party subsidized housing management before permits are issued. It is time to establish a Burnaby housing authority to put aside land for long term leases and to manage the availability of below market homes to be built.
The climate crisis exists. We must preserve existing green spaces.
New developments need green roofs, live walls, and trees to increase the canopy and reduce urban heat islands. Storm water retention ponds for watering the vegetation will sustain the growth while taking the strain off the city’s growing sewer systems.
Electricity is the energy for construction, with heat pumps for heating and cooling, and charging stations for cars. Reduce greenhouse gasses to become carbon neutral by 2035.
Lack of child care is an issue. Few existing properties meet the demand of the city and Fraser Health for daycares. It becomes economically unfeasible for an operator to get a daycare up and running. All new developments should be built to incorporate an approved daycare facility. This is one case where if you build it, a daycare operator will come.
What is your housing situation? Are you a homeowner, renter or something else (describe)? Do you rent property to others? (50 words maximum): We are homeowners and do not have rental property. We live in Brent Gardens, in the Brentwood area. Built in 1982, it is one of the oldest towers in the area. We have lived here for nearly 20 years and watched the growth of the Brentwood Town Centre area.
Burnaby currently has a population of about 250,000 people and is projected to grow to about 360,000 by 2050. How – and where – do you want the city to accommodate that growth? (200 words maximum): Densification near our arterials (highway and transit centres) is key to accommodating growth. This densification needs to be composed of a mix of building types: rowhouses, townhomes, lowrises, and towers.
To best accommodate our citizens, residential areas should be comprised of mixed-use zoning so we can have that 15-minute city where you can be within 15 minutes of your dentist, grocery store, a park or a school.
Cars should be optional, not a requirement to live in Burnaby. Gentle density needs to occur, complimenting a neighbourhood’s character.
We need to ensure that the growth in our city comes through careful and extensive consultation with Burnaby residents.
The Burnaby Official Community Plan (OCP) is an attempt to ensure that the growth occurs where it is best suited, but we need to do a better job of getting citizens to provide feedback to our plan and lay out where they think the growth needs to be.
Some organizations are calling on municipal governments to support the creation of non-profit housing by allowing projects to be built without rezoning requirements. (As an example, Women Transforming Cities wants social housing initiatives of up to 12 storeys to be permitted in multi-family areas and up to six storeys in other residential areas, without a rezoning requirement). Is this something you would support – why or why not? (250 words maximum): Non-profit housing is essential if we are to have a thriving Burnaby for all — we need to ensure that all citizens have housing and not just the rich. I support non-profit housing and a vast array of housing choices.
I support the right of all citizens to have their say in their city which means it is essential to have public hearings — we cannot and should not take away the rights of people to provide their input.
If a project is publicly supported, and immediately needed, the approvals of the application should be fast tracked through the city to create the required approval to make it in the zoning.
To free up staff time to work on such important housing initiatives, the Burnaby Green Party would work on an improved development permit process with the city to speed up and streamline certain types of development and building permits that clearly meet current zoning requirements.
If the city can speed up the approval of unchallenging applications, it will free up more time to dedicate to approving essential projects such as non-profit housing.
In 2021, 73 people died in Burnaby due to the heat dome. What are your plans for the city to address increasing heat? (150 words maximum): To cool the city, we must address climate change. We must preserve existing green spaces. New developments need green roofs, live walls, and trees to increase the canopy and reduce urban heat islands.
Storm water retention ponds for watering the vegetation will sustain the growth while taking the strain off the city’s growing sewer systems.
Electricity is the energy for construction, with heat pumps for heating and cooling, and charging stations for cars. Reduce greenhouse gasses to become carbon neutral by 2035.
In the interim, more cooling stations in the city need to be set up in the summer. Existing residential towers without cooling should install cooling to their amenity rooms for residents.
Is crime a concern for you, and how do you hope to address it? (150 words maximum): Crime is a concern and personal safety are concerns.
Crime reduction starts with cleaning up Burnaby and removing graffiti. We must prevent criminals from vandalising by sending them a message. This is the “broken window theory.” Supporting and encouraging block watch programs in partnership with the police will deter criminals and promoting membership drives at city events to bolster support.
Work with building departments (B.C. Building Code), fire departments and police in initial designs of developments, to approve only the best security hardware, for aesthetics, and performance, for all commercial and residential developments.
Property crimes are only deterred with hardware and design. With less break and entering, the police have more time to attend to other issues.
Constant consultation and support of the Business Improvement Associations (BIAs). Provide streamlined reporting of crime from BIA to RCMP to promote the reporting of crimes to allow the RCMP to better deploy their resources.
What is the biggest achievement and/or failure of Burnaby council in the last four years? (100 words): The biggest achievement is that Burnaby now has the best tenancy policy in Canada.
Four years ago, when Mayor Hurley was elected, he put a stop to the systemic demovictions the previous council and mayor had implemented.
Mayor Hurley and Councillor Joe Keithley (Burnaby Green Party) helped championed this new tenancy policy to ensure that housing is for all. This is the biggest achievement in the last four years.
How would you spend a leisurely 24 hours in Burnaby? (150 words maximum): Our family will often start a leisurely Saturday morning with a coffee at either J.J. Bean or Gabi and Jules on Hastings Street.
From there my husband and daughter will go to Metro Taekwon to do their spin class and I will go for a light jog with my friend Nancy. Before heading home, we might visit some of our favourite food shops: the Red Apple, Cioffi’s, Fortuna, or Sun-given Foods and we often end at Companion Books because books make me happy.
Sometimes we stroll Deer Lake, Burnaby Lake, or the Trans Canada Trail so we catch up about our busy week. Our evening usually has us enjoying a nice home cooked meal and debating which Netflix movie we should watch.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell voters? (100 words maximum): I was raised by a strong single mother who taught me to work hard, embrace education, and value family and community.
I worked at Canadian Airlines in the accounting division and taught ESL students to pay for my education which included a master’s and PhD.
I taught writing and literature for over 17 years at Douglas College, and I have developed educational field schools which take college students to places like Italy, Wales, and the East Coast of Canada.
I enjoy travel, running, live theatre and music, and being involved in the many communities throughout Burnaby.
How can folks contact you? (Website, email, social media handles)
Website: jasmineburnabygreen.ca
Email: jasmineburnabygreen@gmail.com
Twitter: @jasmine4Bby
FB: www.facebook.com/jnicholsfigueiredo
Instagram: @jasmineburnabygreen
