Green Party of – 2014 Council Candidate Backgrounder

Adriane Carr

Incumbent City Councillor in 2011 became the first Green City Councillor elected in Vancouver or any major city in Canada. Born in Vancouver, Carr graduated from UBC with an MA in Urban Geography, then taught for more than a decade at Langara College. Carr has a long pedigree with the , having co-founded the Green Party of BC (the first in North America) in 1983, serving as BC Leader from 2000 to 2006, then as Deputy Leader of the for 8 years. Carr has played a prominent role in city politics during her first term in office, including in the past few weeks when she was noted for her dissent on the controversial DTES Local Area Plan and the Oakridge redevelopment proposal, followed by two high-profile motions calling for voluntary campaign finance restraint by parties and candidates in this year’s civic election, and for a public plebiscite on whether to phase out cetacean captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium, both of which were voted down by Council on Wednesday, April 30th. Having played a key role in establishing the Wilderness Committee as Canada’s largest membership-based conservation group, Adriane Carr has been an active opponent of pipeline and tanker traffic expansion on the West Coast, and is the only city councillor from Vancouver to have sought and been granted the right to be a commentator in the National Energy Board hearings for the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion proposal.

Cleta Brown

Former lawyer and long-time community and social justice advocate Cleta Brown grew up in Vancouver in a politically active family and today resides in Kerrisdale with her husband and children, has had a long career in law with a social justice focus, serving in the BC Office of the Ombudsman, as Crown Counsel and as Alternate Chairperson of the BC Review Board. She has pursued her passion for social justice and women’s and children’s issues by volunteering with numerous organizations including the Canadian Women's Foundation, MOSAIC, Vancouver YWCA, Westcoast LEAF, LEAF National, and the University Women's Club of Vancouver. Currently she is 1st Vice President of the University Women's Club of Vancouver, Chair of its Status of Women & Human Rights Committee and Vice President & Secretary of the BC Branch of the Kidney Foundation of Canada.

Pete Fry

Community advocate and outgoing Chair of the Strathcona Residents’ Association is a long-time Strathcona resident who represented his community throughout the Downtown Eastside (DTES) Local Area Planning Process. He is a self-employed graphic and web designer who has taken an active role in preserving and enhancing the livability of his neighbourhood, including organizing a community response to the City’s plans to expand traffic along Prior Street. Fry decided to enter civic politics because he was tired of seeing his friends and neighbours, including many in the creative sectors, being driven out of the city by rising unaffordability and a restrictive political and regulatory environment that has given rise to the moniker “No Fun City”. Fry’s objective as a City Councillor will be to “strengthen and empower our communities and citizens to build a sustainable and resilient city where people come before profits.”