“They could have just come in and had a conversation, but they barged in like we were a cartel and they were going to bust us in the act.”
- Paige Frewer, co-owner and operator of The Birdhouse

Over the past year, City Hall has unleashed a wave of coordinated enforcement actions against beloved nightlife and music venues.

Teams of fire inspectors, city bylaw officers, and the VPD have descended on community spaces that have operated safely and responsibly for years.

The results?

Tickets, license revocations, and closures of beloved community venues:

• Take Your Time Back, a beloved all-ages East Van venue that gave hundreds of emerging artists their first stage, was shut down.
  
  
• The Birdhouse, a lifeline for queer communities in Mount Pleasant, was raided in the early hours of the morning by eight officials.
  
  
• Vantek Group, which hosted thousands of people at its East Van warehouse events, had its arts and culture license pulled with no timeline for reinstatement.

Ken Sim and ABC are cracking down on Arts & Culture spaces under the guise of "public safety".

But if you ask the artists, organizers, and attendees of these spaces, they'll tell you these DIY venues make the city safer for their communities.


COPE believes Vancouver's nightlife and music community deserves support and stable funding, not attacks and crackdowns.


We’re calling on City Hall to:

• End the crackdown and over-policing of beloved venues.
  
  
• Establish a clear and accessible licensing pathway for independent and community
  venues.
  
  
• Work with venue operators that make our city fun. Stop the raids and crackdowns.