MVA
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About Us

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Metro Vancouver Alliance is a grassroots coalition of community, faith, labour, and nonprofit organizations.

Our vision is a world where communities of all kinds come together united by common goals. We know we must collaborate to tackle the issues we face today.

We work on the issues that matter to our membership and result in winnable actions that improve the community. We decide which issues to work on through a process of listening and discernment throughout the Alliance.


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What We Do

Institutional Relationship Building​

Relationships are the bedrock of our power. We focus on building relationships within and between our members to create understanding, expand our sense of belonging and find common ground. 

Listening-Research-Action Campaigns

Member organizations set the agenda together. We listen, discern the problems that are arising for people across institutions and then facilitate broad-based action to be taken on those issues. 

Community Organizing Trainings

We offer in-depth community organizing training to members of our member institutions to empower them to create the changes in their communities that they want to see. W

Campaign Wins

Living Wage

In 2016, we won a commitment from the City of Vancouver to be a Living Wage employer. North Vancouver followed suit in March 2021. The minimum wage for all City employees and contractors is now $24.08 compared to the provincial minimum wage of $15.65.

Poverty Reduction

We successfully advocated for provincial legislation around poverty reduction. In April 2017, John Horgan (leader of the BCNDP and then-Premier) and Andrew Weaver (leader of the BC Green Party) stood before 800 MVA leaders at an Accountability Assembly held at the Italian Cultural Centre in East Vancouver and committed to legislate a poverty reduction strategy. In 2018, the province passed its first poverty reduction plan, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Act.

Affordable Housing

In 2016, we won commitments from the North Shore mayors and MLA to address the affordable housing crisis on the North Shore.

Affordable and Accessible Transit

In 2019, we won commitments for improved transit services, such as free transit for kids 12 and under from TransLink/BC Transit and handyDART funding which increased the accessibility of transit by providing door-to-door service for those with greater assistance needs. These changes were implemented in 2021.

Community Healthcare

In 2015 we organized with the Hospital Employees Union and local church congregations to successfully pressure the employer at Inglewood Care Home in West Vancouver to bargain an improved contract and job security, increasing the quality of care for residents.

In 2017 we won a commitment from the BC NDP to allocate resources for community healthcare centers.

Member Organizations

BC General Employees' Union
Canadian Memorial United Church
Carnegie Housing Project
Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs
CityGate Vancouver
CUPE Metro Vancouver District Council
Delta Teachers' Association
Diversity and Inclusion Support Group of British Columbia
Fairview Baptist Church
Hillel BC
Hospital Employees' Union
Jewish Family Services
Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver
Jewish Seniors Alliance
Anglican Diocese ​of New Westminster Justice and Peace Unit
Living Interfaith Sanctuary

Longhouse Council of Native Ministry United Church

Migrante BC
Or Shalom Synagogue
Presbytery of Westminster, The Presbyterian Church of Canada
Public Service Alliance of Canada
Sierra Club BC

Sisters of the Child Jesus Roman Catholic Parish

Spirit of Life Lutheran Church
St. Andrews Wesley United Church
St. Joseph the Worker Roman Catholic Parish
St. Laurence Anglican Church

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Parish

St. Thomas Anglican Church
St. Thomas More Collegiate
Temple Sholom
Tikva Housing Society
UNITE HERE Local 40

Urban Aboriginal Ministry

Vancouver Unitarians

Sponsoring Organizations

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In the Media

The Tyee (2014 March 28):     ​A New Kind of Political Force in Vancouver
Our Times (2014 March 31):     ​Metro Vancouver Alliance
Vancouver is Awesome (2014 October 10):    Major Vancouver parties grilled by lively crowd
CityNews (2014 October 10):    Vancouver mayoral candidates support living wage, better transit
CBC (2015 January 27):     Transit tax: Metro Vancouver Alliance plans forums to promote 'Yes' vote
Vancouver Sun (2015 June 9):     Metro Vancouver Alliance building on 'common ground'
Vancouver Observer (2015 July 8):     City of Vancouver to become a 'living wage employer'
Vancouver is Awesome (2015 July 8):     City of Vancouver to become a 'living wage employer'
Vancouver Observer (2015 July 27):     Paul Clark and the Metro Vancouver Alliance
North Shore News (2016 February 10):     Mayors pledge affordable housing action
Diocese of New Westminster (2018 April 26):     South Van Neighbourhood Walk
VanRamblings (2020 November 24):     Metro Vancouver Alliance: Faithful Activism from the Heart

We recognize MVA conducts its work on the ancestral, occupied, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.

We are committed to respectfully and appropriately engaging with First Nations communities and governments in regional strategies, decision-making and shared interests.

Metro Vancouver Alliance

PO Box 20085 Fairview RPO
Vancouver BC V5Z0C1

Email

[email protected]

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  • Get Involved
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