Andrea Reimer will not seek re-election as a Vancouver city councillor after four terms in government, she announced Wednesday.
In a statement posted to Facebook, the Vision Vancouver councillor said she came to her decision over the summer, but was announcing now because there was less than a year to go before the city has its next municipal election.
Coverage of Vision Vancouver on Globalnews.ca/bc:
First elected to municipal government as a school board trustee with the Vancouver Green Party in 2002, Reimer was later elected to city council as a member of Vision Vancouver, winning three terms in 2008, 2011 and 2014.
As she takes her leave from municipal government, Reimer said there is a “movement of young, Indigenous and racialized Vancouverites who have struggled to be seen and heard on their own terms by traditional political movements but who now have a platform to move forward within the city and within Vision Vancouver.”
“It makes me incredibly hopeful for the future of Vancouver that so many from this movement have expressed to me their interest in stepping into electoral politics and running with Vision in 2008. At the same time, they need to build their own legacies.”
READ MORE: Vancouver councillor wants to see more First Nations names on city sites
While on council, Reimer focused on initiatives such as the “Greenest City Action Plan,” which aimed to make Vancouver the “greenest city in the world.”
She also co-chaired the Mayor’s Engaged City Task Force, which was an initiative to enhance how the municipal government communicates with citizens, “including immigrants and youth.”
It also worked to increase voter turnout.
The task force delivered its report to Vancouver city council in June 2013.
Voter turnout in the 2014 municipal election was 43.4 per cent, up from 35 per cent in 2011 and 30.8 per cent in 2008.
Reimer also focused on reconciliation with First Nations. As part of these efforts, she learned how to speak some Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim, the language of the Squamish Nation, and earlier this year put forward a motion to potentially rename certain sites with their First Nation names.
READ MORE: Vancouver councillor floats idea to make False Creek safe for swimming by next summer
But she hasn’t been a stranger to controversy during her time in office.
In 2009, Reimer was upset after then-B.C. housing minister Rich Coleman introduced legislation that would give police the authority to take homeless people to shelters during extreme weather events.
She then posted a tweet saying, “Thinking about introducing a motion requiring police to pick up Minister Coleman next time in Vancouver and dropping him off at Jenny Craig.”
Reimer apologized to Coleman for the remark.
WATCH: From 2009 —Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer regrets poke at minister’s weight
In her Facebook post, Reimer said she’s not sure what’s next for her.
But she also said the “trend in politics and public discourse toward iconoclasts is terrifying to me.”
“The fact that it is happening at a time when we most need to find a way to celebrate our differences and work together to deal with massive environmental catastrophe and social and economic inequities that crush our communities fills me with despair but also resolve,” Reimer said.
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