Frequently Asked Questions
Our Vision
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We believe in a bright future for False Creek. It can once again be safe for life and swimming. It can be the beating heart of Vancouver, at its most healthy and vibrant. It can become a place of climate healing, instead of climate crisis. Its position in the city and in the greater Salish Sea enables many lessons — for today and future generations — about climate change and life alongside the Pacific Ocean
We hope to see significant improvements to the water and sediment quality in False Creek, a vibrant return of its native biodiversity, and sensible, holistic management of its shores and waters.
We recommend an end to all anchoring in False Creek, to be replaced by a buoy field for transient moorage. This single intervention would prevent the continuous scouring of the seafloor, reintroducing less polluted sediments to the water column and allowing seagrass beds to return naturally over time.
It may eventually become appropriate to designate False Creek as a Marine Protected Area, a National Urban Marine Park, or an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area. However, at this time the function of the FCFS is to assemble the many communities of False Creek, and establish their shared values and needs. We believe that the most appropriate framework to protect and manage False Creek will emerge from that process.
Our ultimate goals are lofty, but each step we take will serve to strengthen the fabric of our community.
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False Creek from a geographic perspective is a “tidal slough” - a shallow bay that has a limited amount of fresh water flowing in. In times immemorial, this shallow, marshy area was an ideal incubator for marine life, and its original inhabitants were nourished by its clams, fish, seaweeds and other marine life. Its protected waters were ideal to land fishing canoes. It is reckoned that the first human inhabitants arrived at least 8,000 years ago.
Today, there is little to no food produced from its waters, and swimming is not permitted. But that can change, and over time False Creek can become a locus for public celebrations, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, and an effective response to promoting awareness of climate change and the vital importance of our oceans.
Although False Creek has changed drastically over the decades, it is still a rich ecosystem. We are just beginning to understand how many creatures call this place home today. A community bioblitz with the Hakai Institute identified over 500 different species, and counting! We want False Creek to be a place where collaborative learning and community science helps us to know, love, and grow the life in these waters.
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False Creek (as it is known today) is part of the unceded ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. False Creek Friends Society fully subscribes to the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and supports the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam Nations in pursuing development in keeping with their own needs and aspirations.
The illegal eviction and destruction of the Squamish village of Sen̓áḵw (at the head of False Creek) in 1913 is a dark stain on the history of Vancouver — and is just one example of the violent extirpation of Indigenous ways of life, and the despoiling of vast functional ecosystems.
New models for managing False Creek must include Indigenous co-governance, and may include exciting opportunities for cultural liaison and youth employment.
In the words of Musqueam Band Councillor Alec Guerin on the 2026 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Day (September 30) “These are tumultuous waters we find ourselves in today, and I think the best way forward is to acknowledge that we’re all in this canoe together — and to work to try to put our paddles in the water at the same time.”
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False Creek is well positioned as a highly visible demonstration project for socio-ecological transformation. In the 2024 Global Liveability Index, Vancouver is listed among the Top Ten, making it North America's most livable city. False Creek, as an “inland waterway”, is well-suited to become an international showcase for urban renewal. Protected from wave action, it is suitable for swimming (provided its waters are sufficiently cleansed) and appropriate for all other aquatic activities. Since industry has been mostly eliminated, there are no longer cargo ships moving in and out. And every day, almost 250,000 people see False Creek from its three bridges, walk or bike along its seawall, or cross underneath it on the Canada Line rapid transit system.
False Creek’s tremendous visibility and Vancouver’s international reputation for livability make it a natural candidate for the site of a radical re-imagination of the alignment of culture, economy, ecology, and public health.
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Governance
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Currently there are upwards of 21 government agencies that have statutory responsibilities for the 190 surface acres of False Creek’s marine waters. There is little coordination among them, except when there has been some environmental crisis (such as the oil spill of December, 2023). This fracturing of responsibilities makes future planning difficult if not impossible.
Governments have long been concerned about pollution in False Creek, going back to the Vancouver Planning Commission of 1929:
“It might be noted in passing that whereas there is considerable objection at the present time to the emptying of untreated sewage into False Creek, this will be removed by plans which have been made by the Vancouver and Districts Joint Sewerage and Drainage Board for an interceptor that will eliminate such discharge and prevent any possible contamination of the bathing beaches.”The City of Vancouver and Metro promised to make good on that promise by 2070 — a delay of only 141 years!
A single administrative agency is required to oversee the rehabilitation of False Creek. See this graphic or this suggested policy summary for more detail. -
Canadian legislation - especially Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution - recognizes and affirms the existing Aboriginal and treaty rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada. The Tripartite Framework Agreement on Nature Conservation is an agreement between the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC), the Canadian government and the British Columbian government. “The Framework Agreement will advance ecosystem health and biodiversity conservation through a cooperative approach that respects and integrates the rights and stewardship roles of First Nations”. Canadian organizations such as the Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership are establishing protocols to facilitate a range of co-governance agreements. And internationally, the UN’s Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) emphasizes the rights of Indigenous peoples to maintain and strengthen their own institutions, cultures and traditions, and to pursue their development in keeping with their own needs and aspirations.
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An Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) is a conservation effort where Indigenous Peoples lead the protection and management of lands and waters, often incorporating traditional knowledge and governance systems. IPCAs are characterized by Indigenous leadership, a long-term commitment to conservation, and the elevation of Indigenous rights and responsibilities. And yes, there are proposals for Urban IPCAs. False Creek may indeed become the first urban IPCA in Canada.
Community Engagement
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Environmental Impact
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Many people do not fully understand how much human survival depends on the health of our oceans. Starting from the fact that the world’s oceans produce half of all oxygen production, that our climate is almost entirely regulated by the oceans, and that nearly 20% of our food supply derives from marine sources. Our community science activities in False Creek provide intimate experiences with these realities. As more people are introduced to the urgency of protecting our oceans, the message is transmitted to governments that stewardship is everyone’s responsibility.
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Many organizations allied with False Creek Friends have been working on habitat restoration, conducting scientific investigations into the health of its marine ecosystem, and promoting public awareness. No one has put more effort into the cause than Celia Brauer (1952 - 2024), a brilliant and tireless environmentalist, artist, anthropologist, and the founder of Friends of False Creek (in 1995!).
Other organizations have followed Celia’s lead. Squamish Stream Keepers has been hard at work since 2000 engaged in Pacific Herring restoration, and has been remarkably successful with its installation of herring spawning panels in False Creek. Swim Drink Fish spent many years doing weekly water quality testing with volunteers in order to publish a Swim Guide. And in 2020, False Creek Friends began intense Community Science, including the proposal for a Bioblitz that was held in 2022 under the direction of Hakai Institute. Since then, FCF and Hakai have continued an investigation of the Dungeness Crab, a “sentinel species” that can reveal even the faintest signals of impending, potentially dangerous environmental changes.
But more still needs to be done. False Creek Friends is proposing to governments the necessity of conducting “benthic” studies, to determine what is on the bottom of False Creek - potentially hazardous materials left behind from over a hundred years of industrialization. A number of similar investigations require support by government agencies and academic institutions. How can the artificial shoreline - concrete and steel - be softened to promote the growth of oysters, mussels, seagrass, and kelp? Restoration projects are required, especially in the inevitability of Sea Level Rise and other sequelae to Climate Change!To keep updated on volunteer opportunities in False Creek, please subscribe to our Newsletter!
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False Creek Friends and its partner, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, are conducting a significant collaboration with the City of Vancouver, and Metro Vancouver: the first ever investigation of the impact of sewage contamination of False Creek.
In addition, Water Rangers is providing water testing kits and instructions on their use for community groups.
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Here is a partial list of restoration opportunities that are easily turned into community science activities, providing there are resources and volunteers available:
A) Create artificial reefs and substrates to promote growth of “filter feeders” - bivalves such as oysters and mussels that are natural water cleaners!
B) Create demonstration projects to enhance the shoreline, for example at Sutcliffe/Granville Island Parks;
C) Foster growth of eelgrass as directed by the SeaChange Society;
D) Daylight creeks feeding into False Creek, and improve Green Rainwater Infrastructure to decrease the frequency Combined Sewer Overflow events.
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Stabilizing Climate Change is, as we all know, a challenge with unknown outcomes. However dealing with sea level rise has a number of realizable possibilities. These were explored in Vancouver’s Sea2City Design Challenge. Launched in 2021, it sought a vision to guide urban development and ecological revitalization in False Creek and along the Fraser River Foreshore. Its recommendations require significant commitments from government agencies and civil society:
Review and update 2018 False Creek Coastal Adaptation Plan to include the new adaptation approach, Vision, principles, and to centre Host Nation knowledge
Create specific False Creek design strategies for flood adaptive waterfronts and buildings
Consider a Shoreline Resilience Land Use Zone or special planning area.
Coordinate planning with Broadway Plan around potential movement of density from False Creek as sea levels rise.
Continue targeted studies to improve system understanding around False Creek (and larger watershed) on hydrology, water quality and infrastructure
Develop a co-design and co-management process with the Host Nations to address management, maintenance, and monitoring considerations of pilot projects (forest berm, habitat bench) including when, who and how harvest may occur in these landscapes; balancing human impacts and presence with ecosystem function.
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No one knows, and perhaps the best we can do is to encourage governments to commit to a program of rehabilitation, backed up by community engagement through citizen science activities and political pressure. There are a number of serious issues:
The City of Vancouver and Metro Vancouver are dealing with the Combined Sewer Overflow issue - when interconnections between the storm sewers and domestic sewer lines cause human excrement to flow into neighbouring marine waters during intense atmospheric rivers - by separating the two systems. But disconnecting the two systems is expensive, and not expected to be completed until 2070, with a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. False Creek Friends is actively engaged with both the City of Vancouver and Metro Vancouver to address this issue.Sea Level Rise poses significant environmental and human livability / cost issues in False Creek. The unknown of course is whether the world can keep atmospheric temperatures low enough to prevent widespread flooding. And it is expected that the costs to “dyke” False Creek to keep it from flooding (especially during “King Tides”) will be enormous - both financially and environmentally expensive. Other options - such as simply “retreating” from the waters by moving communities to higher ground - would involve billions of dollars in lost property values.