Councillor rips plan to recast city's ties with war-torn Odesa

A councillor is taking issue with Vancouver's plan to notify sister city Odesa about the status of that relationship while war rages in Ukraine.

Council is due to meet this week to approve a new “friendship city” framework to replace existing sister-city relationships around the world, including the Ukrainian city.

A staff report recommends the city notify the five sister cities — Odesa, Yokohama, Edinburgh, Guangzhou and Los Angeles — that they have two years to apply as a friendship city instead.

Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung notes the sister-city review was

I can't fathom giving Odesa notice while Ukrainians are fighting for their country and lives.” Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung

started last September, while Russia invaded Ukraine in February — before the report was wrapped up last month.

“I can't fathom giving Odesa notice while Ukrainians are fighting for their country and lives, or not respecting legacy nature of current sister cities,” wrote Kirby-Yung on Twitter Sunday. “So I will put an amendment forward to strike.”

The pivot to friendship cities is aimed at making the relationships time-limited and “focused on achieving defined goals and objectives,” said the staff report.

It would include “a review of the status of current sister cities, and suggestions for updating the gendered language of the program.”

The report notes that, “given Vancouver's long-standing commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, it is a good time to update the term `sister city' to a more inclusive, gender-neutral name.”

The report notes Odesa was the first city with which Vancouver formed a sister-city relationship, and it was launched in 1944 during the Second World War.