Ban Commercial Advertising on Vancouver Waterways

In March, 2016, a 12-metre wide, floating, electronic billboard mounted on a boat began operating on Vancouver's urban waterways.

The company in question plans to operate the floating billboard from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, boasting "We take the beautiful waterways, the stunning skyline of Vancouver, and make it the perfect platform for you to grasp your audience's attention." (statement from Burke Billboards website).

Transport Canada has recently "detained" the vessel, pending clarification of its registration and certification as a commercial vessel. If the registration and certification are allowed to go through, it will set a precedent for the monetization of Vancouver's waterways, visually disturb views and public space and create a potentially hazardous distraction to other sea craft as well as to cyclists, pedestrians and motorists who use shoreline routes.

City of Vancouver staff are unclear as to the City's authority to act with respect to its waterways as navigation and shipping in False Creek and English Bay fall under Federal jurisdiction.

Our goal is to send a clear message to Transport Canada and the City of Vancouver:
We request Transport Canada and the City of Vancouver to ban billboard advertising on and around the City of Vancouver's waterways and shoreline environments.

Please consider signing and sharing this petition in order to halt this offensive commercial exploitation of Vancouver's beautiful public waterways.

UPDATE: April 2016: Transport Canada has released the vessel and it is currently operating in False Creek and English Bay. It has been reconfigured on a barge and is pulled by a boat. It operates from sunrise to sunset, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We continue to collect signatures in order to have the license recinded and believe, with enough support, we can stop this vessel and others like it. Please consider signing and sharing.

UPDATE: April 28, 2016
On April 11, we submitted the first petition numbers, (159 at that point), to the City and Transport Canada and let them know we were continuing to collect signatures.

Since then, the City has announced recommendations for a floating signage bylaw review, coming up on May 3.

In the meantime, while continuing to collect signatures, we are updating both offices with our latest numbers (248 signatures today on both this online petition and our paper petitions) and will commend the City for the bylaw recommendations. Let's hope the bylaw passes!

UPDATE: May 4, 2016
On May 2, in advance of the City's vote on the signage bylaw proposal, we submitted a PDF of this online petition and a paper petition, 353 signatures. We rec'd a memo from the City saying that they forwarded the email to several departments. On May 3, we received an email from one of the City Councillors, telling us that the vote had passed and the bylaw had been accepted pending a public hearing. We were told that our petition would be presented at the public hearing. So, we wait and see...

Thank you!