Departed Indigenous relations director questions Vancouver's commitment to reconciliation

Vancouver’s former senior director of Indigenous relations, who recently quit her job at the city after three years, says she questions the depth of the municipal government’s commitment to reconciliation with First Nations people.

Michelle Bryant-Gravelle led the city’s efforts on reconciliation from 2022 until her resignation last month. In an interview, Bryant-Gravelle told Postmedia she is proud of the work she and her team did, but her decision to leave was related to concerns about the alignment of values and integrity.

“When the words spoken at the political level don’t align with that deeply transformational work that they mandated us to do, it becomes very difficult to lead with integrity, knowing that the words spoken behind closed doors are not the words that are being shared with the nations,” Bryant-Gravelle said.

Bryant-Gravelle believes many city staff, including her team of four people, have been doing great work, and she had good relationships with some senior staffers at city hall. However, she said, she did not feel as though her work was valued by all senior managers and political leaders.

One thing that significantly contributed to her decision was a leaked memo from the office of Mayor Ken Sim outlining a plan for rejuvenating the Downtown Eastside, which included, among other things, the idea of helping Indigenous residents move from the neighbourhood to their home Nations. That memo first became public in a February story by Globe and Mail reporter Frances Bula, and Bryant-Gravelle said she was so upset she “almost quit the very next day.”

“You’re sending a signal that Indigenous people are not important, and we need to send them home. That was the first kind of hit, like what am I even doing here?” Bryant-Gravelle said.

After learning about that plan, Bryant-Gravelle tried to discuss her concerns with senior city management and mayor’s office staff, who she said tried to explain it away with “surface-level appeasements.”

Beyond that, Bryant-Gravelle declined to discuss specific examples or details of situations that led to her decision.

“I’m not looking to burn bridges at the City of Vancouver. But my experience at the city really reflects how Indigenous leaders are positioned inside those colonial institutions,” she said. “It’s more than one thing, is what I will say, and it happened over time.”

“Working with Indigenous people is not just attending a ceremony and being a witness, and then not doing the work,” Bryant-Gravelle said. “It requires you to do the deep work to make transformative change that is true reconciliation, because reconciliation is not about one party. It’s about both parties figuring out the way to move forward together in a good way.”

As part of its efforts to reduce the municipal workforce and budget, the city offered non-unionized staff the opportunity to leave their roles voluntarily. Bryant-Gravelle applied for that separation program and was approved.

Bryant-Gravelle worked on the city’s renaming of the west-side road formerly known as Trutch Street. Council had directed city staff to rename the street, named for B.C.’s first lieutenant-governor Joseph Trutch, as a way to acknowledge the harmful legacy of the colonial politician’s racist views and policies. As of June 2025, the street is legally known as šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm Street, a name given to the city by the Musqueam First Nation in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, and also by the English translation Musqueamview Street.

Bryant-Gravelle helped create Vancouver’s United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples plan. Described as the first of its kind for a Canadian municipal government, this plan outlines the city’s responsibilities in upholding the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and includes recommendations for advancing reconciliation with the local First Nations and urban Indigenous Peoples. Vancouver’s current city council approved the UNDRIP plan in June 2024.

In an emailed statement, a City of Vancouver spokesperson said: “The city is committed to advancing the work of UNDRIP and our work to implement the city’s UNDRIP action plan continues.”

“The city wishes Michelle well in what is next and thanks her for her contributions and commitment to advancing the city’s work in Indigenous relations,” it said.

Bryant-Gravelle’s former position will continue to exist at the city. Vancouver’s former assistant director of Indigenous relations, Lindsay Grant, has stepped into the senior director role on an interim basis, while the city recruits a permanent replacement.

The mayor’s office declined to respond to Bryant-Gravelle’s statements about the city’s commitment to reconciliation, saying it does not comment on matters related to human resources.

dfumano@postmedia.com

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