On Monday afternoon, following a brief press conference and rally on the front steps of city hall, over 100 members of the Chinatown community stood together to oppose Beedie’s latest proposal for 105 Keefer.
Community Activist Jade Ho speaking at a rally in front of City Hall on Monday October 20, 2025. Photo Credit: Alger Liang. Photo Source: Alger Liang.
Activist and organizer Jade Ho summarized the community’s goals for the day’s action:
“We want the Development Permit Board to do the right thing today by rejecting this insulting application. For more than a decade, this community, Chinese seniors, Indigenous elders, Downtown Eastside residents, youth, organizers, workers, and allies from all across the city have said no to these luxury condos that threaten our home, our culture, and our future.”
While not all of the 122 speakers registered to provide input at the Development Permit Board hearing were able to speak on Monday, speakers up to #81 shared their thoughts on Beedie’s proposal with near-unanimous opposition. Only two speakers tied to the development industry spoke in support of the new design, while community members ranging from their teens to their eighties spoke to Chinatown’s continued rejection of Beedie’s 105 Keefer, with the day’s hearing ending shortly after 8:00PM.
Chinatown community members gathered in the Joe Wai room at City Hall for the 105 Keefer (570 Columbia) Development Permit Board hearing on Monday October 20, 2025. Photo Credit: Alger Liang. Photo Source: Alger Liang.
Some highlights of the day include the speech by Sean Gunn, longtime Chinatown activist and founding member of the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop, who shared:
“We’re fighting for a Chinatown that takes care of its people. A Chinatown where low-income residents have homes, where seniors can live with dignity, and where youth can carry our culture forward.”
Retired lawyer Bing Ho urged the Development Permit Board to make a decision that would accord with the rule of law, one that gives the public confidence that justice is being administered in an impartial and transparent way:
“Attempts to pass off these obviously significant changes as “minor” are misleading and disingenuous attempts to hide the ball. The antithesis of transparency. Instead of trying to surreptitiously slip these changes past you and the public, the developer should have submitted a brand new application; their significantly changed application should have been declared dead on arrival.”
For those who spoke on Monday, Chinatown Today is compiling a repository of speeches as it did in 2017 and 2023. If you can, please share your speech with us by emailing info [at] chinatown.today with your speech and speaker number, as well as whether you would like to be anonymized.
The remaining 40+ speakers will have an opportunity to provide their input to the Development Permit Board, with the next session likely on November 17. Registered speakers who missed their call time on October 20 can return at the next session and speak at the end of the queue.
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