Tamiko Suzuki on Facebook 
My work in health care grounded me in science and public service. I’ve also organized environmental and social justice events. Parks and rec facilities are not luxuries—they’re essential to our physical and mental health and to building resilient communities.
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Tamiko Suzuki
Businesses & Jobs
Artificial Intelligence & Data Centres
Tamiko Suzuki's promise
I am against AI and Data centres and will fight to prevent them from being built in the city.
AI Data centres use large amounts of power. This will end up causing higher hydro bills to ratepayers and take electricity that should go towards heat pumps and getting households and offices off of fossil fuel dependancy.
The AI Data Centres also use incredible amounts of water. We have just gone through a drought season with water restrictions. Why does an AI centre get to flout the rules?
Finally the sound as well as low level vibrations produced by the cooling fans, air chillers, and electrical transformers travel well beyond the property line. Why are we putting noise producers in quiet neighbourhoods like Mount Pleasant or downtown where they are surrounded by high rises?
Climate Change, Heat, Fires, & the Environment
Artificial Intelligence & Data Centres
Tamiko Suzuki's promise
I am against AI and Data centres and will fight to prevent them from being built in the city.
AI Data centres use large amounts of power. This will end up causing higher hydro bills to ratepayers and take electricity that should go towards heat pumps and getting households and offices off of fossil fuel dependancy.
The AI Data Centres also use incredible amounts of water. We have just gone through a drought season with water restrictions. Why does an AI centre get to flout the rules?
Finally the sound as well as low level vibrations produced by the cooling fans, air chillers, and electrical transformers travel well beyond the property line. Why are we putting noise producers in quiet neighbourhoods like Mount Pleasant or downtown where they are surrounded by high rises?
Green Space
Tamiko Suzuki's promises
I promise to push to increase the number of public green spaces we have in Vancouver.
I promise to push to increase the number of public green spaces.
Public green spaces, whether community gardens, areas of native plants, rainwater catchment areas, uncovered streams, and green corridors all help increase biodiversity in the city, mitigate the effects of Climate Change, and provide a respite to citizens in an increasingly urban habitat.
Urban Heat
Tamiko Suzuki's promises
We need to increase the tree canopy especially in chronically ignored areas such as the Downtown East side and parts of south and east Vancouver.
Increasing tree canopy (not just the # of trees) produces cooling shade during heat domes. Trees also filter the air in times of forest fire smoke. We need to plant native trees that help with biodiversity and that are able to withstand atmospheric rivers in the winter and drought in the summer.
I promise to push for increasing the tree canopy to 30% in all parts of Vancouver
Local Government, Planning, & Democracy
Artificial Intelligence & Data Centres
Tamiko Suzuki's promise
I am against AI and Data centres and will fight to prevent them from being built in the city.
AI Data centres use large amounts of power. This will end up causing higher hydro bills to ratepayers and take electricity that should go towards heat pumps and getting households and offices off of fossil fuel dependancy.
The AI Data Centres also use incredible amounts of water. We have just gone through a drought season with water restrictions. Why does an AI centre get to flout the rules?
Finally the sound as well as low level vibrations produced by the cooling fans, air chillers, and electrical transformers travel well beyond the property line. Why are we putting noise producers in quiet neighbourhoods like Mount Pleasant or downtown where they are surrounded by high rises?
Public Spaces & Services
Green Space
Tamiko Suzuki's promises
I promise to push to increase the number of public green spaces we have in Vancouver.
I promise to push to increase the number of public green spaces.
Public green spaces, whether community gardens, areas of native plants, rainwater catchment areas, uncovered streams, and green corridors all help increase biodiversity in the city, mitigate the effects of Climate Change, and provide a respite to citizens in an increasingly urban habitat.
Biography
submitted by the candidate or their team
For more than 30 years I worked at BC Children's Hospital in Cytogenetics and Pathology, in a career grounded in science and public service. I was also raising two children and we were always appreciative of the sports fields, pools, arenas, and community centres that we used heavily. I am heart broken at the current state of our recreation facilities which have been neglected for years and are crumbling before our eyes. It is why I agreed to run for Park Board this year.
Outside of work and family life, I organized fundraisers, educational events, and campaigns supporting Indigenous land defenders, environmental organizations, and social justice initiatives.
My parents and grandparents were born in Vancouver before being forcibly uprooted and interned during WWII.. Their history reminds me that justice, human rights, and environmental protection are all connected. We cannot separate the health of our communities from the health of the environment.
It reminds me of standing arm in arm with Indigenous matriarchs and young climate activists on Burnaby Mountain protesting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. We were arrested together because we believed some things are worth standing up for. Fighting for the future has become even more personal as I now have a baby grandchild, so have even more skin in the game.
Recently, I became a certified Forest Therapy guide because I've seen how spending time in nature profoundly improves our sense of well-being and it is my hope that the more time we spend out there, the more we will want to protect it.
Like COPE, I believe our city belongs to the people who live here—not to corporations and those seeking to profit from the sale of public land.
Our parks, beaches, community centres, and rec facilities are not luxuries–we need them both for our physical and mental health, to combat the loneliness epidemic by creating a sense of community, and to help protect us as climate change transforms our city.
