Backlash against a new Harry Potter-themed attraction in Stanley Park has one Park Board commissioner looking into cancelling the contract.
“I have learned a great deal in the last five days about the linkage of the Harry Potter franchise with J.K. Rowling and I am very surprised at what I’ve learned and I was not aware of the reputational risk of bringing a Harry Potter-themed event to Vancouver at the time that I approved this in camera,” Tom Digby told Global News.
“Now I’m just speaking as one Park Board commissioner, one out of seven, that I do not speak on behalf of the Park Board. But, I can say, I myself was not aware of the reputational risk that this would bring.”
In recent years, Rowling has come under fire for her outspoken views on transgender rights. (In 2020, Rowling described transgender hormone therapy as a “new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people.”)
In April, the U.K. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law.
Rowling celebrated the ruling, posting on social media that “It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK.”
Digby said since the announcement of the event, Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience is coming to Vancouver this winter, he said they have had a “massive wave” of responses from people from all different communities.
He added that many have been “saying that the work that J.K. Rowling does is particularly disturbing for a specific segment of the community, particularly the gender diverse and particularly trans community.
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“It feels personally very attacked by actions that J.K. Rowling has taken.”
Digby confirmed that Rowling will receive royalties from every ticket sold for the event and that “direct connection” makes him question what they are doing bringing the event to Stanley Park.
Tickets for the event do not come cheap.
Regular price tickets for an adult are $84 and $68 for a child aged three to 12. A family bundle, which consists of two adults and two children, is $376.
There are cheaper time slots for those who are able to attend later in the evenings.
There are also deluxe tickets and bundles available, which include priority skip-the-line access at select interactives and exclusive deluxe merchandise.
Digby said they are now asking staff if there are any solutions going forward.
“We’ve always been very proud of our diverse gender communities here in Vancouver,” he said. “We double down on that. Maybe there are special things we can do to accommodate the issues raised by Harry Potter, but maybe we might just have to terminate the event. That might be the other solution.”
This event is set to replace Bright Nights at Stanley Park as the Park Board confirmed last week that the miniature train will not be able to run this holiday season.
“J.K. Rowling, not just to myself, but to I think the global trans community has been one of the most, if not the most influential person in the world at the removal of trans rights, particularly in the U.K., but what has been done in the U.K. has bled out to the rest of the world,” Ky Sargeant, vice chair of the board at QMUNITY, told Global News.
QMUNITY is a non-profit organization based in Vancouver that works to improve queer, trans, and Two-Spirit lives.
Sargeant said it is difficult for the trans community to understand the motives behind bringing a Harry Potter-themed event to the city.
“I think in the same way that we should choose to support local organizations, we should choose to support local properties,” she said.
“I think we are really going through a period globally where it’s important to look for things that are local to us, talent that is local too, shows that are local too, right? Fundraisers that are local to city services that we personally know that are important for our communities.”
Sargeant said she would personally like to see the event cancelled but she understands the conflict.
“I know for a lot of people, Harry Potter is a very beloved franchise, and for myself included, it’s really got a lot of our childhoods wrapped up in it, and I know that’s why this can be such a difficult conversation for a lot of people,” she said.
“But I think that so much of, you know, really maturing and understanding where you can’t separate the art from the artist, when, in the case of this artist, is someone who is very politically active in things that I think go against our values as a community here in Vancouver and in Canada.
“That’s the question that we need to be asking ourselves, not whether it’s just this thing for kids or not, but like, is this really with our values as citizens in this city?”
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