Snow seems to bring out the worst in Vancouver, with stalled buses, spun out cars, and a city paralyzed by a few centimetres blanketing the ground.
It’s a phenomenon historian Blake Butler calls “the evergreen mentality,” or Vancouver’s lack of preparedness and denial of annual snowfall events.
“It’s the idea that Vancouver is a place devoid of snow, when in fact it’s part of the coast’s climate, albeit not as much as the rest of Canada,” he said.
Butler, a historical researcher with Know History in Ottawa, dove into Vancouver’s history to understand its relationship with snow for his 2023 PhD dissertation.
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Since its incorporation, Vancouver has been thought