The City of Burnaby would do better to form relationships with nearby cities instead of travelling to Asia and Arizona, according to a former city councillor.
Lee Rankin served on council from 1983 to 1999 and from 2002 to 2008, and said he went on the first junket to Burnaby's sister city Mesa, Ariz. in 2001.
"I didn't think it was a fruitful trip," he said. "The political culture in Arizona is starkly different than here."
He also went to Kushiro, Japan in 1985 with a large delegation including city staff, business people and community members.
But neither trip yielded solid benefits for the Burnaby community, Rankin said.
Unless the visits are tied to economic, cultural or educational benefits for Burnaby, they aren't worth it, he added.
"I don't know why Mesa was chosen," he said. "Obviously a lot of Canadians like to sun tan and holiday in the Phoenix area because of the golf courses and the warm weather."
Looking at cities that are more easily accessible for Burnaby residents and business people would be better, Rankin suggested.
"It would probably be more useful for Burnaby to develop a relationship with Bellingham, for example," he said. "One that has a forestry and fisheries type culture, that's close so that schools kids, citizens, business people can actually be involved in it.
"But the tendency of course is to pick sister cities in exotic locations," he added.
The sister cities advisory board for the City of Bellingham, Wash., did not respond to requests for an interview regarding a possible sister cities relationship with Burnaby.
However, the sister cities coordinator for the City of Tacoma, Debbie Bingham, said a relationship with a Canadian city such as Burnaby might be possible, so long as it was backed by citizens of Tacoma.
"I have heard people talk about the fact that a Canadian sister city would be a great idea," she wrote in an email, "but we'd need to get a group of interested people involved and some common interest or theme between the two cities."
Sister cities are suggested by citizens in Tacoma, Wash., Bingham explained in a followup phone interview, so the relationship would have to be put forward by residents there.
"It starts with, someone will call me and say they're interested," she said, adding there is then an application process, and the sister city has to be approved by Tacoma's nonprofit Sister City Council, which is comprised of members of Tacoma's individual sister cities committees.
Each sister city relationship has its own committee, run by volunteers.
"It's all kind of citizen-driven," she said. "My position is to liaise from the city side with them."
The sister city committee putting forward the application has to include a work plan that indicates the benefits, and how the relationship will be maintained, she added.
"They have to really show it's going to have some staying power," Bingham said. "We don't want to have sister city relationships that aren't active."
Committee members include teachers, who are interested in foreign exchange opportunities; small business people and residents, she added.
The process of approving a sister city, from the first recommendation to final approval by Tacoma's city council, is about six months to a year, according to Bingham.
Sister city applicants need to share some commonality with Tacoma to warrant a relationship, she said.
Tacoma recently began a new sister city relationship with Biot, France, primarily because both cities have a distinct glass-blowing community and glass museum, she said.
Most of the city's other relationships are based on similarities such as being a port city; about the same size relative to its country as Tacoma is to the U.S.; and having similar interests, she added.
Sister Cities International, a nonprofit diplomacy network in the United States, has been suggesting more American cities should have Canadian sister cities, Bingham said.
While the City of Burnaby is not currently looking at forming any new sister city relationships, starting one closer to home is something Mayor Derek Corrigan would consider.
"It's a good idea," he said.
The city has helped smaller municipalities within British Columbia with specific projects, and has shared information and expertise, Corrigan added.
He mentioned helping Bella Bella develop its recycling program as one example.
But a sister city relationship would need to be on equal footing, with a city similar to Burnaby, he said.
"It's about an exchange," he said, "having equal partners that can give each other information and advice, so we look for similarities between our cities."
Tacoma is the third largest city in Washington, much as Burnaby is the third largest city in B.C.
