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City of North Van bans new streetlevel currency exchanges
nsnews.com/newsletter
LEST WE FORGET
BRENT RICHTER
brichter@nsnews.com
The City of North Vancouver has banned any new currency exchanges from opening up in street-level storefronts.
Under the bylaw passed by a divided council Nov. 4, the 28 existing money service businesses (or MSBs) will be allowed to stay where they are, but new ones will be required to move into commercial spaces off the ground level or seek a rezoning. Currency exchanges exist largely to provide financial services to the North Shore’s large Iranian Canadian community, who cannot use traditional banks to send or receive money from family or businesses in Iran due to government sanctions against the Islamic Republic. But the city has been facing calls to rein in the rapidly growing MSB sector, which some on council say is taking up too much prime retail space without providing the street animation and vibrancy the city wants. District of West Vancouver council passed its own limits on currency exchanges and other businesses earlier this year. Council’s vote followed a public hearing at which some existing currency exchange operators spoke against the ban, even though it would give them a competitive edge. Continued on A36
HONOUR OUR VETERANS səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) veterans Mike Wilson, Celina Dorame and Dennis Owens are honoured during an Indigenous Veterans Day ceremony at Whey-ah-Wichen/Cates Park on Nov. 8. Visit nsnews.com to see more from the Nov. 8 ceremony as well as the Nov. 11 Remembrance Day ceremony at the Victoria Park cenotaph in North Vancouver. PAUL MCGRATH / NSN