Sean Orr

Sean Orr
Vancouver City Councillor
Incumbent
Assumed office April 15, 2025
Personal details
Born	(1978-05-18) May 18, 1978 (age 47) Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Political party	COPE
Other political affiliations	VOTE Socialist (2022) BC Greens (2005)
Residence(s)	Vancouver, British Columbia
Alma mater	Simon Fraser University
Occupation	Politician writer

Sean Orr (born (1978-05-18)May 18, 1978) ^[1] is a Canadian politician and writer in Vancouver, British Columbia. ^[2] In 2025, he was elected to represent the left-wing Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) on Vancouver City Council. During the 2025 Vancouver City Council by-election, Orr garnered 50.7 percent of the vote, becoming one of two councillors elected. ^{[3] [4]}

Biography

Orr was born in Surrey to Northern Irish immigrant parents and raised in the Metro Vancouver area. He credits his family for his involvement in politics from a young age. ^[5]

He studied geography at the University of British Columbia before dropping out in his third year ^[6] and soon began writing letters to the editor and blogging. This led to Orr writing for Toronto-based Beyond Robson's Morning Brew column in the mid-2000s, through which he gained popularity. ^{[7] [8]}

Sean has undertaken many art projects. In 2009, he self-published a photography book called "Pretty Drifted," encapsulating snapshots of urban Vancouver. ^[9] Sean has been a musician in multiple bands such as Taxes, Kidnapping, producing music via the project Tassels, and most recently as front man for the hardcore-punk band NEEDS, since 2012. ^{[10] [11]}

Since 2011, Sean has been a writer for Vancouver-based Scout Magazine. His column Tea and Two Slices showcases Orr's outspoken leftist political commentary and has provided a digital outlet for his advocacy and activism. ^{[12] [13] [14]}

Orr graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts in geography and political science in 2025. ^[15]

Vancouver City Council

Orr first ran as a candidate for Vancouver City Council in the newly formed municipal party VOTE Socialist during the 2022 Vancouver municipal election. ^[16] Orr received 13,744 votes in the election. Orr previously ran as a Green Party of British Columbia candidate in Surrey-Tynehead in the 2005 British Columbia general election. ^[17]

Ahead of the 2025 Vancouver City Council by-election, the VOTE Socialist party officially deregistered as an electoral party in support of Sean Orr's candidacy with COPE. ^[18] His campaign focused on homelessness, rent control, the Downtown Eastside, and climate change.

Since being elected as a councillor, Orr's past social media posts have come under scrutiny. ^{[19] [2]}

Electoral record

v t e Vancouver municipal by-election, April 5, 2025 : City Council Resignation of Christine Boyle and Adriane Carr
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Elected
	COPE	Sean Orr	34,448	50.69	Y
	OneCity	Lucy Maloney	33,732	49.63	Y
	TEAM for a Livable Vancouver	Colleen Hardwick	17,352	25.53
	Green	Annette Reilly	15,045	22.14
	TEAM for a Livable Vancouver	Theodore Abbott	11,581	17.04
	ABC Vancouver	Jaime Stein	9,267	13.64
	ABC Vancouver	Ralph Kaisers	8,915	13.12
	Independent	Jeanifer Decena	652	0.96
	Independent	Guy Dubé	459	0.68
	Independent	Karin Litzcke	433	0.64
	Independent	Rollergirl	404	0.59
	Independent	Charles Ling	352	0.52
	Independent	Gerry McGuire	276	0.41
Total number of voters			67,962	100.00
Rejected ballots			0	0.00
Turnout			67,962	15.09
Eligible voters			450,503	–
Percentage of votes shown is percentage of voters who voted, not votes cast.
Source: City of Vancouver [20] [21]

v t e 2022 Vancouver municipal election : City Council
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Elected
	ABC Vancouver	Sarah Kirby-Yung (X)	72,545	42.30	Y
	ABC Vancouver	Lisa Dominato (X)	70,415	41.05	Y
	ABC Vancouver	Brian Montague	68,618	40.01	Y
	ABC Vancouver	Mike Klassen	65,586	38.24	Y
	ABC Vancouver	Peter Meiszner	63,275	36.90	Y
	ABC Vancouver	Rebecca Bligh (X)	62,765	36.60	Y
	ABC Vancouver	Lenny Zhou	62,393	36.39	Y
	Green	Adriane Carr (X)	41,831	24.39	Y
	OneCity	Christine Boyle (X)	38,465	22.43	Y
	Green	Pete Fry (X)	37,270	21.73	Y
	Forward Together	Dulcy Anderson	33,985	19.82
	OneCity	Iona Bonamis	33,745	19.68
	Forward Together	Tesicca Truong	32,900	19.18
	COPE	Jean Swanson (X)	32,833	19.15
	Green	Michael Wiebe (X)	30,377	17.71
	OneCity	Ian Cromwell	29,833	17.40
	OneCity	Matthew Norris	29,663	17.30
	Forward Together	Alvin Singh	29,049	16.94
	NPA	Melissa De Genova (X)	26,578	15.50
	COPE	Breen Ouellette	24,881	14.51
	Forward Together	Jeanette Ashe	22,432	13.08
	Forward Together	Russil Wvong	22,107	12.89
	Green	Devyani Singh	21,255	12.39
	TEAM for a Livable Vancouver	Cleta Brown	20,854	12.16
	Green	Stephanie Smith	20,408	11.90
	Forward Together	Hilary Brown	19,902	11.61
	COPE	Nancy Trigueros	19,152	11.17
	TEAM for a Livable Vancouver	Sean Nardi	18,353	10.70
	TEAM for a Livable Vancouver	Grace Quan	17,955	10.47
	COPE	Tanya Webking	17,675	10.31
	TEAM for a Livable Vancouver	Bill Tieleman	17,240	10.05
	TEAM for a Livable Vancouver	Stephen Roberts	16,261	9.48
	Vision	Stuart Mackinnon	15,865	9.25
	NPA	Morning Lee	14,083	8.21
	TEAM for a Livable Vancouver	Param Nijjar	13,950	8.13
	VOTE Socialist	Sean Orr	13,744	8.01
	Progress Vancouver	Asha Hayer	13,107	7.64
	NPA	Ken Charko	12,083	7.47
	Vision	Lesli Boldt	11,070	6.46
	NPA	Elaine Allan	10,917	6.37
	Affordable Housing Coalition	Eric Redmond	10,617	6.19
	NPA	Arezo Zarrabian	10,361	6.04
	Progress Vancouver	Marie Noelle Rosa	10,111	5.90
	Progress Vancouver	Morgane Oger	10,015	5.84
	Progress Vancouver	David Chin	9,354	5.45
	Progress Vancouver	May He	8,593	5.01
	NPA	Cinnamon Bhayani	8,586	5.01
	Independent	Lina Vargas	7,714	4.50
	Vision	Honieh Barzegari	6,831	3.98
	Progress Vancouver	Mauro Francis	6,556	3.82
	Independent	Mark Bowen	5,706	3.33
	Independent	Dominic Denofrio	4,927	2.87
	Independent	Amy "Evil Genius" Fox	3,711	2.16
	Independent	Jeremy MacKenzie	3,446	2.01
	Independent	Kyra Philbert	3,382	1.97
	Independent	Tim Lý	3,339	1.95
	Independent	Marlo Franson	2,866	1.67
	Independent	Amie Peacock	2,745	1.60
	Independent	K. R. Alm	2,301	1.34
"(X)" indicates incumbent city councillor. Percentage of votes shown is percentage of voters who voted, not votes cast.
"2022 Election results - list view". results.vancouver.ca. City of Vancouver. Retrieved June 8, 2025.

v t e 2005 British Columbia general election : Surrey-Tynehead
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Dave Hayer	12,052	51.37	-9.58
	New Democratic	Barry Bell	9,469	40.36	+24.64
	Green	Sean Orr	1,095	4.67%	-4.67
	Marijuana	Donald Joseph Briere	243	1.04	-0.28
	Independent	Summer Davis	380	1.62	–
	Independent	Gary Alan Hoffman	223	0.95	–
Total valid votes			23,462	100.00%	–
	Liberal hold		Swing		–17.11

References

1. Orr, Sean (April 20, 2010). "Sean Orr: Obscure Bands Played My Friend's Secret Loft Party..." Scout Magazine. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
2. Ali, Amir. "New Vancouver councillor caught in storm over past remarks | News". Daily Hive. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
3. Weichel, Andrew (April 6, 2025). "2 new councillors elected in chaotic Vancouver byelection". CTV News . Retrieved April 8, 2025.
4. McElroy, Justin (April 6, 2025). "Vancouver's byelection a story of big lines, big passion, and ABC coping with a big loss". CBC News. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
5. Lewis, Nate (February 12, 2025). "COPE council candidate Sean Orr opens up about advocacy, pragmatism, and the intimidation of city hall". Vancity Lookout.
6. Kronbauer, Bob (April 29, 2009). "PRETTY DRIFTED – PHOTOS BY SEAN ORR". Vancouver Is Awesome. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
7. "Sean Orr". Scout Magazine. October 16, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
8. "Beyond Robson's Sean Orr Emerges from the Blogosphere". The Tyee. January 27, 2006.
9. Marigomen, Jennilee (May 6, 2009). "The Proof – Sean Orr". Vancouver Is Awesome. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
10. Bollwitt, Rebecca (October 14, 2007). "Vancouver Blogger Profile: Sean Orr". Miss604. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
11. Hudson, Alex (April 7, 2025). "Vancouver Just Elected a Hardcore Punk Vocalist to City Council". Exclaim!. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
12. Carrigg, David (April 8, 2025). "Jewish groups condemn statements from new Vancouver councillor Sean Orr". Vancouver Sun. MSN.com. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
13. "20 years after Woodsquat, the protest that began at an old Vancouver department store continues to resonate" . Retrieved April 22, 2025.
14. Kulkarni, Akshay (October 5, 2022). "Vancouver Police Union breaks with tradition and endorses ABC Vancouver for municipal election". CBC. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
15. "SFU Geography Alumni Sean Orr wins Vancouver council seat in byelection". Simon Fraser University . April 29, 2025. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
16. Dan Fumano, "Firefighters' union endorses Stewart, 8 incumbent councillors for re-election". The Province , October 11, 2022.
17. Elaine O'Connor, "What's at stake in the rest of the Lower Mainland's ridings". The Province , May 15, 2005.
18. Mooney, Harrison. "Sean Orr Is Fired Up to Grill Ken Sim". The Tyee . Retrieved April 22, 2025.
19. "Newly-elected Vancouver councillor under fire for online posts critical of police – BC | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
20. "2025 by-election official results". City of Vancouver . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
21. "Declaration of 2025 Official By-election Results" (PDF). City of Vancouver. April 9, 2025. Retrieved April 9, 2025.