J.K. Rowling mocks Vancouver park board after its apology over Harry Potter event
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
VANCOUVER – Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling says being disavowed by the Vancouver Board of Parks wasn’t “much of a blow” after its commissioners unanimously voted to apologize for a Harry Potter event opening in Stanley Park next month.
Rowling posted a screenshot on social media of board commissioner Tom Digby’s statement about how it had disavowed the author for her views on transgender issues.
The British author says she was unaware that the board had “avowed” her and posted that she would accept a “certificate of avowal” that she would frame hang over her computer and take a selfie with it.
The park board on Tuesday voted unanimously to apologize for the Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience event set to open on Nov. 7 in Stanley Park, after hearing from members of Vancouver’s 2SLGBTQ+ Advisory Committee.
Digby says the motion was to apologize for the harm caused to transgender people for hosting the event and to publicly disavow Rowling’s political activity against their community.
He brought the motion to the board, saying it was a concrete step to show where the board stands about “the lives and rights of transgender, gender diverse and two-spirit people in Vancouver.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2025.