Project Description

www.squirrelformayor.com

Squirrel for Mayor is a research-creation project that combines arts-based methodologies and community engagement to examine growing concerns about urban forest and tree health, and the role of public participation in effective urban forest governance.

The performative and arts-based dimension of Squirrel for Mayor draws inspiration from Vancouver artist Vincent Trasov, who assumed the persona of the well-known Planters logo character Mr. Peanut as the framework for an ongoing performance art project.

In 1974, Trasov—along with fellow artist John Mitchell—registered Mr. Peanut as an official candidate in the Vancouver mayoral election. As part of the campaign, Mr. Peanut attended debates and civic meetings, interacted with the public, and gave press interviews. The campaign blended satire and civic critique, ultimately receiving 2,685 votes (3.4% of the total vote), while incumbent Art Phillips won the election.

Similarly, the environmental accountability efforts that inspired Mr. Floatie demonstrate how satire can influence infrastructure and policy. Mr. Floatie was a highly strategic protest mascot created to draw attention to the dumping of approximately 35 million gallons of raw sewage per day into the waters off Greater Victoria.

Created on April Fool’s Day in 2004 by elementary school teacher James Skwarok, Mr. Floatie emerged through the spoof organization People Opposed to Outfall Pollution (POOP). While humorous in form, the campaign addressed serious concerns about marine pollution, public health, and governmental delay in wastewater treatment infrastructure.

The sustained public attention contributed to political momentum. The Capital Regional District Board eventually approved the construction of a tertiary sewage treatment facility at McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt, which was completed in 2020.

Through these precedents, Squirrel for Mayor positions satire as a civic tool—using humour, anthropomorphism, and performative politics to bring ecological governance issues into public consciousness.

Events

The inaugural event attended by Squirrel for Mayor was at “A Rally to Save the Centennial Sequoia,” planned by “Friends of Centennial Square,” a group of residents from the City of Victoria. The rally was aimed at protesting the City Council’s decision to remove a mature sequoia tree to facilitate a redesign of the square. Over time, the Sequoia tree has come to symbolize more than merely the act of cutting down a single tree; it now serves as a reflection of insufficient transparency and, arguably, indicators of moral hazard, within municipal governance.

The next event attended by Squirrel for Mayor was at the Victoria Airport for the Remote Sensing: Garry Oak Species Detection Project with the Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society (GOMPS) and Terra Remote Sensing to launch a Bell 206B3 Jet Ranger, equipped with a Phase One IXM-100 camera for aerial data acquisition to perform Garry oak species detection in developing a new approach to mapping Garry oak species presence using LiDAR and geoAI. By conducting species-specific detection analysis to form a species composition baseline, the project can enable future analysis opportunities that are Garry oak-specific. LiDAR was flown over the City of Victoria and the District of Saanich’s urban containment boundary. The goal of the project is to provide data to interested parties (e.g., environmental non-profits, researchers, community scientists, municipal staff, etc.), providing them with a new high bar in remote sensing data quality to innovate on the analysis front.

Urban Forest Governance

British Columbia currently lacks legislation to safeguard urban forests, a concern that has become increasingly pressing in 2025. Many municipalities, including the City of Victoria, are facing new provincial regulations (Bills 44, 46, 47 of 2023, Bill 18 of 2024, and Bills 13, 14, 15 of 2025) that impose restrictions on public hearings regarding rezonings. These measures effectively diminish public oversight and delegate decision-making authority to municipal staff, often to a single individual. For instance, Bill 44 alters the local government land use planning framework, thereby reducing or eliminating public hearings that previously facilitated greater tree retention through community input. In addition, tree protection bylaws are rendered moot in the example of falling within the municipal building envelopes. Concurrently, numerous municipalities lack the capacity for environmental monitoring, including essential mapping and inventories of at-risk areas.

Trees and other vegetation play a crucial role in absorbing rainwater and stormwater, thereby mitigating flooding and property damage associated with climate change-related precipitation events. A robust, mature tree canopy offers vital shade, while saplings planted to replace these mature trees require decades to reach similar dimensions. To effectively protect the urban tree canopy, factors such as root space, soil volume, and setbacks must be carefully considered during development proposals.

Notably, up to 75% of the urban forest exists on private land. Recent updates to municipal and provincial land use regulations have significantly stimulated community engagement in urban forestry, leading to heightened awareness among citizens regarding local governance and the management of urban forests.

Resources

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery Archives. “Mr. Peanut Campaign for Mayor, 1974,” exhibition page, University of British Columbia. https://belkin.ubc.ca/exhibitions/mr-peanut-campaign-for-mayor-1974/

Wil Aballe Art Projects, “Vincent Trasov: The 40th Anniversary of Mr. Peanut’s Mayoral Campaign,” https://www.waapart.com/portfolio/vincent-trasov-the-40th-anniversary-of-mr-peanuts-mayoral-campaign/

Global News / Canadian Press
https://www.globalnews.ca/news/3429492/sewage-success-means-mr-floatie-can-be-flushed/

Tom Banse, Northwest News Network
https://www.nwnewsnetwork.org/international-affairs/2017-05-05/mr-floatie-to-retire-as-victoria-gets-off-the-pot-on-sewage-treatment