High school students from Japan use umbrellas to shield themselves from the rain while stopping to view the totem poles at Stanley Park, in Vancouver, on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

By The Canadian Press

Stanley Park’s stagnant Lost Lagoon closer to being reconnected to ocean

Mar 11, 2026 | 12:50 PM

VANCOUVER — Vancouver Board of Parks says Lost Lagoon at the entrance to the city’s famed Stanley Park has become a swamp of green algae and stagnant water but a plan is moving forward to reconnect the lagoon to the ocean after more than a century of being marooned.

Board members endorsed exploratory work in a motion on Tuesday that would reconnect the lagoon to Coal Harbour and Second Beach to improve its ecological health.

After a century of infilling, the board says the lagoon has experienced a growing bloom of algae and worsening water quality that is harming its aquatic and plant life.

It was cut off from the Burrard Inlet in 1916 when the Stanley Park Causeway was created for what has become Highway 99, but now the lagoon is less that a metre deep.

Tom Digby, the board’s chair, says algae blooms and fish die-offs have become a regular occurrence and it’s important to explore long-term solutions to restore the area’s ecological health.

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The board says a redesigned lagoon would restore the tidal habitat, but it’s not currently funded and the estimated cost of the project is $30 million.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Mar. 11, 2026.

The Canadian Press