WHO WE ARE
Founded by Vancouver local Alasdair Butcher and now run in partnership with Pete Edwards, Vancouver Detours offers expert-led walking tours that connect street-level experience with deeper social, historical, and urban context.
Through neighbourhood explorations and topics including social history, urban planning, and street art, we help people understand how Vancouver came to be — and what’s often overlooked along the way.
Our tours bring together local knowledge, thoughtful storytelling, and place-based learning to create experiences that are grounded, accessible, and genuinely engaging.
MEET YOUR GUIDES
Alasdair Butcher
Detours Founder & GuideAli was born and raised in Vancouver and has been leading walks and talks on the lesser known aspects of the city’s history since 2008. He holds a Masters Degree in Urban Studies, currently works in the public housing sector, and has held positions on the Vancouver City Planning Commission, Urban Design Panel and is a past Director with the Heritage Vancouver Society.
Alasdair once went on a long run with Pete in North Korea.
Watch: Ali’s TEDx Talk on Re-imagining Urban Space by embracing creativity and sustainability
Read: Ali’s award-winning MA thesis on Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood
36 Blood Alley Square: Housing histories of conflict and co-production
Pete is a west coast local, with a deep love of street art and graffiti. This love was fostered through living in London in his youth, as well as visiting his grandparents in New York every summer. These two cities continued to expose him to a love of all things street art, and he has spent the last 20+ years documenting various forms of street and public art in 70+ countries. Pete believes strongly in making art accessible to everyone, and the importance of the land that we do these tours on.
Pete once went on a long run in North Korea with Alasdair.
Mural Tour GuidePete Edwards
Jayne Mackinnon
Tour GuideJayne is a fourth-generation Vancouverite who has been guiding with Detours since 2015. She has spent many years travelling and living abroad, including two years in Europe working as a Trip Leader for Topdeck Travel.
Her travels have taken her to 60 countries and ultimately led her to discover her life’s purpose in tourism. Jayne studied Tourism Management at Capilano University and continues to work in the industry full-time in corporate travel.
For her, there’s nothing better than sharing her hometown with visitors and helping them experience Vancouver the way a local does.