Chronology Continued

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1973

This year is sponsored.

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You'll note that this year includes events listed under “Also in . . .“ These are events for which we don't have a specific date. If YOU know the
specific date of an event shown there, please notify us . . . and cite the source! Many thanks!
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January 12 MP Ron Basford, minister of urban affairs and Liberal MP for Vancouver Centre, announced that Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, a federal body, had acquired Granville Island and would develop it. The Island is a huge attraction today, second in Vancouver only to Stanley Park, popular with both visitors and locals: shops, studios, restaurants, sightseeing and funky old buildings.

In The Greater Vancouver Book Tom Poiker outlined the Island’s attractions: “Granville Island was once a dilapidated and ugly industrial region in the middle of Vancouver. But, thanks to an imaginative federal government scheme (who would have guessed?) the island—which was originally nothing more than a sandbar that disappeared at high tide, then was built up with silt taken from elsewhere—has been transformed since 1973 into a Mecca for shopping and cultural activities. A caution: parking is sometimes virtually impossible. We recommend coming by foot, public transit, bike, taxi or ferry. (A fleet of stubby little Granville Island Ferries brings people over from the south foot of Hornby Street.) The heart of the Island—or perhaps we should say the stomach—is the big, always crowded, Public Market [note: the Market would open in 1979] with dozens of stands selling fresh vegetables, meat, fish and the like, and lots of booths selling ready-to-eat goodies. The Market is surrounded by four dozen small shops for food, clothing, art, boating supplies, etc. Look for the unique Kids Only Market. There's a hotel, pubs, restaurants, bistros. Granville Island is also the seat for several theatre groups, making Vancouver one of the most interesting Canadian centres for the performing arts. Another tenant: the Emily Carr College of Art and Design, Vancouver's leading art school.”

Ron Basford Park, on the Island, was named for the man who pushed hard for the concept. The late Mr. Basford was sometimes called “Mister Granville Island.”

January 16 Arthur Erickson unveiled his preliminary design for the Museum of Anthropology.

January 18 An old brewery on Granville Island was renovated and named the Creekhouse, becoming the first building on the island to be converted from industrial use.

January Sedgewick Undergraduate Library opened its doors at UBC. It was a popular area of study for new university students and a favorite tourist attraction for visitors. It was one of the largest branches in the UBC Library system, and—thanks to the architectural firm of Rhone and Iredale—one of the most innovative in design. When the student population increased rapidly in the 1960s, UBC decided to construct a new library building devoted entirely to undergraduate needs. Students’ traffic surveys indicated the best location would be the Main Mall, close to the Main Library. To preserve the area's open space, it was decided to build the new library partially underground. The eight magnificent oaks that had lined the Mall for decades were incorporated into the design. The name of the library ceased to exist when the renovation attaching it to the Koerner Library was completed. The Koerner opened March 10, 1997.

February 8 Eaton’s opened its Pacific Centre store.

February 28 Hockey’s Eric Lindros was born in London, Ontario. See this site.

February 11 Dick Diespecker, radio announcer, producer, writer, newspaper columnist, died in San Francisco, aged 65. Richard Alan Diespecker was born March 1, 1907 in Adstock, Buckinghamshire, Eng. He came to Vancouver in 1927, the same year he began his newspaper career with The Vancouver Star. In 1936 he joined CJOR and began to write radio dramas. In 1940 he joined an artillery unit, later became a radio liaison officer. His Prayer for Victory, written in a Montreal hotel room in 1942, was aired on radio networks throughout the western world. His first book of poems, Two Furious Oceans, was published in 1944. In 1947 he won the Beaver Award for “distinguished service to Canadian radio.” The next year he won the Columbus Award for the three-part radio documentary Destination Palestine. Diespecker wrote more than 400 radio plays for CJOR, CBC, BBC and the South African Broadcasting Corp. He was a columnist with the Vancouver Star, the News-Herald and the Victoria Colonist, and wrote a popular column on radio for the Province. His 1950 novel Elizabeth told of the life of a pioneer woman.

Another novel, Rebound, appeared in 1953. Says BC Bookworld: “It’s the story of Stoney Martin, a Vancouver journalist who, in 1950, is returning to Vancouver from Toronto by train with his second wife, Jane. By coincidence, his conniving first wife. Susan, is also on the train. As the train makes its way across Canada, Stoney reminisces, recalling his stormy relationship with the ‘predatory female’ who tricked him with a false pregnancy into a miserable marriage. The novel paints an excellent picture of post Depression Vancouver. There is a particularly effective scene in which Stoney looks down upon the Victory Square cenotaph from his newspaper office on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. When Rebound is not exonerating Stoney's part in his sexual relationship with the relentlessly ‘bad’ Susan, it is a fine novel with clear-eyed accounts of social problems and a deep sensitivity to Vancouver's unique character.” In 1958 Diespecker moved to San Francisco to join a public relations firm, and in 1964 became an American citizen.

March 3 Vancouver-born (April 4, 1952) Karen Magnussen, who trained first at Kerrisdale Arena, then at the North Shore Winter Club, won the World Women's Figure Skating Championship, held in Bratislava in what was then Czechoslovakia. She was awarded the Order of Canada and the Freedom of the District of North Vancouver. (Magnussen was Canada’s Athlete of the Year in 1971 and 1972.) She was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 1972. A North Vancouver arena will later be named for her. There is a good short bio of this outstanding athlete here.

March 9 George Conrad Reifel, brewmaster, died in Vancouver, aged 79. He was born in Vancouver May 15, 1893, the eldest son of brewer Henry Reifel. During Prohibition, George sailed his liquor down the coast. His brother Harry (Henry) Frederick (b. Dec. 3, 1895, Vancouver; d. July 20, 1958, Vancouver) raised purebred Jerseys in Milner, B.C. The brothers built and owned the Commodore Block on Granville (1929) and the Vogue and Studio theatres in the 1940s. Read Slow Boat on Rum Row by Miles Fraser.

March 13 The National Harbours Board announced a big container facility for Vancouver.

March 19 Walter Stewart Owen was sworn in as B.C.’s lieutenant-governor, succeeding John Nicholson.

April 1 The federal government gave title to the Jericho Defence Lands to the City of Vancouver. The city made it a 72-acre park.

April 18 The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) was created. On March 1, 1974 all motor vehicles in BC would be required to have ICBC insurance.

Also on April 18 To quote the Agricultural Land Reserve’s own web site, “Up to the 1970s nearly 6,000 hectares of prime agricultural land were lost each year to urban and other uses. The Provincial government responded to the serious erosion of our agricultural land base by introducing BC's Land Commission Act on April 18, 1973.”

A Commission, appointed by the provincial government, established a special land use zone to protect BC's dwindling supply of agricultural land. This zone was called the "Agricultural Land Reserve." Initially the ALR comprised 4.7 million hectares, about five per cent of the province. Despite boundary changes over the decades, its area remains approximately the same.

April 25 The Edmonds Community Centre for Older Adults opened at 7282 Kingsway. It held a lounge and activity room, meeting rooms, banquet hall, snooker, food service and arts and crafts room.

May 19 White Rock’s Senior Citizen’s Activity Centre opened at 1475 Kent Street. The centre featured an auditorium, library, snooker, instructional classes and day trips.

May Anne Sugarman (née Wodlinger), organizer, died in Toronto, aged about 78. She was born in 1895 in Winnipeg. The daughter of pioneers, she attended a Winnipeg college. Later married Ephraim R. Sugarman, a lawyer, in 1916. They lived in Vancouver from 1919 to 1942, founding the Reform Jewish Sunday School (1922). She was the first president of the Vancouver Council of Jewish Women (1924). The couple founded Congregation Beth Israel (1932). During the Second World War, she founded and chaired the Red Cross Salvage Scheme, copied across Canada, and she was responsible for the first seeing-eye dog program in North America. During the Canadian Bill of Rights hearings, she presented a brief on women's rights. This remarkable woman is cited in Pioneers, Pedlars, and Prayer Shawls by Cyril E. Leonoff.

June 14 Harry (Henry Herbert) Stevens, businessman and political leader, died in Vancouver, aged 94. Here’s what the MacMillan Dictionary of Canadian Biography says about H.H. Stevens: "Born December 8, 1878 in Bristol, England. In 1887 he and his father, two older brothers and a sister emigrated to Peterborough, Canada. In 1894 the family moved to Vancouver in British Columbia. A short time after this Harry met and married Gertrude Glover. Together they had 5 children: 2 boys, Francis and Douglas, and 3 girls; Marjorie, Sylvia and Patricia. H.H. Stevens served with the American Army in the Boxer Rebellion. When he returned to Vancouver he went into the grocery, real estate and insurance businesses. He was elected in 1911 to the House of Commons for Vancouver, and remained there until 1930. He represented East Kootenay from 1930 to 1940. He held the positions of Minister of Trade (Meighen administration) in 1921 and Minister of Trade and Commerce (Bennett administration) from 1930 to 1934. He was Chairman of the Price-Spreads Commission in 1934. Due to a disagreement with Cabinet about the findings of the commission, Stevens resigned his position and established the Reconstruction Party. In 1938 he joined the Conservative Party. H.H. Stevens was President of the Vancouver Board of Trade from 1952 to 1953. He died June 14, 1973 in Vancouver."

Not mentioned is the fact that Stevens’ grocery experience was clerking for $12 a week at City Grocery, at Main and Pender. He was an alderman for Ward 5 in 1910. He "Saw threat in Asia's millions," and lobbied for the Oriental Exclusion Act. He was effective in getting improvements to Vancouver Harbor, the Stanley Park Seawall, False Creek and Granville Island.

June 18 The first traffic barriers went in in the West End.

June 19 The old King Edward building of Vancouver Community College was less crowded after the Langara campus opened, but it still presented many inconveniences. Its playing field served as the emergency landing site for Vancouver General Hospital helicopters. Bouncing too vigorously on the gymnasium floor was said to bring parts of the ceiling raining down. Then, on June 19, 1973, the Special Programs Division was left homeless when a fire, assumed to have been caused by faulty wiring in the attic, gutted the building. Classes were temporarily held at the Langara campus, until new classrooms could be built on the playing field. By September, the Special Programs Division would once again be administered from the King Edward Centre.

The stained glass window of King Edward VII from the original high school survived the 1973 fire and is now located on the second floor of the King Edward campus library.

June 23 The opening of False Creek Park marked the official start to redeveloping the False Creek area.

June 27 15-year-old Port Alberni student Rick Hansen—still exhilarated from being named his school’s Athlete of the Year—was terribly injured in a motor vehicle crash returning with a couple of friends from some fishing. They hitchhiked a ride on a truck, the driver of which was drinking. A few miles on and the driver lost control of his vehicle. The truck overturned. Rick’s back was broken and he became a paraplegic. Every Canadian knows what Rick made of that horrific event. His 1985-87 Man in Motion tour—during which he wheeled 40,000 kilometres around the world—was a physical, mental and emotional triumph and raised $24 million. He has raised many more millions for research into spinal cord injury through the Rick Hansen Institute at UBC, and has encouraged thousands of people with disabilities. See this site.

June West Vancouver, which had held May Day celebrations since 1931, discontinued them under that name. The new title was Community Days, and there were no more May Queens . . . because the celebrations were now held in June.

August 19 Jack (Jonathan Webster) Cornett, mayor of Vancouver from 1941 to 1946, died, aged 90. He was born March 10, 1883 in Lansdowne, Ontario. He arrived in Vancouver in 1907, settled in South Vancouver. The last reeve of the municipality of South Vancouver, Cornett (a shoe merchant) ran the city during the disruptive years of the Second World War. “His term,” writes Donna Jean McKinnon, “was largely taken up with issues of housing and road improvements. He was an active chairman of the city's ARP (Air Raid Precaution Committee). It was not until the war ended and he was in his final year in office that the mayor's efforts came to fruition. Funding for housing improvements from upper levels of government finally came through, allowing the city to undertake a ten-year plan to improve city streets, sidewalks, sewers and lighting, and provide adequate fire protection in the harbor.”

August 31 The Greater Vancouver Transit System took over the city’s transit, under contract from BC Hydro. This would last to March 31, 1980.

August Burnaby and New Westminster co-hosted Canada's Summer Games. Preparations included the creation of a 2,200-metre rowing course on Burnaby Lake, then one of only three such competitive courses in North America. The New Westminster venue was Queen’s Park.

September 3 The last movie played at the Strand Theatre.

September Gordon Gibson, Sr. took his yacht, the Maui Lu, across the Pacific to his resort in Hawaii (also called Maui Lu). The boat had been the Norsal, a company yacht built in 1922 for the Powell River Co., a major forest products firm that amalgamated with MacMillan Bloedel in 1959. The 52-year-old Maui Lu made the journey to Hawaii and back with no problems, a tribute to the builders. She would be sold in 1977 and operated as a coastal charter vessel until 1990 when she sank in Hecate Strait.

Also in September The problem of the rapidly growing resident student numbers at BCIT, the BC Institute of Technology, was eased this month when an unoccupied building, formerly the Willingdon Avenue School for Girls, was converted into a residence for about 100 students.

October 15 The Vancouver East Cultural Centre opened at 1895 Venables in the city’s east end in what had been a church. (The church, Grandview United, which had opened in 1909 as Grandview Methodist, closed in 1967.) As architectural historian Dr. Harold Kalman writes, “Founding director Christopher Wootten co-ordinated municipal, provincial, and federal support programs to make the ambitious project happen . . . The church was transformed into a theatre, recital hall and community facility for its then culture-starved neighborhood . . . The intimate audience chamber, with its good sight-lines and acoustics and a feeling of warmth, and which can seat up to 350, has made ‘The Cultch’ a popular performing-arts venue that attracts people from far beyond East Vancouver.” The rehabilitation was by John Keith-King.

Besides Chris Wootten, who was at the time an Arts Project Officer for the federal program Opportunities for Youth, others involved in the creation of ‘The Cultch’ were politicos Darlene Marzari, Jonathan Baker, and Gary Lauk.

Anna Wyman’s dance company was the first to perform there, stayed two weeks.

They have an excellent web site here.

October 20 The Province’s Chuck Poulsen wrote that Jim Pattison wanted to buy a second sports team. “The multimillionaire Vancouver businessman and owner of the World Hockey Association Blazers launched a bid to buy the B.C. Lions—which is nothing new—and some of the Canadian Football League club's executives say they're more than willing to listen.” The sale never did go through, but Pattison had said he was prepared to renovate Empire Stadium, “increasing the capacity to 52,000 with two tiers on both sides of the field and covered end zone seats.”

October First, in 1922, it was Radio CFQC. Then, in 1928, it became CKMO. In February of 1955 the station became C-FUN, (sometimes written CFUN). In 1968 it changed owners and got its fourth name, CKVN, emphasizing news. This month CKVN died and CFUN was reborn at the same spot on the dial as a contemporary music station.

Also in October The Capilano Salmon Hatchery, near Cleveland Dam, opened. Before the dam the Capilano River produced 1,000 to 2,000 coho salmon annually. Twenty years later the hatchery was returning to the river annually half a million coho, from two to three million chinook and 20,000 steelhead trout.

November 24 “I want everyone in B.C. to know I am my own man.” Bill Bennett, the brand-new leader of the provincial Social Credit party, was addressing delegates at the Socred leadership convention in the Hotel Vancouver. The line was a reference to Bennett's father, W.A.C., ensconced in a 14th-floor suite of the hotel, deliberately keeping away from his son's moment of triumph. The elder Bennett had been defeated Aug. 30, 1972 by the NDP's Dave Barrett after 20 years as premier. His son oozed confidence. “We'll win the upcoming North Vancouver-Capilano byelection,” he told the delegates, “and we'll win the next provincial election.” His score as a prognosticator: 50 per cent. Liberal Gordon Gibson won the byelection, but Bill Bennett's Socreds did indeed go on to win the bigger prize.

November Mission's Ferndale Prison, a minimum security institution with 121 inmates (designed for a capacity of 110), opened.

Also in November Capilano College's new Lynnmour Centre, consisting of classrooms, Media Centre, library, science labs, and cafeteria was officially opened.

Also in 1973

Art Phillips and his TEAM team won the civic election. Phillips, born September 12, 1930, won the mayor's chair in a landslide victory, writes Donna Jean McKinnon, “as much an advocate of rehabilitating Gastown as his predecessor had been a detractor. A breath of fresh air, Phillips was one of the founders of TEAM (The Electors Action Movement), an innovative civic political party with a majority on council. He was in a position to implement policies to downsize density in the central business district, undertake local area planning and improve public transit. TEAM tried, but failed, to bring back the ward system of civic government. TEAM enjoyed strong support from Liberal supporters at both the provincial and federal levels and Phillips handily won two consecutive terms of office.” An indication of the inclusive nature of TEAM: one of its councillors was Setty Pendakur, a UBC professor of transportation planning and an Indo-Canadian.

The Greater Vancouver Visitors and Convention Bureau changed its name to the Greater Vancouver Convention and Visitors Bureau. In 1986 it would change again to Tourism Vancouver.

DERA was born. Writing in The Greater Vancouver Book (1997), Jim Green said: “Community decisions [in the Downtown East Side] were being made by City Council or the province, church groups or planners. Most, if not all the organizations, had boards composed entirely of people from outside the community. The residents themselves had no voice. In 1973, with the support of the Social Planning Department of the City of Vancouver, this situation changed. Planner Peter Davies was sent to deal with some of the problems in the area. (Among the worst were concerns about the health of the residents. The area had one of the highest incidences of tuberculosis in the country, and its women had an extremely short life span compared with women in other communities.) Davies decided what was needed was a democratic organization to permanently alter the situation. The fact that many residents were single, elderly men was considered by many to be a negative component, but it became the strongest because many of those same men had experienced the Dirty Thirties, and had been in unemployment organizations such as the Single Men's Unemployment Association, the Relief Camp Workers Union and various other anti-poverty organizations that were very strong at that time.

“Davies met a retired member of the Canadian Seaman's Union who had lived in the Downtown Eastside for many years. Although Bruce Eriksen had no formal education, he was very knowledgeable about the conditions and people in the neighborhood. Bruce began to organize community meetings to identify the problems of the community. One early accomplishment was the lighting of lanes to prevent robberies and beatings by people hiding in unlit corners. This early success provided the residents with evidence of the organization's collective abilities and power.

“In 1973 Bruce Eriksen and a handful of others set up the Downtown Eastside Residents' Association to build a democratic voice and bring pride and self-esteem to the people of the community. DERA required its members to be residents of the community. The first order of business was to name the area, which for many years had been known as Skid Road. It had never been recognized as a community of human beings. DERA named it ‘The Downtown Eastside.’"

Green added: “One important struggle of the early ‘70s was the fight for fire-sprinkler bylaws. Neither the province nor the city made it mandatory for SRO hotels to have sprinkler systems. Approximately 25 people died every year, 40 in 1973. DERA worked hard to have the bylaw changed. The struggle was ignored by the city and fought against by the landlords who threatened to close permanently if they were required to put sprinkler systems in. The fire deaths of five people in the Commercial Hotel on Cambie Street allowed Bruce Eriksen to corner the mayor at the site of the burning building in front of the media and demand he bring in sprinkler laws to stop the unnecessary deaths. This incident led to the passing of the Fire Sprinkler Bylaw, responsible for the saving of many lives . . .”

A number of publications first appeared in 1973. They included:

* The monthly business magazine BC Business. It’s published by Canada Wide Magazines Ltd., and covers prominent business leaders and key developments in the local area. Canada Wide has sponsored 1976 in The History of Metropolitan Vancouver.

* BCSF A-ZINE, a monthly publication of the British Columbia Science Fiction Association, published in Vancouver.

* The Link (Vancouver), published twice weekly by Link Communications Ltd. It was free, printed in English, with some Panjabi.

* Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter, a trade weekly devoted to North American lumber market activity.

* The North Delta Sentinel, a free bi-weekly suburban community newspaper.

* Speak Up!, a quarterly for “Christians Concerned for Racial Equality,” published by the Bible Holiness Movement.

* Wargamer, a bi-monthly published in Burnaby.

The Vancouver Blazers, of the now-defunct World Hockey Association, began. The Blazers, owned by businessman Jimmy Pattison, were active until1975. They entered hockey history in more ways than one: the first professional goaltender to use a curved stick in a hockey game was the Blazers’ Don Mcleod.

Vancouver’s George Athans Jr. won the world crown for water-skiing at Bogota, Colombia and would be inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 1976.

Iona Campagnolo, born on Galiano Island October 18, 1932, was awarded the Order of Canada “for her wide-ranging services in organizing, promoting and conducting community projects in Prince Rupert, British Columbia.” Later she will become the first woman to be named B.C.’s lieutenant-governor.

With 40 fire deaths this was the worst year in the city's history. “This terrible toll,” says Alex Matches, historian of the Vancouver Fire Department, “was found to be partly caused by the lack of sprinkler systems in hotels and rooming houses. Steps were immediately taken to improve this with new sprinkler by-laws. The following year the toll was dramatically reduced, and by 1982 deaths by fire were down to eight.” See the DERA item above.

The VFD got Canada's first 125-foot Calavar firefighting platform, which gave firefighters the ability to get up and over many fire scenes because of the rig's articulated column and boom.

Gordon Campbell, born in Vancouver January 12, 1948, returned from working for CUSO as a secondary school teacher, basketball and track coach in Yola, Nigeria, and became an aide to new Vancouver mayor Art Phillips.

So far as we know, Chuck Davis’ Guide to Vancouver, published this year by J.J. Douglas Ltd., was the first general guide book to the city. There were sections on restaurants, shopping, sightseeing, etc. An excerpt: “The other part of the North Shore, west of the Lions Gate Bridge, is West Vancouver. This is the ‘classy’ suburb of the city, with homes worth $50,000 and up . . .”

Wesbrook and His University, by William C. Gibson, was published.

Capilano College opened a regional campus in Squamish.

The Vancouver Whitecaps were formed in 1973 and would enter the North American Soccer League in time for the 1974 season. We’ll have more on the team when 1974 goes up on the site.

Vancouver’s Bruce Robertson won gold in the 100-metre butterfly at the World Aquatic Championships in Belgrade.

Langley Curling Club began.

The movie A Name For Evil (aka The Grove and The Face of Evil), filmed in Vancouver, was released. Director was Bernard Girard. Comments Michael Walsh: “An architect (Robert Culp) inherits an 18th-century mansion and is driven to extremes when his wife (Samantha Eggar) is seduced by the resident ghost.”

J'ai Mon Voyage, a film directed by Denis Héroux, takes a comic look at Canada's “two solitudes.” Quebecois director Heroux, writes Michael Walsh, chronicles the problems of a French-speaking family (Dominique Michel, Jean Lefebvre, Rene Simard) during a cross-country trip to Vancouver.

J.V. Clyne, who had been named a director of MacMillan Bloedel in 1957, and who later became chairman and CEO, retired from the firm, aged 71.

McDowell's Drug Store, which had opened in 1905 at 1st Street and Lonsdale in North Vancouver, was no more. It had been run by the same family for 68 years.

Wakayama, Japan became the sister city of Richmond. Mio-mura, a village in the same prefecture, was the native home of many of Steveston's earliest Japanese immigrants.

Drought hit Point Roberts, the small chunk of land south of the 49th parallel and accessible by land only through BC. The 850 Canadian residents were in danger of having their water cut off in favor of American residents. Signs appeared, reading “Canadians Go Home.” Water was trucked in from Blaine until the problem eased. A permanent water supply (from Canada) would become available by 1986.

The Royal Centre, main branch for the Royal Bank of Canada in Vancouver, was built at 1055 West Georgia. It was 140 metres high, had 36 storeys.

Granville Square was built at 200 Granville. It was 123 metres high, had 30 storeys. Two of its many tenants: The Vancouver Sun and the Province.

The Landmark Hotel was built at 1400 Robson: 39 storeys, 120.7 metres.

The Delta Airport Hotel was built at 3500 Cessna Drive in Richmond.

The John Davis family began to restore 166 West 10th Avenue, the oldest (1891) wood frame home in Mount Pleasant. Then they began to restore other houses in the block. The result is one of the finest, most attractive streetscapes in the city.

The pool and waterfall at the Law Courts, Robson Square (completed this year), were designed by architect Arthur Erickson and landscape architect Cornelia Oberlander. The pool doubles as a holding tank for the building's fire-sprinkler system.

Raminder Dosanjh, a prominent human rights and women's rights activist, co-founded the India Mahila (Women's) Association. It is described as “a volunteer organization for women of South Asian origin. Provides information and referral, emotional support to women in crisis, and educational, social, and cultural activities.”

Vishva Hindu Parishad Temple was built at 3885 Albert Street in Burnaby. There are some interesting photographs here.

The United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society (SUCCESS) was founded. Their web site says: “Founded in 1973 and incorporated in 1974 as a non-profit charitable organization, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. is now one of the largest immigration and social service agencies in British Columbia. Its mandate is to promote the well being of Canadians and immigrants, and to encourage their involvement in the community. This is done through the provision of social, educational and health services, business and community development, and advocacy.”

The overthrow of the Salvador Allende government in Chile in a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet led to an influx in Vancouver of Chilean refugees.

The Education Building at UBC was renamed to honor Neville V. Scarfe, former dean of the faculty.

Burnaby Hospital opened an extended-care wing. The wing was opened by health minister Dennis Cocke.

The last class of psychiatric nurses graduated from Essondale, the mental hospital. (Riverview).

The Community Information Service became part of the Vancouver Crisis Centre, changed its name to Community Information Centre, and began to shift its role from direct service to support for the 35 Neighborhood Information Centres that had sprung up in the Lower Mainland. Today it’s known as Information Services Vancouver, and participates in the innovative 211 service. Modeled after the emergency 9-1-1 service, 2-1-1 is described as the “national abbreviated dialing code for access to non-emergency social, health and government service information and referral.” It’s free and confidential. See this site.

The RCMP, in a report on commercial crime on the west coast, said: “Law enforcement agencies have estimated that approximately 20 to 30 per cent of the mines and local, junior industrial stocks listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange are manipulated.” That report, the NDP governments’ mining royalties and other factors led to a sag in VSE trading. The exchange lost money this year, for the first time in almost 40 years.

The old Edwardian buildings of Spencer’s Department Store were demolished and Sears moved into Harbour Centre, the city's newest tallest building (a 455-foot high tower topped by a revolving restaurant). Today, the building is home to Simon Fraser University's downtown campus.

The provincial government took over the Pacific National Exhibition because of a high-profile conflict over the use of the Forum (between minor hockey and a boat show). The takeover transformed the event from a Vancouver Exhibition into a provincial one.

The Vancouver Aquarium welcomed the addition of the Finning Sea Otter Pool.

Wood sculpture, a (surprise!) wood sculpture, was installed in front of Granville Square at the north foot of Granville. The artist, from Washington state, was Michael Phifer, commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway and Marathon Realty.

The Vancouver Chamber Choir, led by its founder/conductor/music director Jon Washburn, was the first Canadian choir to win a first-place award in the prestigious BBC competition Let The Peoples Sing competition.

Latvia-born Harry Adaskin, who had established the music faculty at UBC, retired at 72. He died in 1994. Read his A Fiddler's World and A Fiddler's Choice.

The Burnaby Mountain Dance Company began at SFU, would later move off campus and become Mountain Dance Theatre, under the joint direction of Mauryne Allan and Freddie Long.

Rock impresario Bruce Allen began to handle Bachman Turner Overdrive, which under his direction would sell 10 million albums from 1973 to 1978.

Tad Publishing was established. They produced a pictorial Canada Calling series.

Irene Howard wrote Bowen Island 1872-1972, published by the Bowen Island Historians.

The book Shipwrecks of British Columbia by Fred Rogers became a BC bestseller. Rogers had done 20 years of research into the subject. His book chronicled more than 100 shipwrecks and their discoveries. He would produce More Shipwrecks of British Columbia in 1992.

Alan Woodland, a native of New Westminster, published New Westminster: The Early Years, 1858-1898 while he was the city's chief librarian. The book contains more than 100 photos dating back to when the 'Royal City' was the capital of the Crown Colony of British Columbia.

The Kensington Park Arena and Community Recreation Office opened at 6159 Curtis Street in Burnaby. There was an ice rink and roller rink.

Moose Jaw-born (January 18, 1926) Roy Kenzie Kiyooka, poet and photographer, who had come to Vancouver in 1960, began to teach Fine Arts at UBC. He would be there to 1991.

Masajiro Miyazaki, doctor and community activist, published his autobiography My Sixty Years in Canada. Born in Japan November 24, 1899 he arrived in Vancouver June 29, 1913. As a UBC medical student he took part in UBC's Great Trek (Oct. 22, 1922). He practised medicine in Vancouver until his 1942 internment in Bridge River-Lillooet area, where he served as the doctor for 1,000 internees. In 1945, Lillooet petitioned for his release from internment to replace its deceased doctor. For more on this interesting man, see his bio here.

Continued....

[1757 - 1884] [1885 - 1891] [1892 - 1899]
[1900 - 1905] [1906 - 1908] [1909] [1910]
[1911] [1912] [1913] [1914] [1915] [1916]
[1917] [1918] [1919] [1920] [1921] [1922]
[1923] [1924] [1925] [1926] [1927] [1928]
[1929] [1930] [1931] [1932] [1933] [1934]
[1935] [1936] [1937] [1938] [1939] [1940]
[1941] [1942] [1943] [1944] [1945] [1946]
[1947] [1948] [1949] [1950] [1951] [1952]
[1953] [1954] [1955] [1956] [1957] [1958]
[1959] [1960] [1961] [1962] [1963] [1964]
[1965] [1966] [1967] [1968] [1969] [1970]
[1971] [1972] [1973] [1974] [1975] [1976]
[1977] [1978] [1979] [1980] [1981] [1982]
[1983] [1984] [1985] [1986] [1987] [1988]
[1989] [1990] [1991] [1992] [1993] [1994]