January 14 Serial killer Clifford Olson pled guilty to the murder of 11 Vancouver-area children and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The RCMP will pay Olson’s family $100,000 in return for Olson revealing where his victims’ bodies were buried.

February 3 The first Earl’s Restaurant opened in Vancouver. It was named for Leroy Earl Fuller, who in 1954 opened his first restaurant to feed local farmers of Sunburst, Montana. The first Earl’s with that name opened in 1982 in Edmonton.

February 7 James Sinclair, federal cabinet minister, died in West Vancouver, aged 75. He was born May 26, 1908 in Banff, Scotland. “He was,” writes Constance Brissenden, “an outstanding athlete at UBC.

January 1 Frederick Soward, historian, teacher, died at 86. Frederick Hubert Soward was born April 10, 1899 in Minden, Ontario. Smart enough to enter high school at 10, he had to wait two years.

January 3 The SkyTrain commenced operation between Vancouver and New Westminster. (The extension to Surrey would come later.)