1981

Above: Mike Harcourt, seen here with Theresa Galloway, won the mayoralty in 1981.
[Image: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 775-189.18]

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You’ll note that these years include 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 The Vancouver East Cinema opened. See their web site.

January The Knowledge Network, a B.C. government-funded educational channel, debuted on-air.

April 1 The Fraser Valley college district served by Douglas College was divided into two smaller regions, one on the north shore of the Fraser River another on the south shore. When the division officially came into effect today, Douglas College retained its campuses in New Westminster, Coquitlam, and Maple Ridge. The new college—Kwantlen—took charge of the campuses in Langley, Surrey, and Richmond.

A contest was held to find a name for the new South Fraser region college. From over 200 names suggested—including Tillicum, Dogwood, Surdel-Langrich, and Salish—Kwantlen was the clear winner. The winning entry was submitted by Stan McKinnon, news editor of the Surrey Leader. The name Kwantlen means “tireless runners” and refers to the native people who lived in the South Fraser region.

Today, it’s known as Kwantlen University College, a degree-granting undergraduate university college with four campuses. The main campus is in Surrey; the three others are in the Newton area of Surrey, Richmond and Langley. In January 2006 Kwantlen began offering a limited number of courses at a new location in White Rock.

April 19 Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin Skywalker (the future Darth Vader) in the Star Wars movies, was born in Vancouver.

May 2 The diving charter vessel Huntress exploded in Coal Harbour, killing two and injuring eight.

May 29 The Vancouver Indian Centre Society opened its new centre, with Chief Simon Baker officiating. Today it’s known as the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre. On its website, the VAFC Society says: “The Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre Society (VAFCS) was established in the early 1950s under the name of Coqualeetza Fellowship Club. After this it moved to West Broadway under the name of the Vancouver Indian Centre Society. From 1970 to 1979 the Centre was located at 1855 Vine Street. A survey of the City of Vancouver indicated the majority of Aboriginal people lived between Cambie and Nanaimo Street (the population estimated to be 40 to 45 thousand). The Board of Directors subsequently moved the Centre to the present location at 1607 East Hastings in 1981. The new location is easily accessible for the aboriginal community and provides social, educational, cultural, spiritual and sports activities.”

Spring Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) members went on strike and garbage piled up at tennis courts and other makeshift sites throughout Greater Vancouver.

June 2 300 inmates seized control of Abbotsford’s Matsqui Institution and set fire to seven prison buildings causing millions in damages. Actions taken by Corporal Patrick Aloysius Kevin McBride during the riot to rescue eight staff members from a burning roof led to his receiving a second medal of honor for heroism in the same year from the Governor General.

There is a funny story buried in this next item:

June 5 The Asian Centre opened at UBC. To quote its web site: “The purpose of the Asian Centre is to promote and encourage greater awareness and understanding of the many Asian cultures so richly represented in Canada and particularly in the Lower Mainland. Completed in 1981, the Asian Centre has an interesting history. A UBC Religious Studies Professor, Shotaro Iida who went to Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan thought the Sanyo Electric Company Exhibit building would make a great Asian Centre for UBC once the fair was over. He asked Sanyo for the donation of the building, and succeeded! The building was donated to the people of the province of British Columbia in honor of B.C.’s Centennial. In addition to the Sanyo Corporation, sponsors for the Asian Centre included the Canadian and Japanese governments, business, industry and private individuals, many from Japan.

“Since the cost of shipping the entire dismantled building would have been astronomical, only the supporting beams and girders were sent. UBC, however, did not know about the shipment and only learned of it when Canada Customs called saying they had some ‘white pipes’ waiting to be picked up by UBC! The dismantled pieces were numbered to make reconstruction easy and efficient. Unfortunately, the beams were left on the site for a few years while UBC recruited sponsors for the construction, and when construction finally started, it was learned that rain had washed the numbers off! Putting the beams together was rather like trying to solve a 172-ton jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle did eventually materialize into the unique Asian Centre. Construction started January 8, 1974, and the building was officially opened June 5, 1981. The Centre’s distinctive roof shape is inspired by a traditional Japanese farmhouse. When you enter, the huge white beams from the Sanyo Pavilion are immediately noticeable.”

The Department of Asian Studies, founded in 1961, with 21 faculty members, offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Total enrolment, including both undergrads and graduates, is about 1,500 students. The Asian Library is the largest Asian-languages library in Canada with more than 300,000 volumes in Chinese, Japanese, Urdu, Sanskrit and other Asian languages. It has an important collection of Chinese rare books and manuscripts dating as early as 986 A.D. It also has one of the best collections of Japanese woodblock and copper engraved maps of the Tokugawa Period (1600-1867) . . . in the Special Collections division of the Main Library.

The exhibition hall displays works of local and international Asian artists. On the adjacent wall is a classical Chinese scroll, a gift from the People’s Republic of China. The photographs on the wall were collected from museums and archives and show members of the Asian Community in Vancouver before 1950. These photos indicate the great contribution of Canadians of Asian descent to our society, especially here in the Lower Mainland.”

June 28 Terry Fox died at dawn in Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, one month before his 23rd birthday. His family was at his side. Canada mourned a genuine, and a beloved, hero. Flags on all federal buildings were flown at half-mast all across Canada. Terry’s campaign had raised $23 million for the fight against cancer. His dedication, courage and selflessness are perpetuated through the annual Terry Fox Run and the Terry Fox Foundation. His parents, Betty and Rolly Fox, work today to keep the Marathon of Hope alive. See the September 13 entry.

June A new floating dock arrived at Burrard Dry Dock from Japan.

July 1 The Hongkong Bank of Canada, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings, based in London, England, received its federal charter. On November 27, 1986 it will buy substantially all the assets and liabilities of the Bank of B.C. See the July 5 entry below.

July 5 The Devonshire Hotel opened at the northeast corner of Georgia and Hornby Streets in 1925. It took two years to put the building up. It took 6.5 seconds to bring it down. On Sunday morning, July 5, 1981 hundreds of people crowded (prudently distant) onto adjacent streets and waited for Arrow Demolition’s big bang. The windows of nearby buildings, including the Vancouver and Georgia Hotels, were jammed with onlookers. At 7:05 a.m. Chris Charles, the wife of Arrow’s Brian Charles, pushed a delicate finger down on a button and, with a muffled crack from a hundred kilos of dynamite, the hotel’s central elevator shaft began to collapse. The rest of the seven-storey building fell inward, and a vast cloud of white dust rose up as the crowd cheered. Not long after the dust settled, work began on building the HSBC Bank Canada building.

July 20 A fixture on the Vancouver club scene for decades was The Cave, whose dark interior and famous papier-mache stalactites were a setting for acts ranging from Mitzi Gaynor, Milton Berle, Mel Torme, Lena Horne, Jack Carter, Henny Youngman and Louis Armstrong to Eric Burdon and the Animals and The Doors. The Cave, run in its heyday by the towering Ken Stauffer, closed its doors today with a farewell performance by the Bobby Hales Orchestra. The club was demolished the next day. Actually, the demolition started early: “Before the day dawned,” Joy Metcalfe wrote, “every mirror, stalactite, showcase, sink and toilet that had not been auctioned off earlier had been demolished by the mob.”

August 14 Clifford Olson, 41, a self-employed contractor from Coquitlam, was arrested and in a few days will be charged with the murder of 14-year-old Judy Kozma. On August 31st he will be charged with nine counts of murder in a Burnaby court. The charges include the murder of Judy Kozma and eight other children.

August 18 Delegates visited from Vancouver’s sister city, Odessa, in the Ukrainian SSR.

August 21 Nanaimo-born (1902) band leader Charlie Pawlett died, aged about 79. Constance Brissenden has written that he began playing trumpet and violin in Vancouver clubs in the 1920s, and from 1936 to 1939 was band leader at the Commodore Ballroom. His shows were broadcast on CJOR radio. He played in the RCAF band during the Second World War. Pawlett played at the Strand Theatre, Howden’s Ballroom, Arcadian Ballroom and Narrows Supper Club. Playing with Jackie Borne in the Peter Pan Ballroom, he retired at age 68.

September 13 The first Terry Fox Run, named for the late cancer fighter, was held in more than 880 Canadian communities with more than 300,000 participants. They ran, walked, cycled, roller-bladed, swam and wheeled—and raised $3.5 million. Still an annual event more than 20 years later, the Run, now held in many countries, has raised millions of dollars for cancer research.

September 23 Chief Dan George died in Vancouver, aged 82. He was born July 24, 1899 in North Vancouver. His birth name was Tes-wah-no, but he was known in English as Dan Slaholt. At age five, he entered a mission boarding school where his surname was changed to George. The little boy, along with the other native students, was forbidden to speak his native language. He worked as a longshoreman and logger. In 1959 he began his acting career (TV, stage, Hollywood films). He appeared to great acclaim in the first production of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe by George Ryga (1967). His films included Little Big Man (1970) (a wonderful performance, for which he received an Oscar nomination) and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1975). He was the chief of the Squamish Band from 1951 to 1963, and honorary chief of the Squamish Nation. To many, he embodied the dignified elder. He wrote My Heart Soars (1974), My Spirit Soars (1982). There is a good brief biography by Mel James here.

September 25 A new courthouse opened on Begbie Square in New Westminster.

October 16 The Canada Post Corporation was created as a Crown corporation, successor to the Post Office Department.

October 17 Vancouver police broke up a Ku Klux Klan rally celebrating the assassination of Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat. It was the first Klan activity in the city for nearly 50 years.

October The national edition of the Globe and Mail is extended to Vancouver, via its satellite printing network.

November 17 Elected as mayor of Vancouver was a 38-year-old Edmonton-born (January 6, 1943) lawyer named Mike Harcourt, who defeated the incumbent, Jack Volrich of the Non-Partisan Association, with 50,203 votes to 47,107. “Vancouver,” wrote the Province’s Jan O’Brien, “will never be the same after the weekend’s upset civic election. A ward system in 1982, more housing and an immediate push for light-rail transit are on the agenda of the new city council . . .” Topping the aldermanic vote with the largest number of votes (64,817) ever cast for a Vancouver civic politician: lawyer Harry Rankin. Well down the list of aldermanic hopefuls who didn’t make it was a fellow named Philip Owen. His turn would come. (The ward system’s wouldn’t.)

Writes Donna Jean McKinnon: “Although working closely with council members of left-wing COPE (Committee Of Progressive Electors), Mike Harcourt ran as an independent in his bids for mayor. During his terms, civic policies and positions came into focus in terms of their relationship to the provincial (Social Credit) government’s policies. Harcourt’s mayoralty crystallized grass roots opposition to the province, most notably during Solidarity 83, a broad-based protest against provincial cuts to social programs, health and education. Harcourt was mayor during Vancouver’s Centennial activities, but was criticized for his lukewarm response to Expo 86. He later became the leader of the New Democratic Party in B.C. and then premier in a landslide victory over Social Credit.”

December 8 Pier B-C, on the city’s central waterfront, was being prepared as a downtown convention centre. The facility, to be funded by three levels of government, was initially projected to cost $25 million. By 1980, with construction not yet begun, it had soared to $52 million, then, within months, $80 million. By November 1981, it was $135 million and politicians were panicking. On Dec. 8, 1981, Premier Bill Bennett postponed construction indefinitely.

December Poland’s Communist government began its crackdown on the Solidarity trade union and more seamen jumped ship in Vancouver. About 1,000 demonstrators, chanting “Solidarity Forever” marched from Robson Square to Pier B.C.

Also in 1981

1981 census figures: (1971 figures in brackets)

Anmore	423 (uninc.)
Belcarra	430 (uninc.)
Bowen Island	1,125 (350)
Burnaby	136,494 (125,660)
Coquitlam	61,080 (53,073)
Delta	74,771 (45,860)
Langley City	15,124 (4,680)
Langley Township	44,617 (21,935)
Lions Bay	1,078 (396)
Maple Ridge	32,232 (24,480)
New Westminster	38,550 (42,835)
North Vancouver City	33,952 (31,847)
North Vancouver District	64,904 (57,861)
Pitt Meadows	6,209 (2,770)
Port Coquitlam	27,535 (19,560)
Port Moody	14,917 (10,778)
Richmond	96,154 (62,121)
Surrey	147,138 (96,601)
University Endowment Lands	3,674 (3,536)
Vancouver	413,952 (426,256)
West Vancouver	35,728 (36,440)
White Rock	13,550 (10,349)
Total	1,263,637 (1,077,288)

By 1981 two-thirds of Greater Vancouver’s population lived outside the central city. The 1981 census was sobering for Vancouver: it showed a drop in absolute numbers, with 12,000 fewer people in the city since the 1971 census. That was only a three per cent drop, but it was a drop. That was new. In contrast, most of the suburbs were leaping ahead: Langley Township had more than doubled in population in a decade, Surrey had grown by more than 50 percent, Richmond by more than 55. Delta was now five times bigger than it had been 20 years earlier. Only New Westminster joined Vancouver in bucking the trend: its population dropped 10 per cent during the 1970s.

A deep and protracted recession began in BC. The recession made it clear, wrote economist Michael Goldberg, that British Columbia “had to diversify its resource-based economy.”

A decline in house values began and would continue into 1982. Chartered accountant Don Young comments: “House values in Vancouver declined by 30 per cent or more and many people were hurt, some bankrupted, because they were caught with two homes (bought one and couldn’t sell the one they owned) when interest rates were at an all time high—first mortgages at 20 per cent and more—and the demand for new and used homes plunged from the unrealistically high levels achieved by the end of 1980. Other people had mortgage renewals come due and found it difficult, sometimes very difficult, to keep up the new higher monthly mortgage payments with current interest rates.”

Julia Levy formed Quadra Logic Technologies, now QLT Inc., a biotechnology company. It was while teaching microbiology at UBC that Dr. Levy first became interested in the idea of using photo-sensitive drugs to treat diseases. On its web site QLT describes itself as “a global biopharmaceutical company specializing in developing treatments for eye diseases as well as dermatological and urological conditions.” Dr. Levy served as the company’s president and CEO from 1995 to 2002.

The Inventive Women web site in its document on Dr. Levy describes the photodynamic therapy she developed as “an innovative, two-step process that starts with the administration of a specifically tailored drug by intravenous injection. Once the drug enters the bloodstream, it spreads throughout the body, concentrating where abnormal blood vessels are being formed. The second step is to activate the drug with a dose of non-thermal laser light of a particular wavelength. Neither the drug nor the light exert any effect until combined.”

Theatre director Larry Lillo left the Tamahnous Theatre and became a freelance theatre director. For more on his career, see his entry in our Hall of Fame.

The research areas in the Vancouver Public Aquarium were consolidated at the north end of the building into the Van Dusen Aquatic Science Centre.

Quintessence Records in Kitsilano closed. Staffer Grant McDonagh, using the same location at West 4th and Burrard, opened Zulu Records. He also created the Zulu record label. Check outthis web sitefor some interesting stuff about Zulu and McDonagh.

The theatre in the Surrey Art Centre, built in Bear Creek Park in 1967 as a federal Centennial project at a cost of $225,000, was rebuilt by the municipality and the province. It holds 405 seats. Tab: $2.1 million.

Now a Canadian classic, Joy Kogawa’s novel Obasan appeared. It was the first novel to deal with the internment by Canada of its Japanese citizens during and after the Second World War. The writer’s periodical Quill & Quire would publish a survey of English Canadian literature in 1999. Second only to Alice Munro in the BC authors noted was Joy Kogawa. See a fine brief biography at this site.

The book Headhunter, by Michael Slade, appeared. Slade proved to be three people, Vancouver lawyers Jay Clarke, John Banks and Richard Covell. The book was a success, so Clarke and Banks, while carrying on their respective law practices (more than 100 murder cases), also continued their literary collaboration. In 1996 they would give us Evil Eye.

The book The boom years: G.G. Nye’s photographs of North Vancouver 1905-1909, by Donald J. Bourdon, appeared. See this site.

The book Chuck Davis’ 1982 Vancouver Appointment Book appeared. One page had space for a week’s appointments; the facing page featured an historical vignette.

Writer William Gibson, who had come to Vancouver from North Carolina in 1972, sold his first science fiction story to Omni magazine. There was much more to come.

George Wainborn, former Vancouver Park Board Commissioner, started the Stanley Park Christmas Train, with strong support from the Mt. Pleasant Legion.

The non-profit B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre was created. Its website explains that the BCPIAC’s creation “reflected the fundamental belief that it should not only be the rich and powerful that are represented before our courts and regulators.” Their lawyers will, for example, intervene when companies like B.C. Hydro apply to raise their rates. BCPIAC is financially supported by the Law Foundation of BC. Its executive director is Dick Gathercole.

UBC’s Crane Resource Centre, named for the late Charles Allen Crane, began in 1968 as a repository for his huge collection of Braille books to benefit blind and visually impaired students. By 1981 it had expanded to house nine sound-proof studios with state-of-the-art professional recording equipment and high-speed duplicating and editing equipment to produce “talking books.” Today, the Crane Resource Centre and Library, to quote its web site is “the principal resource for people who are blind, visually impaired, or print-handicapped. Technical resources include an eight studio book recording and duplicating facility, dedicated computers which convert print to synthesized speech, adapted computer work stations with voice synthesis and image-enlarging, a computerized braille transcription facility, a talking on-line public catalogue, closed circuit TV magnifiers, and much more.”

The British Columbia Nurses Union (BCNU) came into existence. Its predecessor, the Registered Nurses Association of B.C. (RNABC) obtained its first certification at St. Paul’s Hospital in 1946. Today, the BCNUhas more than 22,000 members.

Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital introduced a computerized medication service that became a model for other acute care hospitals.

These publications debuted in 1981:

AABC Newsletter, a quarterly, published for its members by the Archives Association of B.C.

Canadian School Executive Published 10 times a year by Xancor Canada Ltd. for The Canadian School Executive, it was “Dedicated to promoting effective leadership, management and instruction in schools.”

National Radio Guide: Guide to CBC radio and CBC stereo, a monthly publication from Core Group Publishers Inc.

Until 1981, the B.C. Supreme Court decided how many notaries public were needed in a given area. While seldom more than 300 B.C. notaries were registered to practice at the same time, the number of practising lawyers in the province quadrupled from fewer than 1,000 in 1947 to more than 4,000 in 1981. Over the years, many ad hoc groups of lawyers had tried to block notarial appointments: They argued there was no need for independent notaries where lawyers were available. Legislation this year liberated notaries public from the control of the Law Society of B.C., which previously had had the power to block any appointment.

The Port of Vancouver processed 22,800 cruise passenger. The total will pass 170,000 in 1981; 423,000 in 1991 and 600,000 in 1995.

The land at the east end of Smithe Street occupied by the Sweeney Cooperage, one of the oldest industries in False Creek (1923?), was expropriated by the provincial government for the construction of B.C. Place. The cooperage, one of the city’s major industrial landmarks, was torn down. For more on the cooperage see the entry on Leo Sweeney in our Hall of Fame.

MacMillan Bloedel began producing Parallam at a pilot plant on Annacis Island. MB had spent $45 million over 20 years on research and development of this parallel strand lumber product, which created large beams out of small trees. (An efficient sawmill may only recover 15 per cent of a log as high-grade lumber, and another 35 to 40 per cent in lower-grade lumber products. The rest of the log becomes wood chips or fuel. With Parallam, MB used 70 to 80 per cent of a log.) Parallam was manufactured by bonding long strands of wood, under pressure, into uniform structural beams with a waterproof adhesive. The bonding resin is cured with microwave energy—somewhat like cooking in a kitchen microwave. In 1987 MB would spend $100 million to bring the Annacis Island plant into full commercial production and to build a similar plant in Georgia.

A curious and attractive use for Parallam is seen here.

Zool Suleman, a Richmond High School student, won the top Canadian debating championship. He was the first BC high school student to win that championship, held in Montreal. Today, he’s a busy immigration lawyer in Vancouver.

A Richmond civic employees strike lasted three months.

Richmond received 188 days of rain in 1981, the highest annual level since 1939. Farms produced only 56 per cent of normal yield.

St. Paul’s Indian Catholic Church in North Vancouver was designated a National Historic Site.

Chief Louis Miranda received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from SFU this year for being the instigator of the Squamish Nation’s written language program in 1975.

The West Vancouver Seniors’ Activity Centre was awarded the Canadian Architects’ Award of Excellence. It also received the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association’s 1985 Facility Excellence Award.

A 1981 peace march against nuclear arms in Vancouver was a success, drawing nearly 10,000 participants. The march would attract 35,000 the next year, more than 100,000 in 1983. The annual event grew to become the largest of its kind in North America.

In 1792 Lt. Peter Puget, one of Capt. Vancouver’s staff, named a small point near the tip of Point Grey “Noon Breakfast Point.” The name was not officially adopted until this year!

According to federal census data, the population of Vancouver’s West End remained static during the 1980s: there were 36,950 residents in 1981, 37,190 in 1991—an increase of just 0.6 per cent. The population of Shaughnessy Heights declined slightly during the 1980s: there were 9,345 residents in 1981, just 9,035 in 1991—a decline of 3.3 per cent.

Minnekhada Farms in northeast Coquitlam—once the homesteaded property of Obe and Bertha Pollard—was made a regional park. Covering more than 200 hectares, the park is home to the Minnekhada Lodge, one of the GVRD’s premier heritage buildings and the site of many weddings and other functions. Tours of the park are welcomed, but know that there are bears there. See this document.

Maple Ridge’s municipal hall opened at 11995 Haney Place. Architects were Henriquez and Partners. The same architects designed the Maple Ridge Courthouse (1994).

Burvilla, a handsome Queen Anne house that once belonged to the Burr Family, was moved to Deas Island Regional Park in Delta from the south side of River Road. There are several other historic buildings in the park. The front part of Burvilla is furnished with antiques and collectables, many of which are for sale.

The Burlington Northern Railway (originally the Great Northern Railway, now the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe) discontinued passenger service. The line went through White Rock, and passenger service to and from that point had ended in 1975. The railway gave its station to the city of White Rock that year. Passenger service between Vancouver and Seattle would be restored by Amtrak in 1995. Amtrak’s trains pass by the old station’s door, but the train doesn’t stop there anymore. In 1991 the station would become the White Rock Museum and Archives.

The Bentall IV office building opened at 1055 Dunsmuir. The 36-storey building is 137 metres high. Another lofty structure, the Stock Exchange Tower at 609 Granville, opened this year. Its 24 storeys top out at 100.2 metres.

Robert Stewart became Chief Constable in the Vancouver Police Department, and would be in that post until 1991. He succeeded Donald R. Winterton (1974-1981.)