1983
Above: Vancouver Art Gallery on Opening Day.
[Image: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 99-4062]
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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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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. There are now more than 50 restaurants in the chain throughout Western Canada, Arizona and Colorado. And Earl is still with us as Chairman of Earls Restaurants Ltd.
February 17 Jim Kinnaird, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, died in office in Vancouver, aged 50. He was born January 5, 1933 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The son of working class parents, he left school at 14. He arrived in Vancouver in 1956, later joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He was elected business manager, Local 213, of the IBEW in 1967. He stepped down in the fall of 1972, to become president of the B.C. and Yukon Building Trades Council, then in 1973 was appointed assistant deputy minister of labor by the NDP government. From 1975 to 1976 he acted as Special Officer and Industrial Inquiry Commissioner for the Ministry of Labour, and was also appointed a one-person Commission of Inquiry into the BC construction industry. He returned to head the Building Trades in 1976, until November 1978 when he was elected president of the B.C. Federation of Labor, uniting the divided body. Kinnaird served three terms as leader of 250,000 unionized workers, but died suddenly of a heart attack. Constance Brissenden writes: “He disliked flamboyance and public shouting matches but was not above them.”
He was succeeded by Art Kube.
February 24 At UBC a team at TRIUMF (the Tri-University Meson Facility) did their first scan with a PET tomograph or camera. They had been developing the chemistry and building the camera since 1980. PET stands for Positron Emission Tomography. Of the many definitions we found on the Net, we chose: an imaging technology that generates a computerized image of the body’s functional systems and how the body is able to function in health and disease.
“While this was monumental for TRIUMF/UBC and BC,” Dr. Thomas Ruth, director of the program, told us in March 2006, “the modern PET era really began in the US in the mid 1970s with the development of the first PET scanners . . .” He added: “You should note that the TRIUMF/UBC team has been continuously funded from various sources since 1981 and was recently designated a CIHR [Canadian Institutes of Health Research] Team in Parkinson’s Disease. In parallel the BC Cancer Agency just formed a publicly funded Functional Imaging Centre providing PET scanning for cancer diagnosis. The BCCA is also developing a research centre in Functional Imaging with PET a major focus of that effort. The collaborating partners include TRIUMF and UBC.”
PET is not restricted to brain imaging. It differs from CT or MRI in that it images radioactive chemicals that enable the researcher or clinician to understand how the body handles the chemistry of life and disease. It is an extremely sensitive technique, and can be used in any part of the body. Besides Parkinson’s and cancer, PET scans are also used in research into Alzheimer’s, depression, schizophrenia, fetal alcohol syndrome and other ailments. There is a good description of the process here.
March 3 The Surrey Food Bank began distributing food to the unemployed and needy, operating out of store-front premises in the Evergreen Mall at Fraser Highway and 152nd Street.
March 9 The Royal Yacht Britannia sailed into Vancouver with the Queen and Prince Philip aboard. At B.C. Place the Queen, in an international hookup, invited the world to Expo 86. On this same voyage, she turned the first shovel of soil in the construction of Canada Place. Enthusiasm over the prospect of a world exposition was tempered by nagging unemployment, with, among other gloomy news, word that none of five shipyards on the North Shore (Burrard Yarrows, Vancouver Shipyards, BelAire, Allied and Matsumoto) had any new shipbuilding contracts pending. It is expected 2,500 workers will be unemployed by July.
While she was here, the Queen also officially opened the Graham Amazon Gallery at the Vancouver Aquarium. On hand were patrons Jim and Isabelle Graham and aquarium president Ron Basford. To quote the aquarium’s website , “The Graham Amazon Gallery invites visitors to experience and discover the extraordinary diversity and interdependence of aquatic and terrestrial life in the Amazon as they walk through a re-creation of South America’s tropical rainforest.” You can find out here what the gallery’s piranhas are fed.
April 4 Bill Rea, who had started CKNW Radio, died in Santa Barbara, California, aged 74. J. Lyman Potts wrote a nice appreciation of him for the Canadian Communications Foundation: “Innovator and ‘human dynamo’,” Potts wrote, “Bill Rea obtained a licence for CKNW New Westminster in 1944 and promoted it to become one of the most dynamic radio stations in Canada. Focusing on Vancouver from a suburban community, Rea churned out imaginative campaigns that not only brought CKNW to local prominence, but also set new standards for the promoting and selling of radio advertising in Canada. He soon became famous for his “Top Dog” promotion using a Top Dog character created for him by a former Walt Disney artist.
“In his community work, Rae created The Orphans’ Fund for underprivileged and handicapped children which became the largest fund of its kind in Canadian radio. He introduced ‘open line’ programming to B.C. and radio news reporters covering assigned ‘beats’.
“In failing health resulting from a heart attack in 1954, Rae sold CKNW in 1956 to Frank Griffiths. It became the foundation on which Western Broadcasting (later to become Western International Communications) was built.
“In 1985, Bill Rea was inducted posthumously into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Broadcast Hall of Fame.”
And see the 1994 book Top Dog where it notes that Rea began hourly newscasts during the war, which no one locally had been doing, and also stayed on the air 24 hours a day, a new idea then.
Bill Rea was born December 27, 1908 in Edmonton, moved to Vancouver in 1937. He began his radio career in Edmonton with children’s programs, and also aired a cooking program with his sister. In 1937 he was made commercial manager at CJAT, Trail. Later that same year, he came to Vancouver, worked at CJOR and CKMO (later CFUN). Known for his five-musician hillbilly band as leader, singer and bass player. After his “retirement,” and move to California with his family, he bought KBBO and KBBY-FM in Ventura, Calif.
April 5 The Surrey Festival of Dance, the largest festival of its type in North America, began, will run to May 7. There are classes in Irish, Polynesian, Highland, ballet, tap, stage and jazz dancing.
April 16 Stanley E. Higgs, Anglican minister, died in Vancouver, aged about 79. He was born in 1904 in Warwickshire, Eng. He served overseas with the Royal Canadian Corp of Chaplains from 1941 to 1946, and then 14 years in the Cariboo. He assisted at Christ Church Cathedral, then served as rector of St. Michael’s from May 30, 1949 to 1960. In 1957, he charged that general manager Cedric Tallis of the Vancouver Mounties would be in contempt of law if he pursued Sunday ball games. Higgs was a track judge at the 1954 British Empire Games in Vancouver, and in April 1958, in Cardiff, Wales. From 1960 to 1968 he was chaplain of Haney Correctional Institute. In September 1968 he was named executive head of Vancouver’s Central City Mission. Canon Higgs retired in April 1974 after 47 years of service. See our 1944 chronology page for an excerpt from a famous poem he wrote in France while attached to the Sixth Canadian Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment.
April 20 Dedication of the Marpole Beautification Works. Mayor Mike Harcourt officiated.
Also April 20 There is a large demonstration at City Hall organized by ASP, the Alliance for the Safety of Prostitutes.
May 5 Melville, Saskatchewan-born (April 22, 1935) Surrey alderman Rita Johnston was elected an MLA for Surrey. She will later (1991) become the first woman to be a provincial premier in Canada, stepping in when Bill Vander Zalm resigned.
May 23 Tsutae Sato, educator, died in Vancouver, aged about 92. He was born in 1891 in Tanekura, Fukushima-ken, Japan. He arrived in Canada July 2, 1917 to teach at the Nippon Kokumin Gakko, Japanese Citizens School on Alexander Street. Sato married Hanako Awaka (d. May 4, 1983, Vancouver), a teacher, in 1921. Together, they ran the Vancouver Japanese Language School from 1906 to 1942. The growth in number of Japanese residents in Vancouver led to the building of the Japanese Hall at 475 Alexander, dedicated March 19, 1928, for community activities and the school. In 1979 the Satos established scholarships in Japanese studies at UBC. In 1978 Tsutae was awarded the Order of Canada.
May Edmonton-born (June 16, 1938) Lance Finch, 44, had been a lawyer since 1963 (he was on the UBC rowing team while he studied for his law degree). He became a judge in May 1983 with his appointment to the B.C. Supreme Court. He will become Chief Justice of British Columbia in 2001.
June 19 Premier Bill Bennett opened Canada’s first domed stadium, Vancouver’s 60,000-seat BC Place. There is a good Wikipedia article on the stadium, the largest in the world with an air-supported dome, here.
After the opening of BC Place, Empire Stadium fell into disuse and would be demolished in 1993.
June 20 In the first event at just-opened BC Place Stadium, the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team defeated the Seattle Sounders.
June 24 WIC (Western International Communications Ltd.) was incorporated under that name. Its two major assets: BCTV and CKNW radio.
June 30 Mary Livingstone (born Sadie Marks), radio performer, died in Hollywood, California, aged 78 . . . maybe. She was born June 23, 1905 . . . maybe . . . in Seattle, lived in Vancouver as a child. Her father David Marks was a founder and president of Vancouver’s Schara Tzedeck synagogue. She met Benny Kubelsky (better known as Jack Benny), a vaudeville performer, at a Passover seder at her family’s home, Ferrara Court (504 E. Hastings) in 1922. If the 1905 birthdate shown on her listing in the Internet Movie Database is correct, then she was about 17 when they first met, although legend has it that she was 13. She met Jack again in 1926—when she was either 17 or 21—while she was working at The May Co. department store in Los Angeles. They married in 1927. As Mary Livingstone, she played his wisecracking partner for 21 years on his radio show.
They did the show from Vancouver in 1944. To see a picture of Mary and the rest of the Benny show gang while they were here, and to read a sample of the show’s gags at Jack’s expense, go here.
July 15 The B.C. Federation of Labour announced the formation of Operation Solidarity. Some background: following the defeat of the NDP government in 1975, Premier Bill Bennett’s Social Credit government proposed laws that the Federation opposed. The bills would have cut social programs, doing away with the Rentalsman and Human Rights Commission and cutting the size of the provincial public service by 25 per cent. The legislation fueled the long held enmity the labor movement felt for Social Credit. Federation President Art Kube promised a province-wide general strike, including school teachers, public servants and all other trade and craft unions in Federation jurisdiction, if Bennett did not back down.
July 15 Robert Gordon Rogers was sworn in as B.C.’s lieutenant-governor, succeeding Henry Bell-Irving.
July 24 The World Council of Churches began its sixth assembly in Vancouver, continuing to August 10. There were 301 member churches involved. See this site.
August 2 The Province newspaper came out for the first time in a tabloid format. Prior to this time it had been what in newspaper circles is called a “broadsheet.”The Vancouver Sun still is.
August 10 A Solidarity rally at Empire Stadium was held by more than 40,000 public and private sector workers to protest the Social Credit government’s restraint policy.
September 18 Joe Philliponi (born Filippone), nightclub owner, was shot to death, aged 70. He was born January 1, 1913 in southern Italy. He came to Vancouver in the early 1930s and started Eagle-Time Delivery Systems (1934), later acquiring taxi cabs. In 1945 he opened The Penthouse dinner club at 1019 Seymour, presenting big names like Sammy Davis, Jr. and George Burns. On December 31, 1975 the club was closed by the vice squad; in 1977, he was charged with living off prostitution but the conviction was quashed. His business licence was withdrawn but re-approved by city council in 1979. His murder was linked to a robbery attempt. Some 800 people attended his funeral, a crowd described as including “Supreme Court justices, businessmen and dancers.”
Two men were convicted of the murder, Scott Ogilvie Forsyth and Sydney Vincent Morrisroe. Both were jailed. For a more detailed story see this site. Morrisroe was released from prison in 2003 after 19 years. Scott Forsyth was granted full parole in April of 2004.
October 4 Ronald McDonald House opened in Vancouver.
How it began: in 1969 Fred Hill, a linebacker with the Philadelphia Eagles, and his wife Fran were told their three-year-old daughter Kimberly had leukemia. Hill and his wife Fran took Kim to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. For the next few months they slept in chairs in Kim’s room, ate out of vending machines and tried not to show sadness in front of her. Hill talked to his teammates and asked for help in raising funds, not just for Kim but for all kids whose parents needed help.
Out of that painful experience came the idea for Ronald McDonald House. (The McDonald’s Restaurants franchise owners in Philadelphia got behind the idea in a big way.)
There are more than 250 of these houses now. They’re described as homes-away-from-home for families with children undergoing life-saving treatments at nearby hospitals. Locally owned and controlled, and supported by donations, they offer the children and their families a place to stay at a nominal overnight fee.
Vancouver’s opened at 4116 Angus Drive in Shaughnessy today. Ron Marcoux, who headed McDonald’s for Western Canada, officiated and helped Canadian prima ballerina Karen Kain cut the ribbon. (Ms. Kain happened to be in town with the National Ballet and quickly agreed to make an appearance.) The three-storey renovated house has 15 bedrooms, a playroom and more. The house is on a beautiful piece of land about 15 minutes from the Children’s Hospital. Find out more at this site.
October 8 The official opening of the Samson V Maritime Museum. The Samson V was a sternwheel snagpuller that worked on the Fraser River, until her retirement in 1980 when she was restored and transformed into this unique museum. Incidentally, late in 1995 the Samson V began to sink! She’s fixed and fine now.
October 15 The Vancouver Art Gallery moved into the old courthouse. After a hugely successful fund-raising campaign to “take the art gallery to court”—$8 million was raised, twice the intended target and more than any other arts organization had ever raised in the city—the new gallery now found itself in immensely larger and more attractive surroundings. The 1912 provincial courthouse, originally designed by Francis Rattenbury, was redesigned by Arthur Erickson’s architectural firm, with Eva Matsuzaki the Associate-in-Charge. (She is now head of Matsuzaki Architects Inc.). One excellent innovation: escalators.
The gallery is the largest in western Canada, with nearly 8,000 works in its collection, valued at more than $100 million. The website is very handsome.
1983 was also the year the gallery finally bought an Emily Carr painting. They had declined to earlier. “It wasn’t art,” arts reviewer Anthony Robertson wrote, “as they understood art.” Today, the gallery boasts—rightly—that it holds the world’s largest collection of paintings by Ms. Carr.
Also October 15 The first issue of ExpoPulse! appeared. It was a weekly newsletter written by Chuck Davis and aimed at individuals and companies hoping to do business with Expo 86. ExpoPulse! ended publication when the exposition opened in May, 1986.
October 23 The Kuan Yin Buddhist Temple at 9160 Steveston Highway in Richmond was dedicated. It was the first architecturally authentic Buddhist Temple in North America. The architect, Vincent Kwan, produced a building that has been called “the most exquisite example of Chinese palatial architecture in North America.” Operated by the International Buddhist Society, the temple serves regular attendees as well as being open to the general public for lectures, meditation classes and tea ceremonies. “Kwan,” architectural historian Harold Kalman reminds us, “also designed the smaller, but somewhat similar, Universal Buddhist Temple (1978) at 525 East 49th Avenue in Vancouver.”
October 29 The Terry Fox Library in Port Coquitlam was officially opened by Terry’s parents, Betty and Rolland Fox. A commemorative plaque was unveiled, and a statue of Terry—created by George Pratt from Nelson Island granite—was unveiled.
October 31 The B.C. Government Employees Union contract expired, and the union’s 35,000 members went on strike. They would be followed a week later by all but a few of the province’s school teachers. More strikes were planned. Operation Solidarity appeared to be working.
November 13 From The Greater Vancouver Book: “A showdown between organized labor and the provincial government was averted by Jack Munro, head of the province’s largest private sector union, the 40,000-member International Woodworkers of America. The BC Federation of Labour had planned to order the IWA out on strike, but Munro felt his membership alone was responsible for when it would choose to strike. ‘Munro would be damned if he’d let community groups, feminists and church leaders make decisions about his members going on strike and losing wages,’ Jane O’Hara wrote in Union Jack, the 1988 biography of Munro she wrote with him. Munro felt the labor movement looked bad in the final days of Solidarity’s windup to a general strike. He felt the operation was bound to fail: ‘In my mind, if you call a general strike, he said, ‘you’d better be in good enough shape to win it—which means, basically overthrowing the government.’ There was an awareness that a long, bitter confrontation would result in economic losses harmful to both sides. Munro and Premier Bennett met in the premier’s home in Kelowna late November 13 and agreed to a package that included no reprisals against those who went on strike.” There would be no general strike.
Also November 13 It was announced that the old 1910 Post Office building at Hastings and Granville and adjacent buildings were to get a $40 million facelift and that, effective November 14, they would also get a new name: Sinclair Centre. The name was chosen to honor prominent businessman James Sinclair of West Vancouver, a former Liberal MP and federal fisheries minister (and father of Margaret Trudeau).
The complex, at 757 West Hastings between Granville and Howe, also includes the 1911 Winch Building, the Customs Examining Warehouse (1913), and the 1937 Federal Building. Elite shops like Armani and Leone are there, as well as smaller boutiques, art galleries, and a food court.
The complex would be shaped by architect Richard Henriquez working with Toby, Russell, Buckwell & Partners.
November 15 In New Westminster The Columbian, BC’s oldest newspaper (established in 1861), published its last edition. Growing costs and non-growing revenues forced it into bankruptcy after 122 years. One of its writers, Douglas Todd, moved to The Vancouver Sun, where he became an award-winning writer on religion and ethics.
November 22 Firebombs go off at three Red Hot Video outlets. A group calling itself the Wimmin’s Fire Brigade claims responsibility. Five people (the “Squamish Five”) will be arrested January 20, 1983 and, for this and other acts, will be jailed for lengthy terms. See this site for more details.
November 20 Heritage Hall opened. It’s that Disneylandish building on the east side of Main at East 15th. It’s home today to a number of non-profit social agencies. Here’s what their website says about the history of the building: 1916-49 Opened/operated as Postal Station C, Mount Pleasant; 1937-63 Operated as the Dominion Agricultural Building; 1963-76 Occupied/operated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; 1976-82 Vacant and allowed to fall into disuse.
“In March 1982,” the site continues, “a non-profit charitable organization named the Main Source Management Society (renamed the Heritage Hall Preservation Society in March 2001) was formed to restore the old Post Office and re-open it as a community and cultural resource centre for Vancouver. Funds were raised from many sources and work on the most urgent repairs began in early 1983.”
For more details, visit their web site. A funky fact: genuine plant and animal fossils can be seen in its marble walls.
November 22 A violent and costly riot erupted at the Lower Mainland Regional Correctional Centre (Oakalla.) Rioters caused over $150,000 damage in a two-day spree.
November 25 World light-heavyweight champ Michael Spinks, 27, kayoed Peru’s Oscar Rivadeneyra in the Pacific Coliseum. This was a title fight for both the WBC and the WBA crowns.
November 27 The first Grey Cup Game was played at B.C. Place Stadium. 59,345 fans saw the Lions lose a squeaker, 18-17, to the Toronto Argonauts. The coverage of the game (both CBC and CTV television, CBC Radio and French-language CBC, attracted the largest audience in Canadian broadcast history for a Canadian sports program to that time with 8.1 million.
Also November 27 Kazuyoshi Akiyama became the musical director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
November 30 John Avison, orchestra conductor, died in Vancouver, aged 69. John Henry Patrick Avison was born April 25, 1914 in Vancouver. Writes Constance Brissenden: “He played his first piano concert at age six at Grandview Elementary, at 11 broke in as pianist-announcer at a local radio station. He was awarded a BA from UBC in 1935, a B.Mus at the U. of Washington, in 1936. Avison studied with Paul Hindemith at Juilliard. He was a pianist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
“‘Big John’ was the first conductor of the 35-piece CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, founded by Ira Dilworth. (It later became the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, finally the CBC Radio Orchestra.) In 1971 he conducted the Canadian Arctic’s first orchestral concert. He produced more than 40 recordings. Noted for his support of Canadian composers, Avison ‘belonged to the last generation of the pioneers of music in Canada.’ He twice received the Order of Canada. His December 1, 1983 obituary in the Sun called him ‘. . . the man many music authorities say did more for Canadian music than any other conductor in the country.’”
December 2 Future Shop was incorporated under that name. See more in the 1982 chronology.
Also in 1983
The Vancouver Board of Trade became a member of the World Trade Centres Association. Through this affiliation, it is able to provide communications links to more than 300 trade centres dotted around the globe, an electronic mail service and information search and retrieval from more than 300 databases.
AIDS Vancouver was founded, one of the first AIDS service organizations in Canada. Although the disease wasn’t confined to gay men, news items and articles on AIDS had appeared in The Body Politic, Canada’s leading gay news magazine, in September 1981. In April 1983 the first large public meeting on AIDS held in Toronto was sponsored by Gays in Health Care.
St. Paul’s Hospital admitted its first AIDS patient.
Canada’s first cochlear implant was performed at St. Paul’s.
Ballantyne Pier, a cargo terminal in Vancouver’s east end, was temporarily put into service for cruise passengers while Canada Place was under construction. It has been in continuous service ever since as a convertible facility for pulp and paper products in the winter and cruise passengers in the summer.
Burrard-Yarrows Shipyard in North Vancouver built an icebreaker named the M.V. Terry Fox. To quote from the Wikipedia article: “MV Terry Fox . . . supported Gulf Oil’s operations in the Beaufort Sea during the 1980s. Not limited to escorting tankers through ice, these multipurpose ships were designed to act as heavy tugs and supply vessels to support offshore oil rig platforms in a hostile environment. MV Terry Fox was acquired by the Canadian Coast Guard in 1992 and renamed CCGS Terry Fox. Classed as a “Heavy Gulf Icebreaker” by the coast guard, she is stationed at CCG Base Dartmouth in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and operates in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during the winter ice season and in Canada’s eastern Arctic during the summer shipping season, assisting in escorting the annual Arctic summer sea-lift to coastal communities.”
Dr. K. George Pedersen, who has been president of SFU since 1979, became president of UBC, succeeding Douglas Kenny, president since 1975. Dr. Pedersen will serve to 1985. (The K stands for Knud.)
Taking over from Pedersen at SFU: William Saywell, who will hold the post until 1993 . . . and immediately be faced with financial cutbacks—the “worst financial crisis for universities since the depression”—and responded with painful, painstaking tuition increases, program and staff cuts, salary roll-backs and hiring freezes.
At UBC, the School of Family and Nutritional Sciences Building was officially opened. The School offered four undergraduate programs: Dietetics; Family Science; Home Economics; Human Nutrition, and two graduate programs: Human Nutrition and Family Studies. Students in this school take courses interrelated with the arts, humanities, and social, physical and biological sciences. Professional opportunities include work in dietetics, family research, home economics, teaching, extension services, community agencies, and business and industry. It was renamed the School of Family and Nutritional Sciences in 1984, and is now part of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems.
The main foyer contains a tapestry created by faculty member Joanna Staniszkis.
Construction started on Canada Place. This will be the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 86. The trade and convention centre is here, as is a cruise ship terminal, both now outgrown. At the southern (landward) end of the complex is the Pan Pacific Hotel and Vancouver’s World Trade Centre. There is an IMAX theatre here, too.
The architectural team: Zeidler Roberts Partnership; Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership; Downs/Archambault and Partners. Construction would be finished by 1986.
A new $26 million campus facility for the King Edward Centre of Vancouver Community College was officially opened in the Mount Pleasant area at 1155 East Broadway. Its opening was marked by a trek—billed as “King Edward’s Last Trek”—of more than a thousand students. Most of the students walked, but a few made the trip from the old campus on Oak Street to the new campus on Broadway riding in a horse-drawn carriage. 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 campus library.
Construction started on the Pacific Heights Housing Cooperative in the 1000 block of Pacific Street in Vancouver. Architect was Roger Hughes. Harold Kalman writes of this project: “Of the many attempts to preserve a cluster of old frame West End houses while responding to high land prices and the need to intensify development, this may be the most successful. Eight early residences were moved—first backwards, to build garages beneath them, then forward and closer to the street than originally, and sideways to read as four pairs—and converted into duplexes. One had to be rebuilt entirely. A medium-rise infill building containing stacked two-storey apartments was erected behind them, providing a backdrop. Additional density provided by the city to encourage preservation allowed the creation of 91 units where once there were only eight.”
The project was completed by 1985.
Canadian National resumed sole management of the Hotel Vancouver, taking over from Hilton which had been running the hotel under contract from CN.
Fraser Valley Credit Union, which had started in 1949 with fourteen charter members and $48 in assets, but which had grown considerably, expanded into the insurance industry. (In 2001 FVCU will merge with the Edelweiss Credit Union. In 2003 they will change their name to Prospera Credit Union.)
Surrey Metro Savings—which had started May 5, 1947 as a closed bond credit union, open only to members of the Surrey Cooperative, expanded to become a community credit union. In 2006, it’s Canada’s second largest credit union.
The Green Party of British Columbia was founded by Paul George and Adriane Carr.
The Simon Fraser Gallery was established at Simon Fraser University “to support and enhance the academic excellence and well-being of the students, faculty, staff and the general public through the gallery’s ongoing collection and exhibitions programs.” The gallery holds more than 2,500 works of art, mostly Contemporary Canadian and Inuit, and includes a collection of B.C. art second only to that of the Vancouver Art Gallery. The exhibition program involves four rotating exhibition spaces and the permanent installation of more than 100 works of art at both the Burnaby Mountain and Harbour Centre campuses.
The Cloverdale Rodeo attracted more contestants than the Calgary Stampede this year and packed 20,000 spectators into the arena. The consensus was that its success was largely due to Will Senger, who had taken over as the Rodeo chairman in 1974 and helped to orchestrate a 10-year turnaround. Their web site has a good history of the rodeo, the origins of which can be traced back to February of 1888.
Colony Farm at Riverview (Mental Hospital), which had been started in 1905, closed.
The UBC University Bookstore was built.
The “Pacific Bell,” a gift to UBC by the Japanese government, was made and presented to UBC by master craftsman Masahiko Katori, who has constructed 105 bells, two of which are in North America. (The other, the “Friendship Bell,” is in San Diego.) Katori was given the official title of “living national treasure” by the Japanese government for his skill in the declining art of fine metal casting and bell making. This is the highest and most prestigious title any Japanese artisan can hold for his skills. (Katori also made the Hiroshima Peace Bell.) The tower housing the bell is built of B.C. western yellow cedar–very similar to Hiba, or Japanese Yellow Cedar. Its design dates back more than 800 years to the Kamakura period. Prefabricated in Japan and assembled here, the structure–built at an estimated cost of $80,000–is held together without a single nail, with the exception of the eaves and the roof. Its location was chosen by Mr. Katori while on a visit to UBC, with special attention to the acoustics of the site. Construction costs were high because UBC imported skilled tradesmen from Japan to assemble the structure. The three characters on the bell mean “Clear thoughts lead to a tranquil mind.”
The Canadian Radio-Television and Communication Commission licensed pay television. The first licences went to a pair of movie networks — Superchannel and First Choice.
John Eliot Gardiner ended his term as principal conductor of the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, which had begun in 1980, and was succeeded by Mario Bernardi. There is a good overview of Sir John’s career (he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998) at this site.
Mario Bernardi—whose work in establishing and shaping the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa had made him famous—was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario August 20, 1930. The Canadian Encyclopedia article on him says, in part: “Gardiner had changed the orchestra’s emphasis from championing new compositions to perfecting authentic baroque style, but Bernardi moved back to the model set by the orchestra’s founding director, John Avison, nonetheless taking advantage of the training the orchestra had received to present baroque repertoire with his characteristic clarity and precision.”
Bernardi is still at the helm of the orchestra.
Bryan Adams began his ascent to superstardom with the album Cuts Like A Knife.
The Phoenix Choir was formed by conductor Cortland Hultberg. It immediately established itself as one of the finest of Canada’s choirs, winning First Place in the Contemporary and Chamber Choir categories of the CBC Choral competitions and again in 1994. In 1995 Hultberg was succeeded as artistic director by Ramona Luengen.
With the breakup of Terminal City Dance (launched in 1976) choreographer Karen Rimmer, one of the two originators of the company, reverted to her maiden name and launched the Karen Jamieson Dance Company. The company is described as “as a vehicle for the creation and production of works exploring dance as a poetic language, engaging in cross-cultural dialogue with First Nations artists, addressing the spirit of place and creating dance within communities.”
The first 3-D feature movie was made here: Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone, directed by Lamont Johnson. Movie reviewer Michael Walsh wrote: “Bat men and barracuda women are among the stereoscopic shocks a galactic mercenary (Peter Strauss) encounters on forbidden planet Terra Eleven, all created on Bridge stages.” A curious trivia bit: director Johnson played Tarzan, the Ape Man, on radio in the early 1950s.
Other 1983 films:
Star 80, directed by Bob Fosse. Mariel Hemingway, 22 at the time, starred in the tragic story of Dorothy Stratten, the Vancouver beauty who became a Playboy Magazine model, then a movie actress and finally a 1980 murder victim at the hands of her husband. Says Leonard Maltin about the film: “Extremely well-crafted, well-acted movie that leaves viewer with nothing but a feeling of voyeurism—and no redeeming insights.”
The Terry Fox Story, directed by Ralph Thomas. Eric Fryer played Terry in this made-for-TV movie that concentrated on the Marathon of Hope.
Deserters An idealistic Canadian immigration officer (Dermot Hennelly) and his wife (Barbara March) find themselves at odds with a U.S. Army sergeant (Alan Scarfe) who is using them to get at Vietnam war resisters. Jack Darcus wrote and directed.
Philip Borsos’ movie The Grey Fox, released in 1982, the story of train robber Bill Miner, was nominated for Best Film at the Golden Globe Awards.
The 225-seat Arts Club Revue Theatre first opened with the show An Evening with Ruth and Leon, a concert of songs performed by local stars Leon Bibb and Ruth Nichol.
John Gray’s musical hit Billy Bishop Goes to War, the initial production of which starred Gray and Eric Peterson, won the Governor General’s Award for Drama. It had premiered November 11, 1978 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre.
The Sechelt Festival of the Written Arts was established. Vancouver-born (November 4, 1930) writer Betty Keller was the prime motivator of what is described as the first major annual literary festival in BC.
The book Bennett II: The Decline and Stumbling of Social Credit Government in BC 1979-1983, by Chicago-born (1941) Stan Persky, appeared.
The book Fond memories: recollections of Britannia High School’s first 75 years, 1908-1983, appeared, edited by Clive Cocking. It was published by the Britannia High School Diamond Jubilee Reunion Committee. Among the alumni who reminisce within its pages: Dave Barrett and Robert Bonner.
The book Teach me to fly, Skyfighter! and other stories, by Paul Yee, and illustrated by SKY Lee, appeared. It’s described as “stories about a group of Chinese-Canadian children growing up in Vancouver’s Chinatown and Strathcona districts.” It includes an afterword which summarizes the history of the Chinese community in British Columbia. (This was a busy year for Yee: he also submitted his MA thesis at UBC on “Chinese Business in Vancouver 1886-1914.”
The book Circle of Voices: A History of the Religious Communities of British Columbia, by Charles Anderson, et al, appeared. It was timed to appear during the sixth assembly of the World Council of Churches held in Vancouver.
A number of publications debuted in 1983. They included:
Angles: magazine of Vancouver’s queer voice A monthly magazine offering a gay-lesbian perspective on contemporary events, politics, arts and entertainment.
Canadian Operating Room Nursing Journal A quarterly published by the Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada.
Canadian Traveller A monthly publication of the travel industry.
Community Digest A weekly journal serving the South Asian, East African, Middle Eastern, aboriginal and black Canadian ethnic communities.
Discorder Magazine A monthly publication, free, reporting on alternative rock and other music played by local radio stations.
Head to Toe A quarterly, free, published by the British Columbia Medical Association, with news on public health.
Robotronics Age Newsletter A monthly published by Twenty-First Century Media Communications, Inc.
Thorn A semi-monthly free publication for students at Kwantlen College in Surrey.
The Coquitlam landfill, full to capacity, closed. Gases generated by the landfill, owned by the Greater Vancouver Regional District, are now used as heating fuel for a nearby newsprint recycling plant.
Military forces in El Salvador have been brutally cracking down on the populace and many have fled. The federal government introduced a special refugee program for Salvadorans this year, and nearly 3,000 came to Canada this year alone. Some settled in Vancouver.
Salim Jiwa joined the Province as a reporter. He will become known for his crime stories, especially the Air India Flight 182 bombing in 1985, in which everyone on board—329 people—was killed.
The African-Canadian Association of British Columbia was formed in Vancouver.
The restoration of St. Paul’s Indian Church in North Vancouver, which began in 1980, was completed. St. Paul’s, its distinctive twin spires a north shore landmark since 1909, is designated a National Historic Site. (The church was built in 1884, its towers added 25 years later.)
Founded as a committee of St. Alban’s Anglican Church in 1983, the Richmond Food Bank is now a separate society assisting about 250 families weekly. It also provides food to other community organizations, including a women’s shelter and a family drop-in centre.
The Surrey Self-Help Society for the Under-Employed was formed in June 1983, after the Surrey Co-ordinating Centre, the United Way, and other groups joined to address the growing problem of hunger in Surrey. Now the Surrey Food Bank Society helps 5,600 residents of Surrey and North Delta monthly. The Food Bank also operates community kitchens, at which people join to cook quantities of food which they then divide up and take home, and food buying clubs, which allow members to buy food in bulk at substantial savings. Other successful Surrey Food Bank projects include a cable TV show, “the Thrifty Kitchen,” a recipe book with the same name, and four recyling deports.
The federal government purchased B.C. Packers harbor in Steveston. To be known as Paramount Harbour, it is to accommodate 700 commercial fishing vessels.
Three Richmond men—Lloyd Yodogawa, Dan Milkovich and Grant Kuramoto—were gold medalists in judo at the Canada Winter Games.
Jim Kojima, “Mr. Judo,” is named to the Order of Canada for his 40-year involvement in judo as participant, referee, coach and organizer.
In Lions Bay two teenage boys died and five homes were destroyed or damaged when a debris torrent poured tons of mud and logs down Alberta Creek. The creek was later channelized with a concrete lining.
The Greater Vancouver Regional District created Crippen Regional Park out of the 640 remaining acres of the old Union Steamship property on Bowen Island. The park includes a heritage building that was once a Union Steamship Company store. (Glen Crippen was a senior consulting engineer who owned the property before the GVRD purchase.)
