History
History
Abstract
On February 4, 1958, Vancouver City Council approved the Vancouver Redevelopment Study, which proposed the demolition of over 2400 acres of land predominantly on the east side of the city over a twenty-year period. In the process of urban renewal, over 500 dwellings would be destroyed, displacing an ethnically diverse group of families and low-income residents who had called their neighbourhood home for decades. After watching the demolition of fifteen city blocks to construct Raymur and MacLean Park Public Housing units, the majority of the remaining residents formed the Strathcona Property Owners and Tenants Association (SPOTA), in December 1967, in an attempt to stop the continued demolition of their neighbourhood. SPOTA successfully gained the support of the Federal government, which withheld monies promised to the City of Vancouver for urban renewal. The Provincial government followed suit, thereby forcing the City of Vancouver to listen to the demands of the residents of Strathcona. SPOTA illustrated that their neighbourhood was not just a collection of buildings, but it was also a collection of relationships that helped to shape people’s identities and their sense of belonging. They exposed the legacy of colonialism attached to ideas of urban growth and housing. Due to their neighbourhood advocacy, Strathcona was declared an experimental urban area, and Federal, Provincial, and Municipal money was put towards rehabilitation of the neighbourhood instead of demolition. SPOTA guided rehabilitation to ensure that low-income residents were not displaced throughout the process of improving their neighbourhood, and their connection to place was preserved.
Jennifer Chutter, PhD Candidate, Simon Fraser University