Jean Swanson CM (born 1942 or 1943)[2] is a Canadian politician, anti-poverty activist, and writer in Vancouver, British Columbia. She represented the left-wing Coalition of Progressive Electors on Vancouver City Council as one of Vancouver's 10 at-large city councillors from 2018 to 2022.[1]
Jean Swanson | |
|---|---|
 Swanson in 2012 | |
| Vancouver City Councillor | |
| In office November 5, 2018[1] – November 7, 2022 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1942 or 1943 (age 81–82)[2] |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Political party | COPE |
| Residence(s) | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Occupation |
|
| Awards | Order of Canada |
Activism
editIn the 1980s, Swanson worked with the BC Solidarity Coalition, as well as Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA).[3]
Swanson is a coordinator of Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP), an organization dedicated to the welfare of the Downtown Eastside, one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods.[4][5] Swanson also founded and works with the group End Legislated Poverty, a British Columbia coalition with stated aims to "educate and organize in order to make governments reduce and end poverty".[6][3] She was national chair of the National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO).[7] She authored Poor Bashing: The Politics of Exclusion.
Vancouver City Council
editDuring Swanson's time on Vancouver City Council, she consistently voted for social housing while opposing market-rate housing developments.[8]
In 2017, during her campaign for Vancouver City Council, she called for a rent freeze.[9] She said that she would not support the construction of market-rate housing, as she believed it would cause gentrification and increase rents.[10] In 2019, she voted against allowing a 5-storey apartment building (where one-fifth of the units were below market rates) in Kitsilano, a 35-storey building in Woodland, and 79 rental units in the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood, arguing they would gentrify the neighbourhood and displace residents.[11][12][13] That year, she also voted against allowing the conversion of a single-family lot into 21 townhomes, arguing that the rents would be too high and that only the landlord would benefit.[14]
In 2022, she voted against a 39-storey building (with one-fifth of the units set aside for below market rate rents), arguing that the building would lead to increases in rents in nearby buildings.[15]
In 2021, she voted in favour of allowing 12-storey apartment buildings of social housing without a rezoning application.[16]
In 2022, she voted against a major rezoning plan for the Broadway corridor that permitted 40-storey mixed-use developments near SkyTrain stations, as well as the replacement of older, small 10-unit buildings with 15- to 20-storey buildings. She argued that this was not the "housing we need for the working class".[17] During the debates on rezoning, she asked "If people are driving into Vancouver for jobs, wouldn't it be better to increase the jobs elsewhere outside of Vancouver so people don't have to drive so far?"[18]
Awards and recognition
editIn 2016, she was inducted into the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour, with the grade of member.[19] Swanson was also the recipient of the 2007 Carleton University Kroeger College Award for Citizenship and Community Affairs, an award recognizing "creativity, persistence, and overall leadership in demonstrating the value of a locally based initiative."[3] Swanson was chosen for the award "for her tireless work against poverty in Canada. (She) is a private individual living in Vancouver who the jury concluded best represented the qualities of commitment, leadership, and community ties."[3]
In 2021, she was the subject of Teresa Alfield's short documentary film Jean Swanson: We Need a New Map.[20]
Electoral record
edit| 2018 Vancouver municipal election: Vancouver City Council | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Elected | |||||
| Green | Adriane Carr | 69,739 | 
| |||||
| Green | Pete Fry | 61,806 |
| |||||
| NPA | Melissa De Genova | 53,251 |
| |||||
| COPE | Jean Swanson | 48,865 |
| |||||
| NPA | Colleen Hardwick | 47,747 |
| |||||
| Green | Michael Wiebe | 45,593 |
| |||||
| OneCity | Christine Boyle | 45,455 |
| |||||
| NPA | Lisa Dominato | 44,689 |
| |||||
| NPA | Rebecca Bligh | 44,053 |
| |||||
| NPA | Sarah Kirby-Yung | 43,581 |
| |||||
| Vancouver municipal by-election, October 14, 2017 Resignation of Geoff Meggs | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Elected | ||||
| NPA | Hector Bremner | 13,372 | 27.83 |
| ||||
| COPE | Jean Swanson | 10,263 | 21.36 | |||||
| Green | Pete Fry | 9759 | 20.31 | |||||
| OneCity | Judy Graves | 6327 | 13.17 | |||||
| Vision | Diego Cardona | 5411 | 11.26 | |||||
| Sensible Vancouver | Mary Jean Dunsdon | 1737 | 3.62 | |||||
| Independent | Gary Lee | 886 | 1.84 | |||||
| Independent | Damian J. Murphy | 157 | 0.33 | |||||
| Independent | Joshua Wasilenkoff | 131 | 0.27 | |||||
References
edit- ^ a b Fumano, Dan (November 6, 2018). "Collegiality reigns as Vancouver's new council starts work". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
- ^ a b Campbell, Chris (June 30, 2018). "Order of Canada recipient arrested at Burnaby pipeline protest". Burnaby Now. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
- ^ a b c d "News Release: Carleton University's Kroeger College Announces 2007 Winners of the Arthur Kroeger Awards", March 28, 2007 quoted at [1][permanent dead link]
- ^ Swanson, Jean. Downtown Eastside Seeks Foreign Aid, The Tyee Magazine, Oct 18, 2007
- ^ Swanson, Jean. Why poverty is worse than it was 30 years ago, Canadian Dimension Magazine, February 21, 2006
- ^ "End Legislated Poverty homepage". Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
- ^ Thobani, Sunera. Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada, University of Toronto Press, 2007, ISBN 0-8020-9454-6
- ^ "Inside Vancouver City Hall's Housing Wars". The Tyee. 2017.
- ^ "Where candidates for Vancouver city council stand on affordable housing". CBC. 2017.
- ^ "Why a city councillor won't support 'gentrifying' projects amid Vancouver housing crisis". vancouver.citynews.ca. 2019.
- ^ "5-storey rental apartment approved for Kitsilano". CBC. 2019.
- ^ "Vancouver approves more market rental housing after contentious public hearing". CBC. 2019.
- ^ "Vancouver City Council approves two new buildings with 79 rental homes". dailyhive.com. 2019.
- ^ "Vancouver council rejects townhouse development next door to hospice". CBC. 2019.
- ^ "Vancouver approves 39-storey tower for corner of Broadway and Granville Street". CBC. 2022.
- ^ "Vancouver rejects councillor's proposal to fast track future social housing towers". CBC. 2021.
- ^ "Vancouver city council approves Broadway Plan after long debate". CBC. 2022.
- ^ "Vancouver City Councillor Jean Swanson suggests pushing jobs out of city | Urbanized". dailyhive.com. 2022.
- ^ "Olympians, jurists, researchers among 113 new appointments to Order of Canada". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
- ^ Charlie Smith, "Five Canadian films to watch in VIFF Short Forum". The Georgia Straight, September 23, 2021.