Bruce Eriksen (March 22, 1928 – March 16, 1997) was a Canadian artist, social activist and founder of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Downtown Eastside Residents Association The Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) was a non-profit society in the Downtown Eastside area of Vancouver, operating from 1973 until 2010. The association was founded by Bruce Eriksen, Libby Davies, Jean Swanson, University of Victoria ...

(DERA). Eriksen and DERA are recognised for materially improving the lives of residents in the Downtown Eastside ( DTES).

Childhood and youth

Bruce Eriksen was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, a child of an immigrant Danish couple. When he was five years old, he and two brothers were sent away to ''Knowles School for Boys'', an orphanage, after the death of his mother. He ran away from the school at the age of twelve, and rode the freight trains to the West Coast, arriving in the DTES at age 14. By age sixteen he boarded a grain freight ship bound for

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. Upon his return to

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, he logged in the

Franklin River The Franklin River is a major perennial river located in the Central Highlands (Tasmania), Central Highlands and Western Tasmania, western regions of Tasmania, Australia. The river is located in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park at ...

and

Port Alberni Port Alberni () is a city located on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The city lies within the Alberni Valley at the head of the Alberni Inlet, Vancouver Island's longest inlet. Port Alberni currently has a total popu ...

regions. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Eriksen worked in a shipyard in Vancouver, and became a member of the Seafarers' International Union of Canada. He eventually became an ironworker until a serious back injury forced him to take more sedentary work.

Advocacy

In 1973, Vancouver city planner Peter Davies decided what was needed to address some of the DTES' health and social problems (high rates of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and other communicable diseases related to poverty) was a democratic organization. He enlisted the support of Eriksen,

Jean Swanson Jean Swanson (born ) 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 cou ...

and

Libby Davies Libby Davies (born February 27, 1953) is a Canadian politician from British Columbia. She was the member of Parliament for Vancouver East from 1997 to 2015, House leader for the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011, and deputy leade ...

, who organized DERA. The group's mandate was to build a democratic voice within the neighbourhood. The organization required its members to be residents of the community, which for many years had been known only by the pejorative Skid Road. DERA renamed the area the

Downtown Eastside The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a list of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the DTES is the site of a complex set of social issues, including disproportio ...

. The contributions of DERA and Bruce Eriksen to the people of the DTES include the passing of a bylaw requiring hotels and rooming houses to have sprinkler systems, strong efforts in respect to rezoning, in order to protect

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...

in the Downtown Eastside, and establishing the

Carnegie Community Centre Carnegie Community Centre is located at 401 Main Street at the corner of Hastings Street, in the old Carnegie Public Library building in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1901 Vancouver requested $50,000 from industrialis ...

. Another accomplishment was the lighting of neighbourhood lanes and alleyways at night to prevent robberies, sexual assaults and beatings. Davies describes Eriksen's advocacy of the sprinkler bylaw: "Neither the province nor the city made it mandatory for

single-room occupancy Single-room occupancy (SRO) is a type of low-cost housing typically aimed at residents with low or minimal incomes, or single adults who like a minimalist lifestyle, who rent small, furnished single rooms with a bed, chair, and sometimes a smal ...

(SRO) hotels to have sprinkler systems. Approximately 25 people died every year, 40 in 1973. DERA worked hard to have the bylaw changed. The struggle was ignored by the city and fought against by the landlords who threatened to close permanently if they were required to put sprinkler systems in. The fire deaths of five people in the Commercial Hotel on Cambie Street allowed Bruce Eriksen to corner the mayor at the site of the burning building in front of the media and demand he bring in sprinkler laws to stop the unnecessary deaths. This incident led to the passing of the (Vancouver) Fire Sprinkler Bylaw, responsible for the saving of many lives."

Politics

In 1980, Eriksen was elected to

Vancouver City Council Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city ...

as a member of

Coalition of Progressive Electors The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) is a municipal political party in the Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia. It has traditionally been associated with tenants, environmentalists, and the labour movement. COPE is generally gu ...

, and he served in that capacity for six consecutive times, finally retiring in 1993.

Personal life

He was the

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

spouse of fellow city councillor

, who later became a

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

MP for

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. They had one child together. Bruce Eriksen died on March 16, 1997, after a year-long fight with cancer.

Legacy

Near the corner of Main and Hastings streets, ''Bruce Eriksen Place'', a

social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

project, designed by Vancouver architect

Gregory Henriquez Gregory Henriquez (born 1963) is a Canadian architect who has designed community-based mixed-use residential, commercial and institutional projects in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Seattle. He is the managing principal of Henriquez Partners Arc ...

, was opened in 1996.Neighbourhood Housing Society webpage
, retrieved 2012-03-21 Inscribed on each of the balconies of the building are the words such as "Hope, Integrity, Vote, Dream, Vision, Courage and Respect", in tribute to Eriksen and his contribution to the community he loved. ''Bruce — The Musical'' (originally titled ''The Tipping Point'') is a musical radio drama and stage play by Bob Sarti, with songs and music by Bob Sarti and Earle Peach. It features Bruce Eriksen as a character and describes the origins of DERA.

References

External links

Bruce Eriksen Place Photo

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksen, Bruce Coalition of Progressive Electors councillors 1928 births 1997 deaths Canadian people of Danish descent Deaths from cancer in Canada Politicians from Winnipeg 20th-century Canadian municipal councillors