Jean Swanson
CM
Swanson in 2012
Vancouver City Councillor
In office
November 5, 2018[1] – November 7, 2022
Personal details
Born1942 or 1943 (age 80–81)[2]
NationalityCanadian
Political partyCOPE
Residence(s)Vancouver, British Columbia
Occupation
  • Activist
  • writer
AwardsOrder of Canada

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]

Activism

Jean 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.[3] She believes that "The way to 'revitalize' (the) community would be to restore purchasing power to the low-income residents who live (there): Raise welfare rates, end the barriers to getting on welfare and boost the minimum wage."[4]

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".[5][6]

In the 1980s, Swanson worked with the BC Solidarity Coalition, as well as Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA).[6]

She was also previous national chair of the National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO),[7] and Swanson is also the author of Poor Bashing: The Politics of Exclusion.

Awards and recognition

In 2016, she was inducted into the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour, with the grade of member.[8] 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."[6] 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."[6]

In 2021, she was the subject of Teresa Alfield's short documentary film Jean Swanson: We Need a New Map.[9]

Electoral record

2018 Vancouver municipal election: Vancouver City Council
Party Candidate VotesElected
GreenAdriane Carr69,739Green tickY
GreenPete Fry61,806Green tickY
NPAMelissa De Genova53,251Green tickY
COPEJean Swanson48,865Green tickY
NPAColleen Hardwick47,747Green tickY
GreenMichael Wiebe45,593Green tickY
OneCityChristine Boyle45,455Green tickY
NPALisa Dominato44,689Green tickY
NPARebecca Bligh44,053Green tickY
NPASarah Kirby-Yung43,581Green tickY
Vancouver municipal by-election, October 14, 2017
Resignation of Geoff Meggs
Party Candidate Votes%Elected
NPAHector Bremner13,37227.83Green tickY
COPEJean Swanson10,26321.36
GreenPete Fry975920.31
OneCityJudy Graves632713.17
VisionDiego Cardona541111.26
Sensible VancouverMary Jean Dunsdon17373.62
IndependentGary Lee8861.84
IndependentDamian J. Murphy1570.33
IndependentJoshua Wasilenkoff1310.27

References

  1. 1 2 Fumano, Dan (November 6, 2018). "Collegiality reigns as Vancouver's new council starts work". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Campbell, Chris (June 30, 2018). "Order of Canada recipient arrested at Burnaby pipeline protest". Burnaby Now. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  3. ↑ Swanson, Jean. Downtown Eastside Seeks Foreign Aid, The Tyee Magazine, Oct 18, 2007
  4. ↑ Swanson, Jean. Why poverty is worse than it was 30 years ago, Canadian Dimension Magazine, February 21, 2006
  5. ↑ "End Legislated Poverty homepage". Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "News Release: Carleton University's Kroeger College Announces 2007 Winners of the Arthur Kroeger Awards", March 28, 2007 quoted at
  7. ↑ Thobani, Sunera. Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada, University of Toronto Press, 2007, ISBN 0-8020-9454-6
  8. ↑ "Olympians, jurists, researchers among 113 new appointments to Order of Canada". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Charlie Smith, "Five Canadian films to watch in VIFF Short Forum". The Georgia Straight, September 23, 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.