Elsie Dean, a longtime activist in Burnaby, recently won the City of Burnaby’s 2014 Outstanding Citizen of the Year award.
“I couldn’t imagine it,” she told the NOW after being named for the award. “It’s quite an honour.”
Dean has lived in Burnaby since 1970 and has been active on a political level since arriving. She is a founding member of the Voices of Burnaby Seniors task force and BROKE – Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion, and was also a founding member of Women Elders in Action – We*Act.
Burnaby city councillors were vocal in their support of Dean as the city’s Kushiro Cup winner, noting her long history of volunteerism and political involvement in the city.
Coun. Dan Johnston recalled seeing election signs with Dean’s name on them back in the 1970s and said Dean has a more comprehensive resumé than most citizens who’ve been honoured.
Mayor Derek Corrigan, who has known Dean for 35 years, saluted her for being a “very dedicated volunteer.”
Dean will receive her award on May 1.
Meanwhile, she recently took the time to share her story, talking about the origins of her social activism with the Burnaby NOW.
Q: When did you first become politically involved and why?
A: My parents were farmers in northern Saskatchewan struggling through the Depression years of the 1930s while raising eight children. My mother believed it was not right that people who worked so hard and produced so much should live in poverty. I often went with my mother to protest meetings. With all this going on around me I learned a lot about social justice as a child. I never thought we would allow the extreme inequality we are experiencing today.
Q. What issues have been most important to you?
A. From my youth and through my life, the most important issue for me is to put an end to war and militarism and create a world at peace. In August 1945, during the final stage of the Second World War, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When I learned of the testing of the atomic bomb in early 1940s, I joined others and we began to study the effects of these tests. I participated in organizing the peace marches of the ’70s and ’80s that included more than 100,000 people. It is puzzling and disappointing to me that all that positive energy dissipated while weapons of mass destruction have become more lethal and wars continue.
Q. Describe the political climate when you first became an activist. What was that like for you?
A. It was the dirty ’30s and people were not happy with the economy at the time, and demanded governments take more responsibility in relieving poverty. Protests were everywhere. It was at this time that talk of war was in the news, Spanish Civil War and impending war with the Nazi government in Germany.
Q. Who inspired you most in your early days as an activist? Who inspires you now?
A. My inspiration always comes when people get together to take a stand up against wars, racism, equality such as rights of women and others. I am inspired today as I see the native people of Canada standing up for justice and inviting all of us to join them in working for the health of the planet.
Q. What are the differences between fighting for women’s rights in the ’70s and fighting for the rights of female elders now?
A. In the ’70s women organized to demand equality, remove discriminating laws and customs. Women have achieved much to overcome inequality, but the effects linger on and are still felt by those women today. Older women were active in the movement of Gray Power, which was a response to government cuts to many programs fought for in the past. In 1999, older women got together and established an organization, We*Act – Women Elders in Action, to research and remove the effects of inequality on older women. For lack of interest We*Act folded in 2012.
Q. What are the main issues for seniors today, and how can communities better accommodate them?
A. Issues for older people are much the same – not enough income to keep up with rising prices. The thing that has changed the most is the ability to afford adequate housing. Older people need communities to recognize that growing poverty needs to be stopped and a plan in place to accomplish this.
Q. Why did you co-found BROKE and what do you hope to achieve regarding the Kinder Morgan pipeline?
A. Just as I worked to understand and stop war, I have always tried to understand the effect on the environment. I learned about the tar sands and extracting bitumen. When I knew that Kinder Morgan was bringing this stuff into Burnaby, I wanted to stop it so I got together with known environmentalists and we formed BROKE.
Q. What do you find works as an activist – what are your most effective tools when working on a campaign or trying to get a message out?
A. Encouraging people to educate themselves about what is happening to the environment and what can be done to reverse or stop the dangers we are creating.
