{{Short description|Canadian politician, activist, and writer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Jean Swanson | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=CAN|CM|size=100%}} | image = Jean Swanson.jpg | image_size = 125px | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Swanson in 2012 | office = Vancouver City Councillor | term_start = November 5, 2018<ref name="swearing in">{{cite news |last1=Fumano |first1=Dan |title=Collegiality reigns as Vancouver's new council starts work |url=https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouvers-new-mayor-and-council-to-be-sworn-in-monday-afternoon |access-date=November 7, 2018 |work=Vancouver Sun |date=November 6, 2018}}</ref> | term_end = November 7, 2022 | birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|75|2018|06|30}}<ref name="arrested at pipeline" /> | birth_place = | party = COPE | partner = | children = | education = | occupation = {{hlist|Activist|writer}} | profession = | awards = Order of Canada | footnotes = }}
'''Jean Swanson''' {{postnominals|country=CAN|CM}} (born {{birth based on age as of date|75|2018|06|30|noage=1}})<ref name="arrested at pipeline">{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=Chris |title=Order of Canada recipient arrested at Burnaby pipeline protest |url=https://www.burnabynow.com/news/order-of-canada-recipient-arrested-at-burnaby-pipeline-protest-1.23354333 |access-date=October 21, 2018 |work=Burnaby Now |date=June 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701000741/https://www.burnabynow.com/news/order-of-canada-recipient-arrested-at-burnaby-pipeline-protest-1.23354333 |archive-date=July 1, 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref name="swearing in" />
== Activism == In the 1980s, Swanson worked with the BC Solidarity Coalition, as well as Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA).<ref name="carleton.ca" />
Swanson is the coordinator of the Carnegie Housing Project, and formerly coordinator of the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP), an organization dedicated to the welfare of the Downtown Eastside, one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods.<ref>Swanson, Jean. ''Downtown Eastside Seeks Foreign Aid'', ''The Tyee Magazine'', October 18, 2007</ref><ref>Swanson, Jean. ''Why poverty is worse than it was 30 years ago'', ''Canadian Dimension Magazine'', February 21, 2006</ref> 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".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www2.povnet.org/elp |title=''End Legislated Poverty'' homepage |access-date=April 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512020542/http://www2.povnet.org/elp |archive-date=May 12, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="carleton.ca">"News Release: Carleton University's Kroeger College Announces 2007 Winners of the Arthur Kroeger Awards", March 28, 2007, quoted at [https://carleton.ca/duc/newsroom/newsreleases/Mar_28c.html]{{Dead link|date=October 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> She was national chair of the National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO).<ref>Thobani, Sunera. ''Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada'', University of Toronto Press, 2007, {{ISBN|0-8020-9454-6}}</ref> She authored ''Poor Bashing: The Politics of Exclusion''.
=== Vancouver City Council === {{POV section|date=April 2024}} During Swanson's time on Vancouver City Council, she consistently voted for social housing while opposing market-rate housing developments.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 12, 2021 |title=Inside Vancouver City Hall's Housing Wars |url=https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/01/12/Vancouver-City-Hall-Housing-Wars/ |website=The Tyee |access-date=April 16, 2026 |last=Ward |first=Doug}}</ref>
In 2017, during her campaign for Vancouver City Council, she called for a rent freeze.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 14, 2017 |title=Where candidates for Vancouver city council stand on affordable housing |url=https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/1.4287940 |website=CBC |access-date=April 16, 2026 |last=McElroy |first=Justin}}</ref> She said that she would not support the construction of market-rate housing, as she believed it would cause gentrification and increase rents.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 13, 2019 |title=Why a city councillor won't support 'gentrifying' projects amid Vancouver housing crisis |url=https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2019/09/13/vancouver-city-councillor-says-shes-voted-down-gentrifying-developments-despite-ongoing-housing-crisis/ |website=CityNews |access-date=April 16, 2026}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 18, 2019 |title=5-storey rental apartment approved for Kitsilano |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-kits-rezoning-apartment-decision-1.5400935 |website=CBC |access-date=April 16, 2026 |last=McElroy |first=Justin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 18, 2019 |title=Vancouver approves more market rental housing after contentious public hearing |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-rental-approved-grandview-woodlands-1.5288262 |website=CBC |access-date=April 16, 2026 |last=McElroy |first=Justin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 20, 2019 |title=Vancouver City Council approves two new buildings with 79 rental homes |url=https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/3435-3532-east-hastings-vancouver-approval-january-2019 |website=Daily Hive |language=en |last=Chan |first=Kenneth |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123220710/https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/3435-3532-east-hastings-vancouver-approval-january-2019 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 23, 2019}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 26, 2019 |title=Vancouver council rejects townhouse development next door to hospice |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-granville-hospice-shaughnessy-council-vote-1.5190438 |website=CBC |access-date=April 16, 2026}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 27, 2022 |title=Vancouver approves 39-storey tower for corner of Broadway and Granville Street |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-broadway-and-granville-39-storey-tower-approved-city-council-1.6432837 |website=CBC |access-date=April 16, 2026}}</ref>
In 2021, she voted in favour of allowing 12-storey apartment buildings of social housing without a rezoning application.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 26, 2021 |title=Vancouver rejects councillor's proposal to fast track future social housing towers |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-zoning-fasttrack-boyle-fry-social-housing-1.6042015 |website=CBC |access-date=April 16, 2026}}</ref>
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".<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 22, 2022 |title=Vancouver city council approves Broadway Plan after long debate |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-broadway-plan-vote-decision-1.6497534 |website=CBC |access-date=April 16, 2026 |last=McElroy |first=Justin |last2=Lindsay |first2=Bethany}}</ref> 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?"<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 18, 2022 |title=Vancouver City Councillor Jean Swanson suggests pushing jobs out of city |url=https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/jean-swanson-vancouver-jobs |website=Daily Hive |language=en |access-date=April 16, 2026 |last=Chan |first=Kenneth}}</ref>
== Awards and recognition == In 2016, she was inducted into the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour, with the grade of member.<ref>{{cite web |title=Olympians, jurists, researchers among 113 new appointments to Order of Canada |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/order-of-canada-recipients-1.3659510 |website=CBC |access-date=July 2, 2016 |date=June 30, 2016}}</ref> 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."<ref name="carleton.ca" /> 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."<ref name="carleton.ca" />
In 2021, she was the subject of Teresa Alfeld's short documentary film ''Jean Swanson: We Need a New Map''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Charlie |date=September 23, 2021 |title=Five Canadian films to watch in VIFF Short Forum |url=https://www.straight.com/movies/five-canadian-films-to-watch-in-viff-short-forum# |access-date=April 16, 2026 |work=The Georgia Straight}}</ref>
== Electoral record == {{2018 Vancouver municipal election/City Council}} {{2017 Vancouver municipal by-elections/City Council}}
{| class="wikitable" |- ! 1988 Vancouver mayoral election<ref>{{cite news |title=Wilking the only new face |date=November 21, 1988 |page=4 |newspaper=Vancouver Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-vancouver-sun/168347159/ |access-date=March 19, 2025 |last=Lee |first=Jeff}}</ref> ! style="width:50px;"| Vote ! style="width:30px;"| % |- | Gordon Campbell (NPA) || 75,545 || 62.58 |- | Jean Swanson (COPE / NDP) || 45,178 || 37.42 |}
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Swanson, Jean}} Category:Canadian anti-poverty activists Category:Writers from Vancouver Category:Living people Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Coalition of Progressive Electors councillors Category:1940s births Category:Women municipal councillors in British Columbia Category:21st-century Canadian municipal councillors Category:21st-century Canadian women politicians Category:Politicians from Vancouver Category:Year of birth missing (living people)