Letters from Residents in the Brentwood Area Objecting to the 1976 July 07 Closure of Dellawn Drive at Springer, and Halifax Street West of Woodway Place
Between 1955 and 2001, the Brentwood Neighbourhood developed into one of Burnaby's four official Town Centres. The Brentwood Town Centre serves the north-west sector of the Municipality, providing facilities such as commercial developments - of which the Brentwood Mall is the most significant. Under Burnaby's Residential Development Framework adopted by Council in 1981, the Town Centre also incorporated a full range of multi-housing types and forms in close relationship with their commercial facilities. In 1996, the City adopted the Brentwood Town Centre Development Plant to solidify the area as a focus of higher-density and higher-intensity residential and commercial opportunities, public transit and supporting leisure facilities.
18 cm of textual records + approx. 1000 photographs
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of records created and received by Doreen Lawson during her career as Parks Commissioner (1965-1971), Burnaby City Council member (1972-1985, 1990-1999) and environmental advocate following her retirement from Council in 1999. Records include election campaign materials, congratulat…
18 cm of textual records + approx. 1000 photographs
Description Level
Fonds
Accession Number
2003-30
2015-15
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of records created and received by Doreen Lawson during her career as Parks Commissioner (1965-1971), Burnaby City Council member (1972-1985, 1990-1999) and environmental advocate following her retirement from Council in 1999. Records include election campaign materials, congratulatory letters and correspondence, community speeches and slideshow presentations regarding the conservation of Burnaby Lake, the administrative papers of the Burnaby Centennial Rhododendron and Spring Flower Show Society, and photographs of Burnaby waterways and wildlife.
History
Doreen Anne Fowler Lawson was born July 8, 1928, to Eva Barnhill and Leonard Fowler. Her parents met in Alberta but decided to move to Vancouver where they got married and Doreen was born. The family moved to the north side of Claude Avenue in Burnaby when Doreen was a few months old. In 1931, they moved to a house with an acre of land directly across the street from their first house.
When Doreen was six, her family moved to Collingwood, Vancouver, near where her father grew up. This is where her brother Ron was born. The family moved again to County Line in Langley Prairie in 1944, which is where Doreen met Edward Lawson, her future husband. Soon after, they moved to a seven-acre plot in Burquitlam. Ed and Doreen Lawson’s eldest daughter, Linda, was born in 1954. Their second daughter, Wendy, was born in 1959 and their youngest, Lisa, was born in 1961. They lived in the Brentwood area, where all three daughters attended Brentwood Elementary School. Linda went on to Alpha Secondary School.
In 1945, Doreen began her first of several office jobs, and in the early 1950s she became the first woman to be elected into a vice-president position within the BC Trade Union Congress (now the BC Federation of Labour).
Doreen Lawson had a long and prolific political career, starting as Parks Commissioner in 1965, and serving as its chair from 1969 to 1971. She was instrumental in the selection and promotion of the rhododendron as the official flower of Burnaby in 1966. In 1971, she was elected to Burnaby City Council and, in 1972, Doreen proposed that Council take action to declare Burnaby Lake a wildlife sanctuary. After a 10-year campaign, she was able to convince Council to declare the park “a nature conservation area.” She put forward a policy of preservation for creeks and streams, as well as a proposal to preserve trees in subdivisions, both of which were adopted by Council. Doreen continued to serve on Council until 1985, during which time she initiated and chaired the Burnaby Information Committee, which designed the present Burnaby logo (and official flower pins) and established the Information Burnaby Newsletter. In 1979 Doreen Lawson won Vancouver Natural History Society’s Frank Sanford Award.
In 1984, Doreen was elected the first woman president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Doreen ran as a BC Liberal Party candidate in the new Federal Riding of Burnaby in 1979, and from 1985 to 1987, she served as the Executive Director of the British Columbia Liberal Party. As the B.C. Liberal Party Executive Director, her major responsibility was to work with both the Federal and Provincial Associations in implementing riding organizations and fundraising programs in preparation for election time. In the 1980s, Doreen was an active guest lecturer at Burnaby Elementary and High Schools as well as at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. Doreen was active in a variety of community clubs and organizations including: the Burnaby Library Board; Greater Vancouver Spinners and Weavers Guild; and Vancouver Natural History Society. She was an executive member of the Burnaby-New Westminster Canada Summer Games; the Burnaby Division of the United Way; Information Burnaby Committee; and the Brentwood Parent Teachers Association; as well as serving as the President of the Burnaby Voters Association from 1988-1990.
In 1990, Doreen was elected back to Burnaby Council and put forward the rejuvenation of Burnaby Lake which she saw completed before her final year on Council in 1999. Doreen continued to be a strong environmental advocate for the protection and rejuvenation of Burnaby Lake after she retired from council.
1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 16 cm mounted on cardboard
Scope and Content
Photograph shows students outside Alpha Secondary School at 4600 Parker Street. The school was built in 1950 with additions in 1953, 1968 and 1969. There were fires in 1956 and 1964 - the burnt portions were replaced and a new gym added in 1966.
1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 16 cm mounted on cardboard
Description Level
Item
Record No.
556-368
Access Restriction
No restrictions
Reproduction Restriction
Reproduce for fair dealing purposes only
Accession Number
2013-13
Scope and Content
Photograph shows students outside Alpha Secondary School at 4600 Parker Street. The school was built in 1950 with additions in 1953, 1968 and 1969. There were fires in 1956 and 1964 - the burnt portions were replaced and a new gym added in 1966.
1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 16 cm mounted on cardboard
Scope and Content
Photograph shows the mall entrance to Brentwood Mall at Willingdon Avenue and Lougheed Highway. The mall was designed by E. J. Watkins, architect, for Webb & Knapp and built in 1961.
1 photograph : b&w ; 11 x 16 cm mounted on cardboard
Description Level
Item
Record No.
556-170
Access Restriction
No restrictions
Reproduction Restriction
Reproduce for fair dealing purposes only
Accession Number
2013-13
Scope and Content
Photograph shows the mall entrance to Brentwood Mall at Willingdon Avenue and Lougheed Highway. The mall was designed by E. J. Watkins, architect, for Webb & Knapp and built in 1961.
Photograph of a young girl walking down a runway in front of an audience. The photograph was taken in the Brentwood Mall during a fashion show and a number of stores can be seen in the background.
Photograph of a young girl walking down a runway in front of an audience. The photograph was taken in the Brentwood Mall during a fashion show and a number of stores can be seen in the background.
Photograph of Dr. Elmer Froese, the Burnaby Superintendent of Schools, at a public meeting regarding discipline in elementary schools at Brentwood Park School.
Photograph of Dr. Elmer Froese, the Burnaby Superintendent of Schools, at a public meeting regarding discipline in elementary schools at Brentwood Park School.
Newspaper clipping attached to verso reads: "Burnaby Superintendent of Schools Dr. Elmer Froese, right, faced a jam packed auditorium at Brentwood Park school last night as hundreds of elementary school parents took part in a discussion on Discipline in Elementary Schools. Three panelists joined Dr. Froese on the dias."