Community activist Jim Green is this year’s recipient of the Great Trekker
Award, given by the students of UBC to a graduate who has achieved eminence in
his or her field of endeavor.
Winners are cited for their worthy contributions to the community, their keen
interest in UBC and outstanding service to UBC students.
Green — who has worked as an instructor at Vancouver Community College, a taxi
driver, a dock worker and a union organizer — is best known for his work on
behalf of the poor in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Born in Alabama in 1943, the son of an army sergeant and a florist, Green
became active in the civil rights movement and moved to Canada in 1968 at the
height of the Vietnam War. He became a Canadian citizen in 1973.
Green studied anthropology at UBC, receiving his master’s degree in 1980.
In the 1980s he became associated with the Downtown Eastside Residents
Association (DERA) and helped shape it into a major force in civic affairs.
Through DERA, which he headed for more than a decade, Green worked to improve
housing available to low-income city residents with projects such as the
construction of 500 new units of housing. Green was also the driving force
behind the senior citizens housing project known as Pendera.
In the run-up to Expo ’86, Green led opposition to the eviction of low-income
hotel tenants. That year he also published the book Against the Tide: The
Story of the Canadian Seamen’s Union.
Since leaving DERA, Green has been a community development co-ordinator for the
provincial ministries of Finance and Housing. He has been responsible for the
BladeRunners project, which provided apprenticeship training for teenagers on
welfare in trades like carpentry during construction of GM Place.
Earlier this year, he helped establish Four Corners Community Savings, a bank
at Main and Hastings intended to serve low-income people in the area who have
little or no access to regular banking services.
As well, Green has stood for office, running strong campaigns for mayor of
Vancouver and, in this year’s provincial election, against Liberal leader
Gordon Campbell in Vancouver-Point Grey, a race he lost by just 1,500 votes.
Green will receive his award Oct. 16 in a reception in the Student Union
Building party room at 5:30 p.m.
