Expo 86 opens
May 2, 1986: Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially open the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, better known as Expo 86, at the north end of False Creek. Eight years in the making and with a total of 54 participating countries, the second World’s Fair held in Canada runs until Oct. 13. A total of 22 million people visited the event, which was declared a success despite a deficit of $311 million. Expo 86 is generally considered the turning point for Vancouver changing from a sleepy backwater to an aspiring world-class city.
Whitecaps debut at Empire Stadium
May 5, 1974: The Vancouver Whitecaps play their first home game in the North American Soccer League in front of an estimated crowd of 18,000 at Empire Stadium. Defender Neil Ellett scored the ‘Caps first-ever goal in a 2-1 shoot-out loss to the San Jose Earthquakes.
Vancouver’s first shopping mall opens
May 6, 1959: Vancouver gets its first shopping mall when Oakridge Centre opens its doors at the corner of Cambie Street and West 41st Avenue. A Woodward’s outlet was the original anchor tenant until it was sold to The Bay in 1993. The mall drew international attention for being both the starting and ending point for wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion world tour in 1985. The site is now the location of a controversial new development that is poised to turn the sleepy retail centre into a miniature city with four new high-rise condo towers.
Canucks debut in Stanley Cup finals
May 8, 1982: A dozen years after joining the NHL as an expansion team, the Vancouver Canucks make their first appearance in the Stanley Cup finals playing in Long Island against the New York Islanders. The team loses the game 6-5 in overtime after a goal by future Hall of Famer Mike Bossy. Swedish forward Thomas Gradin ties a Canucks team playoffs record with two goals and an assist. The Islanders went on the sweep the series as part of a four-year dynasty as Stanley Cup champions.
Hippies riot in downtown Vancouver
May 8, 1970: A protest against the treatment of hippy customers at the Hudson Bay department store cafeteria turns violent after demonstrators take to the street. Approximately 200 people turned up for the “Sip-in” protest, organized by members of the Youth International Party, to slowly sip their drinks until store management agreed “to end all harassment against hip people.” But, after hearing reports that riot police were beginning to block exits from the store, panicked protesters fled outside and an angry mob quickly grew. They then marched down Georgia Street smashing windows before attacking the American consulate — the Kent State shootings happened four days before — and burning the U.S. flag.
Gordon Campbell wins threepeat
May 12, 2009: Premier Gordon Campbell wins an historic third term after an election that saw the lowest voter turnout in B.C. history. According to Elections BC, only 51 per cent of 3.24 million eligible voters cast a ballot, seven per cent fewer than the number of people who voted in the 2005 general election. The B.C. Liberal Party won a total of 49 seats in a newly expanded 85-seat legislature, although Campbell resigned less than two years later after seeing his approval rating drop to nine per cent primarily due to his introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax.
Dugout canoe sets off for Hawaii
May 14, 1978: Three adventurers set sail for Hawaii in a Haida-style war canoe made of Douglas fir to test a theory the original inhabitants of the Hawaiian islands might have come from British Columbia. Captain James Cook first reported similarities between the Haida and Hawaiians after landing on Vancouver Island in 1778. Boat-builder Geordie Tocher, Richard Tomkies and navigator Gerhard Kiesel departed from Vancouver in a 12-metre-long dugout canoe named the Orenda II that also featured sails. They reached Waikiki after 54 days at sea.
Shorthanded goals set new record
May 15, 1995: The Vancouver Canucks score two goals in 17 seconds during a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Blues in Game Five of their conference quarterfinal series to set an NHL playoff record for the fastest two shorthanded goals. Christian Ruuttu put the puck past goalie Curtis Joseph at 4:31 of the second period, followed by Geoff Courtnall at 4:48. The home team won the series 4–3 but were swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in the next round.
Native man’s death sparks inquest
May 16, 1989: An aboriginal man is found dead in his room at the Yale Hotel just hours after being released from police custody. Rocky Pearson, 26, died from an internal injury as a result of a blow to the abdomen, and a witness at the subsequent four-day inquest testified he saw Pearson beaten by police while in jail but the VPD claimed the fatal blow must have happened before he was arrested for public intoxication. A coroner’s jury eventually ruled that Pearson’s death was a homicide but no one was blamed.
Basi-Virk corruption trial begins
May 17, 2010: Nearly seven years after a police raid on the B.C. Legislature in connection with the $1 billion sale of B.C. Rail to private-sector rival CN Rail, the trial of then-ministerial aides Bob Virk and Dave Basi begins in B.C. Supreme Court. The two originally pleaded not guilty but, just as a long list of powerful government and Liberal Party insiders were about to take the witness stand, they switched their pleas to guilty in return for the government paying their $6-million legal bill. Basi and Virk were each sentenced to two years of house arrest.
Feds shut down B.C. coho fishery
May 21, 1998: Federal fisheries minister David Anderson shuts down the B.C. Coho salmon fishery, saying there was scientific evidence that some wild stocks were close to extinction, including runs on the Skeena and Thompson rivers. The ban came amid tense negotiations with the U.S. over Pacific salmon fishing rights, with Alaska fishermen being accused of catching too many fish returning to B.C. rivers to spawn.
Man in Motion returns home
May 22, 1987: Rick Hansen completes the first world tour by wheelchair and is greeted by cheering crowds at B.C. Place 792 days after departing Oakridge Mall on his Man in Motion tour. Hansen, 29, raised $20 million for spinal cord research after travelling more than 40,000 kilometres through 34 countries on four continents, during which he wore out a total of 117 tires and 11 pairs of gloves.
Komagata Maru arrives in Vancouver
May 23, 1914: The S.S. Komagata Maru, a Japanese steamship carrying 376 passengers, mostly Sikhs who were British subjects hoping to settle in Canada, drops anchor in Burrard Inlet. Due to laws meant to keep Asian immigrants out of Canada, 352 passengers were denied entry and forced to return to India two months later. Indian police killed 19 passengers during a riot that ensued upon the ship’s return. The B.C. legislature unanimously passed a motion formally apologizing for the incident on May 23, 2008.
Sprinter sets new Canadian record
May 27, 1959: Eighteen-year-old Harry Jerome set a new Canadian record at Empire Stadium in the 220-yard dash with a time of 21.9 seconds, shaving 0.1 of a second off a record set 31 years earlier by double Olympic gold medallist and fellow Vancouverite Percy Williams. During his injury-plagued career, Jerome nonetheless set a total of seven world records, and won gold medals at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and the 1967 Pan American Games, as well as an Olympic bronze in 1964.
Trader Vic’s closes in Coal Harbour
May 28, 1999: A popular waterfront Tiki bar and restaurant closes its doors in order to make way for a new public park. Featuring bamboo walls, a thatched roof ceiling, totem poles, skull-shaped cups, tiki lights and outrigger canoes, Trader Vic’s operated for decades next to the Bayshore Hotel (now the Westin Bayshore) but closed due to rezoning regulations that require developers to set aside park space for large projects. Rather than be demolished, the kitchy building was moved by barge to a private vineyard near Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island.
Fonyo completes cross-Canada run
May 29, 1985: Steve Fonyo, a 19-year-old who lost his left leg to cancer as a child, completes his 7,924 km cross-Canada marathon by dipping his artificial left leg into the Pacific at Mile Zero of the Trans-Canada Highway in Victoria. Inspired by the late Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope, Fonyo’s Journey for Lives raised $14 million in donations for cancer research and he became the youngest person named an Officer of the Order of Canada the same year. He later had numerous brushes with the law, including convictions for assault with a weapon and fraud, and was stripped of the award in 2009.
Blind driver kills teenager
May 30, 1993: Recent high school graduate Martina Cerny, 18, dies after a hit-and-run accident in Richmond caused by a legally blind man with 12 previous driving convictions. Melvin Broesky, 29, was sentenced to three years for criminal negligence causing death and an additional six months for attempting to persuade a friend to provide him with a false alibi. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mary Ellen Boyd also imposed a lifetime driving ban.
