The John Howard Society of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia (JHSLM) takes its name and its spirit from the 18th century English prison reformer who observed unjust social conditions in prisons, both as a prisoner of war during the Seven Years War, and as High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, a post which included the task of inspecting local prisons. The suffering that John Howard endured and witnessed led him to become a lifelong advocate for criminal and social justice reform. Throughout his life he demonstrated a firm belief that every citizen must ultimately accept his or her individual responsibility for the criminal justice system.

The society began as the John Howard Society of British Columbia, established in Vancouver in 1931. It was the first John Howard Society in Canada. The objects of the Society as outlined in its Constitution (1932) were to seek to remove conditions which lead persons into crime; to befriend the first offender; to work for the wise and just treatment of those confirmed to penal institutions; to guide and help the mothers, wives and children of men in prison; to help discharged and paroled men and women to re-establish themselves; and to work for wise and just legislation with reference to court procedures and penal administration.

The Society has grown so that in 2020 there are over 60 John Howard Societies across Canada with a national office in Ottawa.

Throughout its history, the professional staff of the Society have been responsible for visiting regularly or being on-call to various correctional facilities throughout British Columbia. These include prisons, forest camps, community correctional centres and half-way houses. Staff offer counseling, advocacy, pre-release planning, educational guidance and develop self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and the Seventh Step Society. Staff also assist clients in the courts offering pre-sentence intervention, alternatives to incarceration, and counseling. In addition, family members are supported by the Society in acquiring life skills and attending community development programs.

Today, the JHSLM has expanded its services to assist people with complex needs achieve greater independence and value their positive contributions to society. While the JHSLM continues to advocate for and support people impacted by the criminal justice system, the organization has developed an expertise in assisting people facing multiple barriers, including those who may be experiencing homelessness, unemployment, problematic substance abuse, mental health challenges, developmental disabilities, or spectrum disorders. This is done through a range of programs that provide assistance with housing, life-skills, education, employment, and community-based services, with the goal of creating a safe, healthy and inclusive community for all.

The Society is also involved in parole, probation, bail supervision and community assessments, lessening the demands on existing facilities. In the area of education, the Society provides speakers for service clubs, churches and community groups desiring information about the criminal justice system and for furthering the cause of penal reform. In the area of advocacy, the Society's staff has been involved in preparing briefs and papers and corresponding with Government officials and others in an attempt to monitor the criminal justice system and encourage alternatives.

Organizationally, the John Howard Society of BC and the Vancouver Office of the JHS operated under the same roof and had the same executive director until 1983 when the provincial office was removed to Victoria, physically separated from any local branch office. At that time the JHS of BC and the JHS of Vancouver Island were amalgamated. The Vancouver office became the John Howard Society of the Lower Mainland of BC. There are currently seven regional John Howard Society’s in BC, and one provincial organization which now operates in the same office as the JHSLM.

Hugh Johnston is professor emeritus of history at Simon Fraser University, where he taught for 37 years. His book Radical Campus: Making Simon Fraser University was published to coincide with the university's 40th anniversary (2005). He joined SFU as a faculty member in 1968 and witnessed firsthand SFU's tumultuous beginnings. At various times in his career, Johnston led the History Department as chair.

Johnston grew up in south-western Ontario. He received a B.A. from the University of Toronto and attended the Ontario College of Education. Johnston went on to receive an M.A. from the University of Western Ontario and his PhD. from King's College at the University of London.

His teaching and research interests have centered on British and South Asian migration and settlement, eighteenth century exploration of the Pacific Northwest, the history of British Columbia, and higher education in Canada. Johnston is well known as an expert in Sikhism, Sikhs in Canada, and India-China relations. From 1992 to 2001 he also served on the board of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, a bi-national organization promoting scholarly exchange, and in 1995–1996 he was resident director of the institute's office in Delhi. In 2001 he was the institute's president.

During his career, Johnston wrote numerous scholarly articles and books. In 1995, with Tara Singh Bains he co-wrote The Four Quarters of the Night: The Life Journey of an Emmigrant Sikh. Other books include The Voyage of the Komagata Maru: The Sikh Challenge to Canada's Colour Bar; British Immigration Policy, 1815-1830: "Shovelling out Paupers"; and the History of Perth County to 1967 (co-authored with W. Stafford Johnston).

Zoltan S. Kiss is one of the contributors to the architecture of Simon Fraser University. He was responsible for designing and building the Academic Quadrangle according to design specifications outlined by Erickson and Massey, the architects responsible for the overall design of the university. Kiss built the Academic Quadrangle in two phases, starting the first phase in 1964 and finishing the second phase in 1967.

Zoltan S. Kiss was born in Menfocsanak, Hungary in 1924. He studied at the Technical University of Hungary in Budapest during the war, and then went to Denmark to continue his studies. He later moved to Canada and attended the University of British Columbia where he completed a degree in architecture in 1951. Kiss worked for Thompson Berwick Pratt from 1953 to 1962. In 1963 Kiss submitted an entry to the contest to design the new university that would be built on top of Burnaby Mountain. His design finished in third place. According to contest parameters, the top five winners would each be given a contract to build a section of the campus according to the winner's overall design. Kiss chose the Academic Quadrangle, and incorporated his own ideas and innovations with Erickson and Massey's concept. Kiss, upon winning third place in the competition, started his own practice. His other contributions to the architecture of Simon Fraser University include the President's house, student residences, and the pub.

The Learning and Instruction Development Centre (LIDC) was a service unit that provided in-classroom technical assistance and support; worked with SFU departments to create multimedia educational productions (photographs, sound recordings, film and video); and offered training programs in new instructional techniques and methods.

LIDC had its origins in the Audio Visual Centre established in the Library in 1967. Headed by Walter Griba from 1967 to 1993, the AV Centre became an independent unit in 1973. It was renamed the Instructional Media Centre (IMC) in 1981, then LIDC in 2001. For most of its history, the unit reported to the VP Academic portfolio, with a short period (1986-1991) during which it was part of the VP Research group.

In 2010-11, LIDC was reorganized and its two core functions were separated out to two new units: the Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC), focussed on instructional support services; and Creative Services, focussed on the creation of multimedia works supporting or highlighting SFU teaching, research, and programs. In 2014 Creative Services was renamed Creative Studio and became part of University Communications and Marketing.

Name history:

• Audio Visual Centre (1967-1981)
• Instructional Media Centre (1981-2001)
• Learning and Instructional Media Centre (2001-2011)

Chief officers:

• Walter Griba, Coordinator (1967-1973), Director (1973-1993)
• T. Greenwood, Director (1993-2000)
• William Glackman, Acting Director (2000-2001)
• David Kaufman, Director (2001-2008)

Successor bodies:

• Teaching and Learning Centre
• Creative Services / Creative Studio in University Communications and Marketing

For a visual representation of LIDC's administrative history data, see the appendix in the pdf finding aid for F-18, Learning Instructional Development Centre fonds.

Andrea Pinto Lebowitz came to Simon Fraser University in 1965 as a charter faculty member in the Department of English. Lebowitz participated in a number of feminist activities including the Women's Caucus. She became the first coordinator of the Women's Studies program and transferred her appointment to the Women's Studies Department in 1997.

Michael Lebowitz, B.S. (N.Y.), M.S. (Wis.) is an emeritus Professor of Economics at Simon Fraser University. He joined SFU in 1965 as a charter faculty member in the Department of Economics and Commerce. Lebowitz was active in university affairs throughout his career.

Vivien Leong graduated from SFU in 1990 with a major in communication. During her time as a student, she was a member of the Recycling Group of the B.C. Public Interest Research Group, and the Communications Student Union. The B.C. PIRG recycling program was the first such effort on campus.

Richard Lester was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1928. He came to Vancouver in 1947, eventually attending law school at the University of British Columbia. After being called to the British Columbia Bar in 1953 he practiced in Maple Ridge (then Haney). He served on the schoool board and was president of the BC School Trustees Association from 1961 to 1963.

In 1963 he was appointed to the first Board of Governors for the newly formed Simon Fraser University, a position he held until he became Chairman of the Board in the fall of 1968. He resigned this position in 1971, returning to his law practice.

Lester lived in Maple Ridge and then West Vancouver. He married Lois Audrey Jensen in 1952 and has 4 children.

Cliff L. Lloyd was a professor in the Department of Economics and Commerce from 1973 until his sudden death on January 24, 1977. As an experimental economist, he is remembered for his proposed Northern Stores project, an attempt to investigate demand theory (would people buy less of a product if it cost more). For a fuller appreciation of Lloyd's research, see the introductory essays by his SFU colleagues in The Collected Works of Cliff L. Lloyd (F-143-2-0-11).

Thomas J. (Tom) Mallinson (191--1999) was a professor of Communication Studies at Simon Fraser University. Trained as a clinical psychologist, Mallinson came to the newly-founded SFU in 1965 to head the Centre for Commuications and the Arts within the Faculty of Education. The Centre later evolved into the School for Communication.

In the spring semester 1989, Kathryn McPherson was instructor for Women Studies 202, "History of Women in Canada." As part of the course work, McPherson assigned students to conduct a 2-3 hour interview with a British Columbia woman. Students were encouraged to select a woman over 60 years of age, and the interviewer was responsible for the themes covered. The interviews were recorded and deposited in the Archives.

David J. Mitchell is an author, historian, public policy analyst, former Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, and Vice President, Chief Development Officer of Simon Fraser University. He is the author of W.A.C. Bennett and the Rise of British Columbia.

Born in Montreal in 1954, David J. Mitchell completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science at Simon Fraser University in 1975 and a Master of Arts degree in Canadian History, also at Simon Fraser University, in 1976. In addition, he has completed the Parliamentary Internship Program with the British Columbia Legislature in 1978, and attended the Banff School of Advanced Management in 1988. As of 1999, he is a Doctoral candidate in the Department of History at Simon Fraser University.

David Mitchell's diverse career path has included senior positions in both the public and private sectors. He has served as Deputy Clerk of the Saskatchewan Legislature, and as an Archivist and Editor at the Provincial Archives of British Columbia. In addition, he has held executive positions within the BC resource industries. From 1991 to 1996, David Mitchell served as an independent Member of the Legislative Assembly for West Vancouver – Garibaldi.

David Mitchell is an award-winning writer whose books are well known to British Columbians. He is the author of W.A.C. Bennett and the Rise of British Columbia (1983), considered by many to be the definitive text on W.A.C. Bennett. Bennett, the former premier of British Columbia whose Social Credit government held power between the years of 1952 and 1972, granted Mitchell a number of exclusive interviews between 1976 and 1979, forming the foundation for the subsequent book. David Mitchell is also the author of All Aboard! The Canadian Rockies by Train (1996) and Succession: The Political Reshaping of British Columbia (1987). He has also contributed various articles on public affairs and business to a number of journals, publications and newspapers including the Financial Post, The Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun, and Business in Vancouver. In addition, he serves as a frequent commentator on television and radio and has hosted a number of radio and television programs.

The Simon Fraser Non-Faculty Teachers' Association was formed to negotiate collective agreements between the University and non-faculty teaching staff. The Association contrasted its activities with the work of the Graduate Students' Association, which concentrated on non-contractual matters such as student housing. The executives of both organizations had members in common.

The complete history of the Non-Faculty Teachers' Association is not known. Its work was taken over by other organizations: the Graduate Student Union, formed in 1971, and the Teaching Support Staff Union, chartered in 1976.

Evelyn T. and Leigh Hunt Palmer were active members of the Simon Fraser academic community from 1966 until their retirement in 2001. Leigh served as an associate professor of physics while Evelyn was a laboratory instructor in chemistry.

Both Palmers were active in university affairs and in scientific and cultural groups. They sponsored a number of seminars and lectures at SFU including the Albert Einstein Memorial Lecture Series, which they initiated on the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Albert Einstein.

For further details of the Palmers' careers and achievements, see the autobiographical sketch in the Appendix (available only in the Archives reading room).

Peter Poole received a Master's degree from SFU for his thesis entitled "Organized Labour Versus the State in British Columbia." The thesis examined the British Columbia labour movement's reaction to the Social Credit government restraint program of 1983. During this period, labour organized Operation Solidarity; as well, various community groups cooperated under the umbrella of the Solidarity Coalition.

Press Gang Publishers was a feminist printing press publishing quality trade paperback books—fiction, non-fiction, poetry and art—primarily by Canadian women authors and artists. Their non-fiction books addressed such social issues as the treatment of women by the mental health system, recovery from childhood sexual abuse, lesbian identity, homophobia and censorship, and women in conflict with the criminal justice system. Press Gang authors won numerous awards for their work.

Press Gang Publishers evolved from a feminist printing and publishing collective of the same name. The original Press Gang was a small collective of men and women who incorporated under British Columbia's Companies Act as Press Gang Publishers Ltd. in April 1970. By 1974, the collective had become a women-only, feminist and anti-capitalist printshop, with paid and volunteer workers.

Press Gang published its first book under its own imprint in 1976, a collection of essays entitled "Women Look at Psychiatry." Over the years, printing and publishing activities increasingly diverged, and in 1982 Press Gang established a separate collective to manage the publishing operations. In 1989 the separation was completed when the two collectives formally became distinct legal and corporate entities, Press Gang Printers Ltd. and Press Gang Publishers Feminist Cooperative. The two organizations, however, remained closely associated. In 1993 Press Gang Printers ceased to exist due to economic pressues in the printing trade and on their clientele (grassroots, community organizations).

Full-time staff members of Press Gang Publishers included managing editor Barbara Kuhne; financial manager Della McCreary; and art director/production manager Val Speidel. Paula Clancy and Nancy Pollak also served on the Press Gang Board.

Because of changes in the book publishing industry and the book selling marketplace, smaller publishers such as Press Gang faced difficult times. In 2000, Press Gang formed an alliance with Polestar Publishers of Victoria and issued a joint catalogue. Shortly thereafter, Polestar was purchased by Raincoast Books. In 2002, Press Gang Publishers declared bankruptcy after thirty years as a major independent feminist publisher. Some of their titles are still distributed by Raincoast Books and by Lazara Press.

Heather Raven was an active member of the Association of University and College Employees, Local #2 until her promotion to the management position of Labour Relations analyst in the Personnel Department at Simon Fraser University. She acted as the Provincial Representative for AUCE #2, (the Simon Fraser University local) from 1974 to 1976, as Secretary to the Contract Committee from 1976 to 1977, and as one of four union representatives who represented AUCE before the Labour Relations Board in the matter of SFU's appeal of a British Columbia Labour Relations Board decision under Section 34 of the BC Labour Code and two union applications under Sections 34 and 96-1 of the Labour Code.

Klaus Ekkehard Rieckhoff is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics at Simon Fraser University (SFU). He helped shape the department and the university through his active involvement in the governance of SFU, through his contributions to science and his devotion to teaching, as well as his involvement in the larger community.

Born in Weimar, Germany, Rieckhoff experienced life under both the Nazi and Communist regimes before escaping from the Soviet-occupied zone in 1947. Shortly after, he left for the western zones where he worked in various factories in Munich until he was accepted at the University of Karlsruhe where he studied mathematics and physics (1947-1949). He was accepted for one of 40 places in physics and mathematics from a pool of 400 applicants after an entrance examination administered to 160 of the applicants. In 1949, he left the university while continuing to work as a clerk in the actuarial department of a life insurance company (1948-1951). In December 1949, he married Marianne Neder with whom he has three children, Bernhard Andreas, Claudia Angela, and Cornelia Andrea.

Rieckhoff immigrated to Canada in 1952. Upon his arrival to Vancouver, B.C., he held various jobs as a dock worker (1952), sawmill worker (1953), and television technician (1953-1957) before earning his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D at the University of British Columbia.

In 1965, Rieckhoff joined SFU as a charter faculty member and immersed himself in its life. He is regarded as a vital force in the Department of Physics, a department he helped to create and nurture. From 1966-1967, he was Acting Dean of Science, and from 1972-1976, he was Associate Dean of Graduate Studies. He has authored and co-authored more than 60 papers in the areas of spectroscopy and chemical physics, earning international recognition for his work. From 1976-1977, he worked at the IBM Research Lab in San Jose, California as Visiting Scientist. In 1987, he was a Visiting Professor at the universities of Puerto Rico (Mayaguez, U.S.A.), Queensland (Brisbane, Australia), and Bayreuth (Germany).

Rieckhoff's passion for critical inquiry is reflected in his multiple appointments, participation, and election to a number of faculty, departmental, and university committees. As a founding member of Senate, he supported the inclusion of undergraduate representation. He served on the Senate for 17 years and on the Board of Governors for 11 years, earning him the distinction of being one of the longest-serving members on both bodies. In recognition of his contributions to the governance and administration of SFU, the university named the Senate Chamber in his honour in 1982. Although the space has been renovated, a plaque remains in place. In 1998, SFU awarded him a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

Dennis Roberts was hired in August 1966 as SFU's first full-time Information Officer. In 1972, the Information Office became the University News Service, and Roberts served as its first director. He remained in this position until 1982, when he retired from the University. In addition to his regular duties, Dennis Roberts was in charge of the SFU Pipe and Drum Band for eight years. He was also well-known at SFU as a cartoonist and produced a series of cartoons for Christmas and other events that gently poked fun at various members of the SFU community.

Gerry Scott received a Master's degree from SFU in 1991 for his thesis entitled Beyond Equality: British Columbia New Democrats and Native Peoples, 1961-1979. In the preface to his thesis, Scott writes, "My interest in the evolution of the political relationships between British Columbia New Democrats and the aboriginal peoples of the province was first aroused in 1974. At that time I was working as a researcher for the government caucus and I undertook preparation of background papers on aboriginal land claims for the consideration of caucus members. In the 1970s and 1980s I continued to be involved in many of the issues under examination in this thesis through my work as Executive Assistant to Skeena MP Jim Fulton and as Provincial Secretary of the NDP during the years of Bob Skelly's leadership."

Hari Prakash Sharma (1934-2010) was a sociologist and Marxist scholar who came from the United States, politicized by the anti-war movement and inspired by the politically charged atmosphere at Simon Fraser University in 1968. He joined the Department of Political Science, Sociology, and Anthropology in that year and taught until his retirement in 1999 when he was honoured by the university as Professor Emeritus.

He was born on November 9, 1934 (although some records indicate January 10, 1934 as his date of birth) at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, India, the second of eight children born to Kundun Lal Sharma and Moharli Devi Sharma. His father was a railway stationmaster, and the family moved frequently.

Sharma earned his BA from Agra University in 1954. After a five-year stint as Lower Division Clerk and Typist for the Government of India in the Central Excise and Customs Department, he earned an MA in Social Work from Delhi University in 1960. He then accepted a post as Lecturer at the Delhi School of Social Work, where he remained for three years. In 1963, Sharma moved to the US to further his education. He received an MS in Social Work from Case Western Reserve University in 1964 and a PhD in Rural Sociology from Cornell University in 1968. He taught briefly at the University of California, Los Angeles before accepting a position at SFU.

As a faculty member of SFU, Sharma became a champion of the academic rights of colleagues who faced the threat of dismissal for their support of student-led movements to democratize the university. Notably, he supported fellow colleague and friend Kathleen Gough, a British anthropologist with Marxist leanings who was suspended for her political activities. Gough and Sharma co-edited "Imperialism and Revolution in South Asia," which was published in the Monthly Review, an independent socialist journal, in 1974.

His research areas of special interest included political economy and agrarian social structures, particularly in India; social movements, political mobilization, ethnic and cultural identities; race and class; and nation-building among the aboriginal people of British Columbia. He wrote extensively on those topics and provided guest lectures at over 50 universities and scholarly institutions in Asia, Europe, and North America.

In the spring of 1967, the Naxalbari peasant uprising inspired him to travel to India and several other Asian countries. Upon his return, he became committed to political activism from an anti-imperialist perspective. During 1971-72, Sharma was a founding member of and contributor to the Georgia Straight Collective, which produced a publication for radical and alternative views. In 1973, he went to Amnesty International in London and the Commission of Jurists in Geneva and made a written representation to the UN Human Rights Commission in an effort to publicize the condition of more than 30,000 political prisoners in Indian jails. In 1974, Sharma and his comrade Gautam Appa of the London School of Economics organized a petition of international scholars to protest the treatment of political prisoners in India, which he handed to the Indian Consulate in Vancouver, BC on August 15 of the same year.

On a return trip from India in early 1975, Hari Sharma began to travel across North American campuses giving talks and mobilizing people toward the formation of a patriotic organization of Indians living in North America. This effort contributed to the founding of the Indian People's Association in North America (IPANA) on June 25, 1975, the same day on which Indira Gandhi declared a State of Emergency in India. The opposition to what was identified as a "fascist dictatorship" became the urgent task of IPANA along with the defense of the thousands of political prisoners.

IPANA established chapters in several North American cities, with its most active chapters in Montréal, Vancouver, New York, Toronto, and Boston. It had links with patriotic organizations in San Francisco, Chicago, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. In their effort to oppose imperialism and to promote democratic rights and social justice in India, IPANA produced three publications: the quarterly New India Bulletin, which came out of Montréal from 1975; India Now, a monthly that was produced in New York from 1976; and Wangar, a Punjabi paper that was produced from Vancouver every two months from 1977. In addition to its publications, IPANA held numerous public meetings, demonstrations, lectures, films, and cultural programs to highlight the systemic oppression of dalits, peasants, and workers that mocked any concept of democracy and freedom put forth by the existing Government of India. One of IPANA’s first public interventions in North America was to sponsor a speaking tour by Mary Tyler, a British writer who had been held in an Indian prison for several years without any formal charge for alleged revolutionary activities in Bihar.

Under Sharma's leadership, IPANA also supported the struggles of minorities and workers in BC. He was a primary force in the founding of the British Columbia Organization to Fight Racism (BCOFR). Through the 1980s, IPANA and BCOFR engaged thousands of people from several communities. Both Sharma and IPANA also helped form the Canadian Farmworkers Union in 1980.

In the 1980s, Sharma focused much of his research and writing on the condition of minorities in India, which came to a crisis with the attack on the Golden Temple and the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984 following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. He defended the human rights of Sikhs and of Muslims who became the primary targets of the Hindutva movements advocating Hindu nationalism. In 1987, Sharma organized a parallel conference on the centralization of state power and the threat to minorities in India to coincide with the Commonwealth Conference in Vancouver.

In 1989, Sharma united groups of the South Asian community to form the Komagata Maru Historical Society. The event commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Komagata Maru incident in which Indian immigrants traveling to Canada on a chartered ship were turned away from the shores of Vancouver by racist policies of the government. The society united the community, and as a result of its activities, the government installed a commemorative plaque in Vancouver in 1989. In 2004, during a screening of the film Continuous Journey (a documentary on the episode by the Toronto filmmaker Ali Kazimi), Mayor of Vancouver Larry Campbell sent a scroll to Sharma on behalf of the Komagata Historical Society declaring the week to be dedicated to the memory of Komagata Maru.

Following the attack on the Babri Masjid mosque in December 1992, Hari Sharma became the prime mover in the formation of a North American organization dedicated to the defence of minority rights in India, also known as Non-Resident Indians for Secularism and Democracy (NRISAD). This organization united people of Indian origin collectively through educational and cultural activities. One of its significant events in Vancouver included the celebration of the 50th anniversary of India's independence from colonial rule. The event united people across the South Asian community to focus on issues that included the urgency for peace between Pakistan and India. In September 1999, Sharma travelled to Montréal to join the founding of the International South Asia Forum (INSAF), a coalition of individuals and organizations dedicated to the promotion of peace and social justice in South Asia. He became its first President and organized the Second Conference in Vancouver in August 2001.

Over time, NRISAD recognized a need to widen the focus of the organization to include the whole of South Asia because its membership in Vancouver comprised people from the entire subcontinent of India and the diaspora in East Africa and other countries. Under Sharma's leadership, NRISAD evolved into the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) in 2000. It pursued the same quest as its predecessors for peace and democracy based secularism, human rights, and social justice. Some activities included condemning the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 (for which Sharma was denied a visa to visit India), championing the human rights of Kashmiris, condemning violence against journalists and academics in Bangladesh, supporting the movement for democracy and social justice in Nepal, and defending the human rights of Tamils under the attack of the Sri Lankan state.

Throughout the years, Hari Sharma developed close ties and contacts with various political groups and communities. He worked with the First Nations in the Interior of BC, and as co-chair (along with Dr. Ronald Ignace, the elected Chief of the Skeetchestn Band from 1982 to 2003 and between 2007 and 2009), he helped to promote and to defend the merit of the SFU Kamloops First Nations program (then the SCES/SFU Program). In addition to his regular workload at SFU, Sharma taught courses such as Violence and War, Marxist Theory, and Third World issues on different occasions in Kamloops. Although the 16-year partnership between SFU and the Secwepemc Cultural Education Society of the Shuswap Nation (SCES) was dissolved by mutual agreement in 2004, over 400 students graduated from the program.

In addition to his academic work and political activism, Hari Sharma was an accomplished literary writer and self-taught photographer. He wrote and published short stories in Hindi. Many of his works also were also translated into Bengali, Punjabi, and English. Vapsi, one of his stories, was made into a Doordarshan (Indian public service broadcaster) film. Sharma attributed his interest in photography to a Japanese camera that had been "gifted" to him as a bribe by an importer while pushing files as a government worker. The camera became something that Sharma frequently took with him on trips to India to capture snippets of everyday life. Over the years, his photographs were published in academic journals and art magazines. His works were also publicly displayed in galleries in North America, Europe, and India.

After more than 50 years of political activity, Hari Sharma developed contacts and friendships with many who supported revolutionary movements. He married twice.

After a prolonged battle with cancer, Hari Sharma died in his Burnaby home surrounded by his closest comrades on March 16, 2010.

Gordon Merritt Shrum (1896-1985) was a scientist, teacher, administrator, and the first Chancellor of Simon Fraser University.

He was born in Smithville, Ontario in 1896. He entered the University of Toronto in 1913 with the intention of becoming a teacher. He joined the Canadian Officers' Training Corps in 1915 and joined the army the following year. After serving in France and receiving the Military Medal, he returned to finish his university studies. He received his BA in 1919, MA in 1921 and PhD in 1923 in physics. His notable achievements included liquefying helium in 1923 and discovering the origin of the auroral green line in the Northern Lights in 1925.

Later that year he left Toronto to become professor of physics at the University of British Columbia. Over the next 36 years, he served that institution as an academic and administrator.

During his time at UBC, Shrum became a colonel in the COTC, and received the Order of the British Empire during World War II. He was also appointed a director of the BC Research Council in 1944. In 1958, he served as chairman of a royal commission investigating the BC Power Commission. This led to his appointment as Chair of the BC Energy Board in 1959.

In 1961, Shrum had to leave UBC because he had reached the compulsory retirement age of 65. He was immediately appointed head of BC Electric (later BC Hydro) by Premier W. A. C. Bennett. In that capacity he was responsible for the Peace River hydro project.

Bennett also selected Shrum to create the new university recommended by the Macdonald Report of 1963. Shrum built Simon Fraser University, as it would be named, in 18 months earning it the title of "the Instant University." Shrum served as SFU's first chancellor until June 1969 and continued to head BC Hydro until 1972. In May 1975 he became director of the Vancouver Museum and Planetarium Association and reorganized the museum-planetarium complex at Vanier Park.

Now in his eighties, Shrum was approached by Premier Bill Bennett to take charge of the financially-troubled Robson Square Courthouse project. He successfully completed the project and was next asked to develop a trade and convention centre for Vancouver. He stepped down from this project when the federal government took over construction. Gordon Shrum died at the age of 89 in 1985.

The Simon Fraser University Society (SFUSS) was established on October 5, 1965. "University" was later dropped and it is now known as the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS). The SFSS still maintains its original constitutional objectives: "to promote, direct, administer, coordinate all student activities of, by and for the students of Simon Fraser University, and to promote cooperation amongst the students of Simon Fraser University and cooperation between the members of the Society and students within the Province and elsewhere." Its mandate has come to include advocating for students rights and providing services to graduate and undergraduate members. These include advocacy services, such as Legal Aid and Women's Centre, and retail services, such as Quad Books, the Print Shop and the Pub.

In its first year, the Society organized social events, co-sponsored Vietnam teach-ins, started a co-op bookstore, and protested against the poor quality food offered on campus. In the 1970s, the Society organized against tuition fee increases, lobbied for improved on-campus housing, started a women's centre, and opened a student-run pub. The 1980s saw the development of plans for a student union building and a continuation in the struggle for affordable education. In the 1990s the Society has constructed the Maggie Benston Centre, expanded its services and continues to advocate on behalf of students for accessible, affordable education.

The Executive Council originally consisted of 14 elected officers: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Ombudsman, Clubs Director, Public Relations Officer, Arts, Science and Education Presidents, Athletics Coordinator, Social Convenor, Cultural Director, and Housing coordinator. This remained until 1977 when changes to constitutional by laws established five at large positions: President, Treasurer, External and Internal Relations Officers, Secretary, and Public Relations Officer and the Ombuds Office. Currently, six elected Executive officers and 36 Student Union representatives elected by students from each academic department sit on the Forum, the student representative body responsible for all major Student Society decisions. The Departmental Student Unions and Standing Committees supply information and recommendations to the Forum. Student Society Standing Committees deal with every aspect of the Society's operations.

The Simon Fraser Teachers' Union held its organizational meeting and first general meeting on July 27, 1967. Its membership consisted of faculty members who felt that the Simon Fraser University Faculty Association (SFUFA) was not representing their interests. The SFTU remained active until 1968, when it integrated into the SFUFA after that body called for the resignation of SFU's president, Patrick Duncan McTaggart-Cowan.

The SFTU was formed, in part, as a reaction to perceived inadequacies with the SFUFA due to its close association with university administration. The SFTU was distinct from the SFUFA because it excluded from its membership the President, administrators, heads, librarians and teaching assistants. The SFTU was designed to deal solely with the problems of faculty members, and to advocate on their behalf

The Teachers' Union's stated aims were as follows:

to promote, establish, and maintain the highest academic standards among the members of the full-time teaching faculty at Simon Fraser University; to concern itself with the welfare of its membership specifically in the areas of academic freedom, tenure, promotions, dismissal and renewal procedures, and in general to adopt the methods of collective bargaining in furthering the vital interests of its membership; to ensure that the university adheres to democratic principles and procedures in the relations that are established between students, teaching assistants, faculty, administration, and all other members of the academic community; to provide ways and means of furthering the interests of faculty not available through other teacher associations (e.g. Faculty Association, CAUT), due to the limited effectiveness imposed upon such associations by their structure, and, by the exclusion of heads of departments and other administrative personnel, to minimize conflicts of interest that militate against the best interests of the faculty.

The Simon Fraser Teachers' Union executive, consisting of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, corresponding secretary, and four directors managed the business of the union. The STU was the first union of university professors in Canada, although it did not receive certification under the existing labour code.

The SFU Childcare Society presently operates eleven programs that are collectively known as the Children's Centre. The Children's Centre is an independent, legally incorporated non-profit society with registered charitable organization status. The Children's Centre provides full and part time care to approximately 240 children, ranging in age from 3 months to 12 years. Each program has its own physical space and is often referred to as a centre. A Board of Directors is composed of parent representatives, university representatives, childcare staff representatives and community representatives. The Executive Director is an ex-officio, non-voting member of the Board, hired through the University (with direction from the Society Board) to be the Coordinator for the Society and to act as a liaison between the Society and the University.

Daycare began at SFU in 1968 when a group of parents established the Simon Fraser Co-operative Family in a student lounge. By 1973, the Family Co-op had grown into the SFU Day Care Society with three units in different locations. By 1976, there were five licensed daycare centres all incorporated under the Burnaby Mountain Day Care Society.

In 1976 the University provided 1.2 million dollars to fund construction of a childcare complex, the first of its kind in Canada. The University also supported the appointment of a full-time director, Emily Campbell. For funding purposes, the Burnaby Mountain Day Care Society separated into five non-profit societies, which could each apply for grants. The five societies and their nine centres formed a loose federation, The Burnaby Association of University Child Care Societies, to set overall policy, coordinate activities, and exchange information. Centres remained autonomous in financing, staffing, and style of care.

In 1981 it became evident that current levels of University funding were in jeopardy. A Task Force was struck by the University to investigate the current organization of childcare on campus. Following recommendations of that Task Force, the five individual daycare societies were reorganized in 1982 into a single non-profit society, The SFU Childcare Society, which continues today.

The SFU Childcare Society is funded primarily through parent user fees and Board fund raising efforts. These monies are used for staff salaries and benefits, program related expenses, equipment purchase and upkeep, playgrounds, administrative costs and utilities.

A Licensing Agreement with the University provides for repairs and maintenance service for all the major building structures, comprehensive insurance, and the salary and benefits for the Executive Director and secretarial positions.

The Simon Fraser University Faculty Association was incorporated under the British Columbia Societies Act on June 24, 1969, although it had been active on campus since the university opened in 1965. The Association is concerned with the economic benefits available to faculty including salary and fringe benefits; grievances; conditions of employment; procedural matters with respect to promotion, granting of tenure, dismissal and disciplinary actions; and other related areas. The Faculty Association also concerns itself with asserting the integrity of the academic profession, defending independence of thought, and encouraging the social and recreational association of its members.

On the Provincial level, the Association is a charter member of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFABC) and is a member of the governing council. Nationally, the Simon Fraser University Faculty Association is a member of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT).

An Executive Council elected by the membership administers the Faculty Association. The Executive consists of the President, Vice President, and Directors. In 1969, there were six Directors, which increased to eight by 1998. See Appendix A8 for a list of Executive Committee members from 1965 to 1988. Over the years various standing and ad hoc committees have assisted the Executive Council. The most recent constitution (1998) provides for an Economic Benefits Committee and a Pension Committee.

Currently, the Faculty Association continues to advocate on behalf of its members, and acts as their representative in the faculty's relationship with the university.

The Simon Fraser University Women's Association was founded in 1965, and dissolved in 1977. The association met for the first time on March 16, 1965 under the name Simon Fraser University Women's Club. Its first objectives were to provide hospitality to new arrivals at the university, and to help with housing. Shortly afterwards the association expanded its purpose to be the encouragement of the best interests of Simon Fraser University and the general community. The management and administration of the association rested with the executive, consisting of a President, Vice-Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, and the past President.

In 1966, the group changed its name to the Simon Fraser University Faculty Women's Association, and, in 1973, again changed its name to the Simon Fraser University Women's Association. Regular membership in the association was open to members and wives of the university's teaching or research staff, administrative staff officers, library staff, governing staff, and to other women connected to the university as approved by the association's executive.

Activities of the association included regular meetings, social activities such as outings and lectures, wine and cheese parties, and the organization of the annual Christmas party for the children of staff and faculty.

The Simon Fraser University Women's Association dissolved in 1977 due to declining membership and lack of interest in its activities.

The Simon Fraser University Staff Association was established in 1966 by staff on campus who felt that conditions and salaries at the university were in need of improvement. An association, rather than a union, was formed as staff felt that freedom of action within the university was preferable at the time. By 1968 the Staff Association was an officially recognized body of the university, and was registered under the Societies Act. The aims of the Staff Association, as given in its 1968 constitution, were to unite staff under a single organization capable of acting on its behalf, to communicate with administration on matters affecting staff, to obtain and improve the best possible conditions of employment, to have representation on university committees, and to encourage the continued education of its members. In 1971, the constitution was changed to read:

The primary object of the Association is to serve the common interests of the non-academic employees of Simon Fraser University who are not members of trade unions in all matters concerning wages, salaries, benefits, and conditions of employment in such manner as to promote the fair treatment of all such employees individually and as compared in general to other persons and groups of persons similarly employed at Simon Fraser University and in other parts of the Greater Vancouver area.

Membership in the Association was voluntary, although all eligible staff were encouraged to join in order to give it stronger support for voicing the opinions and needs of its members.

By 1974, some members of the university staff expressed interest in union representation. A Committee to Investigate Alternatives was formed to explore the possibilities of union representation, although the Staff Association executive did not support this group. Concurrently, a number of unions attempted to organize staff on campus: the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Office and Technical Employees Union, and the Association of University and College Employees all campaigned to represent staff at SFU. In response the Staff Association decided to seek certification through the Labour Relations Board. On November 19, 1974 an election was held to determine if staff at SFU wanted a union, and if so, which union they wanted to represent them (the Staff Association or the Association of University and College Employees). Staff voted to have AUCE as their representative, and, as a result, the Staff Association began winding up its affairs. By December 1974 it had moved out of its offices, gave their surplus equipment and stationary to AUCE, and turned their records over to the university archives.

The SFU Women's Centre was established in 1974 and continues as of this writing (2009) as an active organization. Funded by the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) as a constituency group, the Women's Centre provides programming, space and volunteer opportunities to self-identified women on campus, and resource information and peer support to women and men.

The Women's Centre began in 1974 when a group of women students revived the SFU Women's Caucus (originally established in 1968) and obtained SFSS club status. It opened the Women's Centre that year in a small room in the Rotunda. In 1980 the Centre moved to the Academic Quadrangle, then in 1996 back to the Rotunda (TC3013), doubling its physical space to approximately 1400 square feet.

The Centre's organizational structure has evolved over time. The Women's Centre Steering Committee developed out of the Women's Caucus, but by 1977 it had merged with the Women's Centre Collective. The Collective consists of women students who volunteer a set number of hours per week to staff the Centre and remains the decision-making body of the Centre. In 1979-80, the Women's Centre Board was created to formulate policy, promote the Centre, liaise with the university community, locate funding sources, and work closely with the Collective, which continued to be responsible for day-to-day operations and activities. The Board included representatives from SFSS, the Women's Centre Collective, the Women's Studies Department, the Women's Studies Student Union, and female administrative and clerical university staff. By the mid-1980s the Board was meeting irregularly; it was discontinued in 1990, its functions transferred to a newly created part-time paid position of Coordinator, funded by and reporting to the SFSS.

The Women's Centre provides a number of services, including a women-only lounge open 24 hours a day, a resource office, peer support, library, kitchen facilities, study carrels, couches and a quiet play area for children in the lounge. Men can access the Centre's library materials, peer support, and referral information.

Since its establishment, the Centre has undertaken numerous activities and projects. In cooperation with other campus groups, the Centre promoted the creation of a Women's Studies Department, the institution of a university harassment policy and office, the improvement of campus childcare facilities, and the organization of International Women's Day events, December 6 vigils, and women's self-defense classes.