A big change is on the horizon for Steveston. The original Steveston Community Centre building will soon begin its long-planned demolition in December 2025.
The first part of the Centre opened in 1957, thanks to years of determined lobbying and fundraising by the Steveston Community Society. The goal was an ambitious $57,000, a hefty amount for what was then a hardworking, largely working-class neighbourhood.
Progress was slow until Japanese Canadian families, rebuilding their lives after their Internment during the Second World War, stepped forward with remarkable generosity by contributing approximately $15,000 toward the construction. In return, the Society dedicated a room in the new Centre for practicing Judo and Kendo.
Over time, the community centre expanded and adapted as Steveston grew around it. But in recent years it became clear that the best way to meet the community’s needs was to start fresh.
A new 60,000 sq ft Steveston Community Centre, designed with nods to waterfront docks and wharves, industrial buildings, and the gracefully curved roofline of the neighbouring Steveston Martial Arts Centre—will carry the spirit of the original into a new era.
While the original building will soon pass into history, its legacy will continue in the new Centre, with the people who will fill it, and the community it has helped shape for nearly seven decades.
