How WSRA began:
Residents stopped the bulldozers

The quiet enclave of West Southlands in southwest Vancouver was initially Indigenous land with a focus on the Fraser waterfront, then mainly agricultural land for about 100 years until the 1960s. Residential development began in the 1920s and started taking its current form in the post-WWII period, while retaining a semi-rural character.

This was almost lost in the mid-1980s. City trucks began dumping fill in the wetlands at the ends of 48th, 49th and 50th avenues in preparation to sell the land for new housing. Local residents rallied to stop the development and save the wetlands and forest, forming the local residents group now known as the West Southlands Residents Association.

Thirty-five years later, West Southlands remains a serene residential community in a semi-rural setting with forested parkland and a wide assortment of plants and wildlife.