Crabtown was a squatter community near today’s Trans Canada Trail in North Burnaby. The first shacks were built by mill workers during a housing shortage in 1911 and after a major recession hit at the end of 1912, it became a permanent community. During the Great Depression it grew in size and residents installed some basic infrastructure, including steps up the bluffs, a boardwalk, and a water supply. When the feds evicted them in 1957, there were 130 residents living in 114 homes in Crabtown. I was so fortunate to grow up and play and fish on the waterfront here as a child long after Crabtown, then patrol it after in the fireboat as a firefighter.
source: Opinion BC
