Harold Steves

The Steves family is one of Richmond's first founding families, after which the community of Steveston is named. Manoah and Martha Steves were the first settlers in the area, arriving in 1877. They imported the first purebred Holstein cattle into BC, established a dairy to provide milk for the fledgling City of Vancouver and were Western Canada's first seedsmen. Born of Maude and Harold Sr., Harold and wife Kathy reside in the old Steves farmhouse, built in 1917, on what is now an 11-acre (45,000 m²) cattle farm surrounded by residential development. Steves is a graduate of the University of British Columbia with a BSc in Agriculture.

In the late 1950s Richmond Council rezoned 12,000 acres of farmland for residential use. The Steves farm was rezoned against their wishes.[2] As a result the Steves were not permitted to build a new dairy for a bulk tank when the milk company stopped picking up milk in cans. They went out of the milk business and switched to beef cattle. Steves began a campaign to save farmland. However, when the farm was assessed residential taxes his father appealed the assessment and lost and subsequently sold most of the farm. In the mid-1960s Steves drafted the initial resolutions to NDP conventions to establish an Agricultural Land Bank system in British Columbia. As an MLA he was active in the establishment of the "Agricultural Land Reserve"[2] in 1973 under the Dave Barrett NDP Government and for the following decades, was one of its strongest defenders. He is active in the Farmland Defence League.

In 1978 Steves bought Back Valley Ranch at Cache Creek. It is now owned by the oldest son, Jerry who raises grass fed beef and direct markets it, cut, wrapped and frozen, through the internet at www.stevesfarm.com

Steves is the past chair of the Metro Vancouver Agriculture Committee and is promoting farmland preservation, urban agriculture and food security for the region. He represents Richmond as second director on the board of directors of Metro Vancouver. He was the Lower Mainland Treaty Advisory Committee rep at the treaty table for the Tsawwassen First Nation treaty negotiations.

In the late 1960s Steves co-founded the Richmond Anti-Pollution Association, one of the first environmental advocacy groups in Canada.[2] Steves has been a director of the BC Groundfish Development Authority which administers quotas for the groundfish industry to prevent over fishing. As a director of the Steveston Harbour Authority he is actively promoting harbour redevelopment and establishment of new fishing businesses.

Steves is chair of the Parks and Recreation & Cultural Services Committee of Richmond Council. He is also a member of the Finance; General Purposes; Planning and the Public Works & Transportation Committees of council. Steves is a council representative to the Agricultural Advisory Committee; the Olympic Oval Advisory Committee alternate; the Richmond Farmers' Institute; the Sea Island Community Association; the Steveston Harbour Authority Board and the Britannia Heritage Shipyard Society.