Mitchell J. (Mitch) Taylor was born on September 7, 1944 to Thomas and Florence Taylor, in Fort Frances Ontario. He was the fifth of the couple’s nine children. In 1952, at the age of seven, Taylor and his older brother Bob went to live with Alexander and Winnifred Brown on their farm near Regent, Manitoba to attend school and help on the farm.

Taylor lived with the Browns until the fall of 1962, when he began Bachelor of Science studies at the University of Manitoba. During the summers he held various jobs, including sweeping up nickel dust at the International Nickel Company of Canada mine smelter in Thompson, Manitoba and welding assistant on the TransCanada natural gas pipeline in Saskatchewan. After graduating from university in 1965, Taylor travelled through Europe before securing a job with Imperial Oil as an Industrial Sales Representative based in Kamloops, B.C.

On June 10, 1967, Taylor married Anne Franklin, his former classmate at Dand High School and a recent University of British Columbia graduate. The couple later had two daughters, Lydia and Jillian. The Taylors initially lived in Kamloops, with Anne teaching school locally. In 1969, Taylor became BC sales manager for Imperial Oil and was transferred to the Vancouver head office. He was promoted to a financial analyst role for the province in 1970, and in 1971 he became the Assistant to the Petroleum Products Committee of Imperial Oil, based in the Toronto office.

In 1972, Taylor resigned from Imperial Oil to embark on a new business venture in Vancouver with partner Bill Harvey. Purchasing the former Monsanto Chemical buildings on Granville Island for $18,000.00, the partners established Creekhouse Industries. They also received approval to build a 400-berth marina on the north shore of False Creek, west of the Cambie Street Bridge. While successfully lobbying for the revitalization of Granville Island, Taylor and Harvey fully renovated the Monsanto buildings, opening them as The Creekhouse in the winter of 1972. Their second venture, False Creek Marinas, began operations the following year in 1973 and immediately had a waitlist. After more than a decade of success, the land it occupied was expropriated by the BC government for Expo 86 and the marina was demolished.

By 1981, Harvey and Taylor were looking for a new business venture and they settled upon the establishment of a German-style lager craft brewery on Granville Island. The first microbrewery in Canada, Granville Island Brewing (GIB) was officially opened on June 9, 1984, with a German, Rainer Kallahne, as brewmaster. It had an initial capacity of 5000 hectolitres (125,000 cases) of beer per year. Bill Harvey eventually pulled out of the brewery operations. Taylor continued to operate as President and CEO until 1989, when International Potters Distilling (owner of Calona Wines and Pacific Western Brewery) did a share exchange with GIB. This reduced Taylor’s shares from a majority position in GIB to a much smaller minority position in Potters. Taylor remained involved with GIB, taking on the position of VP Sales and Marketing for Potters for three years before resigning and selling his shares in 1992. Additional information about Granville Island Brewing can be found in Series F-329-4 Granville Island Brewing Company Limited records.

In January 1995, Taylor purchased Bellingham Marine Industries, becoming the company’s President and CEO. Under his ownership, the company expanded to twelve plants in eight countries and became a world leader in marina design, engineering and construction by the time Taylor sold it in 2006. From 2006 to 2016, Taylor sat on the Board of Directors for The Knowledge Network, and from 2009 to May 2017, Taylor was co-owner of Knight Signs in Delta, BC. Through all of this time, he has retained an ownership position in Creekhouse Industries. In 2021, Mitch Taylor wrote and published his autobiography titled Making Way: A Memoir, which details his personal and professional experiences to that time.

Timothy Taylor was born in Venezuela in 1963. He grew up near Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver, British Columbia and spent his teenage years in Edmonton, Alberta. Taylor graduated from the University of Alberta with an Economics degree and completed a MBA from Queen’s University. He has worked in Toronto for some years until 1987 he relocated to British Columbia. Currently, Taylor lives in Vancouver, B.C with his wife Jane and his son. He teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia.

In the fall of 2000, Taylor’s short story, Doves of Townsend, won the National Magazine Award's Journey Prize. His first novel, Stanley Park, was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, The City of Vancouver Book Award, The Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the B.C. Book Prize's Ethel Wilson Award for Fiction and the Vancouver Public Library's “One Book, One Vancouver.” It was a selection of the 2007 edition of Canada Reads.

The Teaching Support Staff Union is the representative bargaining agent for Teaching Assistants, Tutor Markers, Language Instructors and Sessional Instructors at Simon Fraser University. The union negotiates terms and conditions of work, rates of pay, benefits and grievance procedures in a Collective Agreement with the University.

In 1971 graduate students organized the Graduate Student Union, an association that worked to improve teaching and research conditions. The GSU was inactive after 1974 but the discussion it had initiated regarding unionization continued until 1976 when twelve graduate students held a union organizational meeting in September of that year. They proposed affiliation with the Association of University and College Employees (AUCE) rather than the Canadian Union of Public Employees or the University of Toronto based Graduate Assistants' Association. The Teaching Support Staff Union, as it would be named, favored AUCE because of its relative smallness, democratic structure, local autonomy, strong representation of women's employment rights, and the established presence at SFU, since 1974, of AUCE Local 2 for office, clerical and technical staff. Accordingly, the TSSU received its charter as AUCE Local 6 on September 10, 1976.

The TSSU took additional steps to establish themselves as a legal entity under the British Columbia Labour Code. By April 1978 the TSSU had signed over 50% of the bargaining unit into the union. It then applied to the Labour Relations Board for a certification vote to make the TSSU the representative body for the bargaining unit. Before the vote could be held, however, the LRB conducted a hearing to define the membership of the bargaining unit, which had been disputed by the University. Following an LRB ruling in TSSU's favor, the certification vote was finally held in November 1978. The vote was positive despite an effort by some Language Assistants to have the LRB exclude them from the bargaining unit and the vote. The LRB certified the union on December 13, 1978.

In January 1979 the union began bargaining with the University for a first collective agreement. The TSSU and the University administration negotiated each article individually and resolved impasses through mediation. During negotiations, the TSSU successfully complained to the LRB that the University had violated Section 51 of the Labour Code by withholding an annual pay increase. The first Collective Agreement was signed by both sides on July 1, 1980, and has been renegotiated from time to time.

TSSU supported its sister local, AUCE 2, during the latter's strike in 1979. In 1983 and 1984, TSSU joined other campus unions in Operation Solidarity, a province-wide organization opposed to Premier Bennett's Social Credit restraint legislation.

TSSU remained as the last independent local of AUCE until the latter's dissolution in the early 1990s. Still functioning as an independent union, TSSU operates under a constitution and bylaws as a membership-driven organization. Union policy, bargaining positions, and the election of union officers and salaried officers are decided by the membership through meetings, mail-in ballots, and referenda. Departmental stewards serve as immediate contacts for TSSU members. In addition, a number of standing committees conduct on-going business and help direct the executive and general membership. Ad hoc committees have functioned from time to time.

The Technical University of British Columbia had its roots in the Fraser Valley University Society, a group of concerned citizens founded in February 1991 to lobby government for the creation of a university in the Fraser Valley. On February 2, 1995, the Society's efforts were rewarded when Premier Mike Harcourt announced that $100 million would be provided for the establishment of a technical university in Cloverdale. According to the "Statement of Government Purpose" that was issued for the university, there was to be an emphasis on access, applied research, innovative programs, and the use of new learning technologies. Partnerships were to be developed with private industry to decrease operating costs, and there would be a unique governance structure.

On May 1st 1995, thirteen people were appointed by the Minister of Skills, Training and Labour to an Interim Planning Council (IPC), which was to provide advice to the government regarding the mandate and characteristics of the "Technical University of British Columbia" (TechBC); the first meeting of the IPC took place on June 10th. The original terms of reference for the University were delivered by the Ministry on May 8th, and on August 10th the original constitution and bylaws were registered, under the name "Technical University Society of British Columbia." The first President of TechBC, Dr. Bernard Sheehan, an original IPC member, was appointed on January 1, 1996. On September 27, 1996 the IPC presented its final report to the Provincial Government, and on October 19th the twenty member Council was replaced by a five member Interim Governing Board.

The establishing legislation for the Technical University of British Columbia, Bill 30, was introduced on June 9, 1997, and the Government announced a $2.8 million operating grant for the University. On July 28th, Bill 30 received its third reading; however, the lack of a union, tenure, and a senate in the proposed governance structure prompted the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) to protest the bill. When the "Technical University of British Columbia Act" was eventually proclaimed on December 5, 1997, CAUT boycotted the new University. The first meeting of the Board of Governors was one week later, on December 12th. An Academic Planning Board was created in place of a senate and on May 8, 1998, the CAUT boycott was lifted.

During this entire period, the University's location was a source of controversy and dispute. The Cloverdale site was deemed unsuitable and, eventually, on July 20, 1998 it was announced that the University campus would be constructed at Surrey City Centre. On October 14th, TechBC's Education and Information Centre at Surrey Place Mall was officially opened, although some students had been attending classes offered through other universities at that location since September 10th. The first ninety students for TechOne, the required first year program for TechBC students, did not begin classes until the following September, and the official opening ceremony for the University was held at Surrey Place Mall on October 14, 1999. A few weeks earlier, on September 23rd, a second announcement had been made confirming plans to construct a 450,000 square foot campus at Surrey City Centre; the development project, scheduled for completion in 2003, would be a joint venture with ICBC, the City of Surrey, and the Provincial Government. In July 2000, the amount of space allocated to TechBC at Surrey Place Mall was increased to 110,000 square feet.

When it opened, TechBC offered Bachelor of Science and Master of Applied Science degrees in three program areas: Information Technology, Interactive Arts, and Management and Technology. In May 2000 the University received government approval for a PhD. program in Applied Science to begin in February 2001.

TechBC Corporation, a wholly-owned, for revenue subsidiary of TechBC, was created in October 1999 in order to establish partnerships with private industry, conduct applied research, and develop and support new businesses.

In September 2000 Sheehan resigned, and the search for a new President began; Dr. Jean Watters was selected, and he began his term in August 2001. His term, however, would be a short one. In May 2001 a Liberal government had been elected in British Columbia. After months of investigation into the TechBC situation, the Government withdrew its support of the University. On February 7, 2002 it was announced that TechBC would be closed at the end of the academic year, and its students and modified programs transferred to Simon Fraser University, although the Surrey campus would remain in use. Watters' last day as President was March 20, 2002.

Established by the "Technical University of British Columbia Act" on December 5, 1997, the Board of Governors was the principal decison-making body at the University. It was composed of the Chancellor, the President, two teaching staff members, eight people appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, two students, and one university employee who was not a teaching staff member. According to the Act, the Board was mandated to "approve strategic program and research directions and policies"; make decisions concerning TechBC programs and program areas; and provide reports to the appropriate Ministry as necessary. The Board was also responsible for appointing a President for the University. Its first meeting was on December 12, 1997. The Board had a number of standing committees; these were the Academic Planning Board, Audit Committtee, Business and Finance Committee, Executive Committee, Human Resources Committee, and Senior Compensation Committee. Other committees established by the Board were the University Review Committee and the Presidential Search Committee. In light of the Provincial Government's February 2002 decision to close TechBC, the Board began the process of dissolving its committees at its March 11, 2002 meeting. The final meeting of the Board took place on July 31, 2002.

The Academic Planning Board (APB) was a committee of the Board of Governors created on May 8, 1998 in response to the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA) boycott. It was responsible for dealing with learning and research function issues, the creation of academic goals and priorities, and the establishment of short- and long-term academic plans. The APB was also able to pass motions pertaining to academic freedom and employment issues. It was dissolved on July 5, 2002.