labour lawyer, and he spent a significant amount of time working for First Nations clients, most notably in the much-publicised case of Fred Quilt. Politics Rankin ran for office more than a dozen times before being elected to the Vancouver City Council in 1966 as the sole independent alderman on a council dominated by the conservative Non-Partisan Association. Vancouver's aldermen were elected through an "at large" system rather than by ward meaning voters from wealthier neighbourhoods were able to monopolise council elections and that only candidates who could afford a citywide campaign had a chance of being elected. Rankin helped form the Committee of Progressive Electors (COPE) as a left wing civic political party and it subsequently pushed for a ward-based electoral system to be introduced in Vancouver, culminating in a referendum in October 1973, at which the ward proposal was defeated. Rankin was a 20-year veteran of city council when he ran for mayor in 1986, losing to Gordon Campbell. He returned to city council as an alderman in the subsequent election and remained on the body until his retirement from politics in 1993. He died on February 26, 2002, from a heart attack, aged 81. Rankin's widow, Connie Fogal, is the former leader of the Canadian Action Party. Rankin's son, Phil Rankin, continues in his father's footsteps as a lawyer and advocate for legal aid. His grandson, Micah Rankin, is a law professor at Thompson Rivers University. His nephew, Lee Rankin is a lawyer and was a long-time councillor in Burnaby, British Columbia and was a federal Liberal candidate in 2000 and a BC Liberal candidate in the 2009 provincial election. References External links 1920 births 2002 deaths Canadian communists Lawyers in British Columbia Coalition of Progressive Electors councillors Canadian Army personnel of World War II The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada soldiers Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Canadian socialists of Ukrainian descent