Officially, the day marked the opening of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, or Habitat, in Vancouver. Others insist it marked something bigger: the day Vancouver first stepped onto the world stage.
The world certainly found Vancouver for the largest United Nations gathering held to that time. About 10,000 people came from 153 countries, plus 1,500 international media.
Prime minister Pierre Elliott
Trudeau told the conference's opening session that the world needed "a conspiracy of love'' to overcome soaring population. His wife, Margaret, wore knee socks and Earth shoes, and led a "people's water walk,'' carrying buckets more than a mile to signify the need for clean drinking water.
Habitat hosted the great visionaries - Margaret Mead, Buckminster Fuller - and the not-so-great, including Imelda Marcos and Kurt Waldheim.