Toronto’s housing co-op sector had a number of power couples in the 1970s, but Bruce and Marianne are among a rare few who remain together 50 years later. Here’s their story.
Many of us know Bruce Woodrow as one of a handful of go-to co-op lawyers in Toronto, a role he held for 40 years until his retirement in 2018. However, Woodrow first encountered a co-op in his university days in 1971, when happenstance had him move into a student co-op in Waterloo. He quickly became involved in the governance of his own co-op as well as the broader co-op movement. His role with the North American Students of Co-operation let him see how effective co-op housing was across the continent. Although he began working in his first chosen field, computers, he kept a connection to co-op housing when he migrated to Toronto, moving into Bain Co-op in 1976 as it was transitioning from City ownership. He joined the CHF Canada board soon after and in 1977, became a CHFT staff member, an organization that operated at that time like a staff collective.
One of Bruce’s fellow CHFT staffers was Marianne Moershel. Her path to co-op housing took a different turn. Moershel had left the US in the late 60s with her then-husband and had begun a family in Montreal. When they moved to Toronto, she found employment doing administrative work for a worker co-op that acted as a resource group for housing co-op development. Marianne remembers typing a brief to push for amendments to the National Housing Act in 1972! Because of her developing knowledge about housing co-ops, she jumped at a chance to get ForWard 9 Co-op to use CMHC funds to purchase the east-end fourplex she and her family were living in, thrusting her head-first into the sector. Moershel recalls doing ForWard 9 governance work from her hospital bed, the day after she had her second child! She joined the CHFT staff in 1976 to first develop finance training for co-op members and starting a year later also delivered the full board course.
Woodrow and Moershel worked professionally together on the development of Woodsworth Co-op, in Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood, and after a time, with Moershel newly single, they formed a personal partnership as well. They were the first occupants of Woodsworth, having been let in a few days early to organize all the other move-ins. Over time, they downsized to a smaller unit, until their move-out in 2006.
Inspired by the legal challenges facing co-ops and a business law course he took in 1980, Bruce wrote the LSAT and was accepted to law school in 1981. Around the same time, Marianne began an architectural science degree. Armed with their new qualifications, they continued their support to the sector through the 80s and 90s. Marianne was a CHFT staff member from 1984 to 1988 in a variety of capacities and then took on consulting work for sector organizations in Toronto and Ottawa, including for The Agency for Co-operative Housing. She also worked with individual co-ops advising their boards and members on reserve fund planning. Marianne was a founding director of the Tenants Non-Profit Redevelopment Co-operative and served on the board for many years. Bruce, of course, became known for his work helping co-ops resolve member issues including evictions as a last resort. For many years, he also co-chaired the CHF Canada AGMs, always wearing a hat befitting the host city, including a Stetson in Calgary in 2014.
Newly back in Toronto after a few years living in Eastern Ontario, Woodrow and Moershel remain strongly committed to the co-op sector and look forward to finding ways to engage with co-op issues. Recently, Bruce announced on social media his intention to join Karma Co-op, a long-standing food co-op in downtown Toronto. And Marianne laughed when she reported their new next-door neighbour in their Corktown condo was one of the board members of ForWard 9 45 years ago, proving that co-opers are like magnets for one another.
In 2002, Bruce was named an Honorary Lifetime Board Member and Marianne, an Honorary Lifetime Member.
