Vancouver_Magazine_May_2017

VANMAG.COM/CIT Y

WHEN EVELINE XIA fi red off a tweet—her fi rst ever—back in spring

2015, it was out of sheer frustration with Vancouver’s soaring

housing prices and the smarmy refrain from certain (older)

members of the media, the real estate industry, and the political

sphere asserting that if young people couldn’t aff ord to live in

Vancouver, they should just leave. Xia hadn’t planned on her

#donthave1million hashtag going v ira l, nor on it insta lling her as de

facto leader of an apparent millennial uprising—at least for a time.

Then 29, Xia became the face of the aff ordability crisis, regularly

fi elding media requests and speaking at rallies and events. j

AT ISSUE Generation

Meh

Millennials could determine

the outcome of the provincial

election—if they bother to vote.

BY Jessica Barrett

PORTRAIT BY Kamil Bialous

B.C. VOTES / DINNER WITH SYRIAN REFUGEES / MAKE BIG BUCKS AS A BUSKER

City

VANMAG.COM MAY 2017 21

Trending Topic

With one tweet,

Eveline Xia

accidentally

became the voice

of a generation.