A key figure in the early history of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association was Reg Robson, a sociology professor at the University of British Columbia, whose major publications focussed on the effectiveness of alcohol treatment centres and sociological factors affecting professional recruitment for academics and nurses.  One of the founders of the association, Robson sat on the Board of Directors well into the 1980s and served in various executive positions including executive secretary (1969-1972, 1978), president (1972-5, 1980-2) and treasurer (1975, 1979).  No member was more dedicated than Robson, who served in these various capacities when no one else was available and helped to ensure the viability and institutional memory of the association.  Robson fought with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association over their differing visions of a national rights association and pushed for the creation of the Canadian Federation of Civil Liberties and Human Rights Associations and served on its first executive board. Robson took the lead in doing media interviews on behalf of the BCCLA during the October Crisis, he oversaw the creation of new rights associations across British Columbia, and would be a key player in the association’s most active campaigns, including its reaction to the Gastown riot and challenging the Heroin Treatment Act.  It was thanks to his dedication and perseverance that the association thrived and became an effective rights advocate provincially and nationally.

Robson personified many of the characteristics which defined the BCCLA in its early years.  Not only did the organization play host to a cadre of west coast academics, but it has always been a predominantly a male organization.  By the early 1980s the vast majority of the Directors were, like Robson, white, middle class professionals living in the Lower Mainland.  Robson had also been active throughout his life in several left-wing causes and, although membership was open to anyone who supported the group’s principles and it was staunchly non-partisan, the BCCLA was far more likely to attract left-wingers, including future MLA’s in the NDP.