BC At Work, Episode 9, Video

[00:00:13.24] – Scott

Hey, hi, I’m Scott Swanson.

 

[00:00:16.10] – Judy

And I’m Judy Pal.

 

[00:00:17.08] – Scott

And this is BC At Work.

 

[00:00:23.21] – Narrator

This week, flying high helicopter-style and life alone on a West Coast lighthouse. BC At Work, the inside story showcasing the unions, working people, and the companies that employ them. This week from the banks of the Fraser River, here’s Scott and Judy.

 

[00:00:51.14] – Scott

Welcome to the show. We’re coming to you today from the Kinsmen Fitness Circuit on the banks of the Fraser River in Richmond.

 

[00:00:57.10] – Judy

You know, Scott, what’s really unique about this circuit is that it’s made not only for the abled but for the disabled too.

 

[00:01:02.14] – Scott

And Judy, did you know that this path runs all the way around Richmond to Steveston.

 

[00:01:06.07] – Judy

It’s a great place to hike, bike, or jog because not only do you have a chance to see the planes taking off and landing, there’s also the bird sanctuary at the far point.

 

[00:01:13.25] – Scott

Yes, you may have noticed that with the noise, we’re right across the river from the airport.

 

[00:01:17.23] – Judy

And that’s where we’re going for our first story.

 

[00:01:21.29] – Steven Wright

Serving in the RCMP, and I was up in the Williams Lake area, and we were on a search for a missing hunter in the wintertime, and we called the helicopter in to come and help us search, and he landed in a snowbank, and I jumped in the back of the machine. We took off, flew around for about 45 minutes. When we came back, the pilot put us exactly in the same skid marks than when we took off, and I thought to myself, I think I might like to be a helicopter pilot.

 

[00:01:49.19] – Judy

Steven Wright did become a helicopter pilot, and in 1980 founded Vancouver Helicopters to serve the full spectrum of helicopter users with the highest standards of professional service.

 

[00:02:00.01] – Steven Wright

There were a number of helicopter companies based here and headquartered in the Vancouver area, but no one was really committed to, to the urban market, to the Vancouver customers per se. There was no helicopters in the city to be chartered, so I thought that if I keyed in on that and created an urban market and tried to promote that, that it might catch on.

 

[00:02:22.20] – Judy

One of the most essential services Vancouver Helicopters provides is the emergency air ambulance.

 

[00:02:30.13] – Steven Wright

Our response time normally fluctuates during the daytime, we’re ready to go here in 5 minutes. We can usually get it started up before the attendants get here, so we’ve got very quick response times during the day. At night, it fluctuates between 30 and 45 minutes for the pilot to drive in from home, and the helicopter’s all ready to go before he goes home. So we just have it towed out, and again, by the time the paramedics get here, everyone arrives at the same time, and then we head out.

 

[00:03:00.26] – Judy

Constant maintenance of their helicopters ensures the highest safety standards are met.

 

[00:03:05.22] – Steven Wright

Since our inception, we have never had a serious bodily injury or an aircraft loss, so we’re, we’re happy about that and we’re trying to keep it that way.

 

[00:03:17.14] – Judy

Vancouver Helicopters is one of the first local services to offer charters to the general public, everything from a 15-minute jaunt to a full day of sightseeing. Another niche Steven Wright has created is an air commuter service for the executive who wants to be picked up at the office. Perhaps one of the most glamorous aspects of Vancouver Helicopters is their work for the television and movie industries.

 

[00:03:51.04] – Steven Wright

Our involvement in the motion picture industry usually starts when the producers come to Vancouver and they’re looking for various locations to do the filming. We could be doing aerial photography, putting camera mounts in and doing aerial shots for, for the script. And in fact, more recently, in the last 4 or 5 years, we’ve been actually performing for camera when the helicopters are in the script. We have also got into doing aerial choreography where we’ll have 2 or 3 helicopters or maybe a floatplane or two in the air simultaneously, all doing desired movements to follow the script, so it’s quite interesting.

 

[00:04:34.21] – Judy

Possibly the most important aspect of Vancouver Helicopters is search and rescue.

 

[00:04:39.05] – Steven Wright

We normally just have the pilot on board, and then the rescue specialists go on the end of the line.

 

[00:04:45.16] – Judy

And it can carry two people?

 

[00:04:48.03] – Steven Wright

Yeah, they can actually go up to three with a stretcher. They could carry a total of three, but normally it would be the one technician and then the one victim.

 

[00:04:58.09] – Judy

Right.

 

[00:04:58.25] – Steven Wright

Your flying technique is a little bit different when you’re doing this type of work. Normally you fly the helicopter, but in any work that involves vertical reference—we refer to as vertical reference where you’re looking straight down— you end up flying the load as opposed to the helicopter. It’s a demonstrated skill that not everyone you know, can get onto it. Requires a lot of concentration and coordination. It’s hard to believe that, you know, just five minutes into these mountains and you’re—

 

[00:05:36.03] – Judy

Lost.

 

[00:05:36.10] – Steven Wright

Totally isolated. That’s right, lost. We do a lot of search and rescue work here in the wintertime.

 

[00:05:44.10] – Judy

Do you?

 

[00:05:46.05] – Steven Wright

Yeah.

 

[00:05:46.25] – Steven Wright

It looks like he’s all set up, ready to go down there, so.

 

[00:05:50.16] – Steven Wright

Okay, ready to go, Randy?

 

[00:05:54.29] – Speaker 10

Roger, all clear.

 

[00:06:07.10] – Judy

Dangling at the end of a rope is not a matter to be taken lightly. As you can see, when given the choice, I chose to be in the helicopter.

 

[00:06:17.03] – Speaker 3

Well, I’d really like to, uh, get into TV evangelism, ’cause that’s where I think most of the money is.

 

[00:06:22.27] – Judy

You know, I could swing here all day watching these planes taking off and landing, but, uh, I think Scott needs a break.

 

[00:06:29.03] – Scott

Break?

 

[00:06:31.25] – Speaker 12

Ahh!

 

[00:06:31.28] – Speaker 5

Thank you.

 

[00:06:33.18] – Speaker 5

Enjoy your stay, sir.

 

[00:06:35.16] – Speaker 5

Whether it’s a good meal, a good night’s rest, or friendly and helpful service, we’re here to make good times better in BC.

 

[00:06:41.23] – Speaker 9

You know, it’s really fun to meet people from all over the world, and I enjoy sharing this beautiful province, and I’m proud to be a member of Local 40.

 

[00:06:48.11] – Nick Worhaug

The hospitality industry is the second largest in BC. We know our work is important to all British Columbians. Working with other trade unions, the business community, and the public, we make the good times better in BC.

 

[00:07:01.15] – Narrator

You’re still in bed when the first trucks start rolling. Before this day is through, each man will lift 15,000 pounds of garbage and walk miles of back alley. This job is tough and it’s dirty. It takes a special kind of man to work this hard for you and your community. A garbage man. It’s his neighbourhood too. They can’t rush it or cut corners because a safe, clean city is something to be proud of, and you can’t put a price tag on that. CUPE garbage men, a winning team that takes pride in a job well done.

 

[00:07:33.01] – Speaker 12

I invented the telephone so that folks could talk to each other inexpensively. So far, Canadians have resisted corporate attempts to dismantle our phone system. But now, with Mulroney’s trade deal, it’s happening again. This trade deal could double your home phone bill. It’s already happened in the States, and we could be the next unless you call this number now. When it’s your phone, there’s nothing free about free trade.

 

[00:08:02.00] – Judy

97, 98, 99, 100. While, uh, we’re waiting for Scott to catch up, here’s Clay Perry.

 

[00:08:26.12] – Clay Perry

Lynn Bowen records in her excellent book about early Vancouver Island coal mining that C.S. Nicoll, who was then the manager of the Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company, discovered that his Chinese miners were being paid equally. ‘Why, this won’t do,’ he said. ‘If the Chinese are to be paid the same rate of wage as the white men, there will be no use employing them.’ And 30 years later, Edmund S. Kirby, then manager of the War Eagle Mine, near Rossland, wrote to a friend as follows: ‘In all the lower grades of labour, especially in smelter labour, it is necessary to have a mixture of races which includes a number of illiterates who are first-class workmen. They are the strength of an employer and the weakness of the union.’ Unhappily, early unions in British Columbia reacted blindly to all this, lashing out not against their tormentors but against the immigrant groups themselves. And these latter, confronted on the one hand by employers who were determined to use them and by unions who refused to represent them and were trying to drive them out of the province, had no alternative but to form their own unions. Chinese Canadians, Japanese Canadians, Indo-Canadians all formed unions of their own in desperation.

 

[00:10:04.29] – Clay Perry

The IWW led the way out of this morass for BC unions, and matters got gradually better. By the Second World War, Harold Pritchett, founding international president Renata Shearer, then president of the IWA, led all delegates out of an American hotel that refused accommodation to Black delegates. And 40 years later, the BC Federation of Labour had the honour of employing Renate Shearer just before her death to direct the Federation’s anti-racist campaign. There still is racism in the British Columbia workplace, racial jokes, racial slurs, even worse things. But the movement has come to the full understanding that racism is incompatible with unionism, that you cannot have a union without the full guarantee of equal treatment to all members, irrespective of race or colour or sex or creed. That’s Perry’s logbook.

 

[00:11:17.20] – Judy

In the Strait of Georgia, off the southern tip of Denman Island, is a rock they call Chrome Island. On this rock is one of the 35 light stations on the West Coast that are operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. Because of the rugged coastline and often unpredictable Pacific Northwest weather, light stations are a standard fixture in BC waters. Chas Thompson has been a lighthouse keeper for 8 years. It was the seclusion and variety of work that drew Chas, a member of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, to this type of job.

 

[00:11:47.28] – Chas Thompson

I like the work. You can, you can pick and choose what you’re doing every day. It’s not as if you’re in a factory working at one job, particular job, day in and day out for 8 hours a day. If you get bored of doing something here, mowing lawns, well, you can quit and go do it again the next day and do something else. It’s kind of nice fresh air, good view.

 

[00:12:10.26] – Judy

Chrome Island is manned by Chas, a fellow lighthouse keeper, and their wives. He took me on a guided tour of their island paradise.

 

[00:12:19.05] – Chas Thompson

This here is the engine room. We’re on hydro. If the hydro fails, then we have our own generators to supply the power to the house.

 

[00:12:30.22] – Judy

The next stop on the tour was the light itself. I was surprised to learn that this light that can be seen for miles is powered by two 500-watt light bulbs that are reflected through two elaborate magnifying lenses, a far cry from the original lights of the late 1800s.

 

[00:12:47.16] – Chas Thompson

The first light was put here in 1891. It was a steady burning light on the lighthouse keeper’s house, and a freighter in 1900, a steam freighter came down and they thought it was a steady burning light in a farmhouse in the distance. Well, it turned out it was right here, and they ran into the end of the island. And I believe it was around that time when they— that’s when they changed over to a flashing light so they could distinguish that it was a lighthouse, not a light in the distance.

 

[00:13:14.19] – Judy

What kind of maintenance goes in besides changing the light bulbs? Is it still a thing you have to come up and clean the windows every week?

 

[00:13:19.26] – Chas Thompson

Oh yeah, yeah, pretty well every time you get a good storm you have to clean the glass. You know, you get salt all over them, and of course the seagulls. They make a mess of things too.

 

[00:13:30.10] – Judy

The keepers of the light have a front-row seat to watch the never-ending flotilla of boats that pass by the island 24 hours a day.

 

[00:13:38.14] – Chas Thompson

They’re going to have an opening here very shortly. They’re all coming out now. There’s a whole flow of them going out, and that’ll be a gillnet opening for the dog salmon. And then the herring season, of course, in March is the biggest one. We get over 1,000 boats in here for that one, you know, running all around looking to see where the schools of herring are building and how big they are, and they’re waiting for Fisheries to announce that they’re ripe and ready to open.

 

[00:14:05.05] – Judy

Do you do any fishing or boating out here? Do you see enough of it going on around you?

 

[00:14:09.15] – Chas Thompson

I do a little fishing, yeah. I do a little fishing, all right, yeah. And then I get company up, I take them out, you know, when I can. But I like to fish, yeah. That’s probably about 75 percent of my life. These are Indian petroglyphs. This is what a lot of the tourists come to see, is these Indian carvings in the rock here. I’ve heard that some of them could be up to 1,000 years old.

 

[00:14:35.15] – Chas Thompson

We can, you know, you can make them stand out just by sprinkling some dirt on them, and then you just brush it over and it makes them stand out a lot nicer. And some of them that are hard to see, that are worn badly, it’ll do the same thing, you know, Brings out their hands and arms and anything that you really want to find.

 

[00:14:56.12] – Judy

This is just a wonderful place here. In fact, it’s almost like an island paradise. But according to Chas, the winters are a bit different.

 

[00:15:02.22] – Judy

This footage was shot last winter during one of the many cold weather squalls.

 

[00:15:07.21] – Chas Thompson

They think it would be a beautiful job to have in the summer. You know, they’re always saying, ‘Oh, I’d give your— I’d take your job anytime.’ And I said, ‘Well, come back in November, you can have it until about May.’ And of course then they think, ‘Oh, I think we’ll just stay in Arizona, it’s nicer.’

 

[00:15:20.24] – Chas Thompson

Sorry we don’t have any bad weather for you.

 

[00:15:25.16] – Judy

Living on the rock does have some disadvantages, however. Take grocery shopping, for instance.

 

[00:15:30.08] – Chas Thompson

You know, you’ve got a half-hour boat run in the cold, you know, return, 15 minutes roughly to go over and 15 minutes back. So it’s a little different than just running out of the house into the carport and jumping in the car. And if it’s pouring rain, of course you get soaked, so do your groceries, and then when you get in, you try and get them up the hill here without spilling the bags out all over the lawn and everything. But it’s a hassle, but it’s a challenge, I guess.

 

[00:15:57.05] – Judy

Living in seclusion for so long, what does Chas think about crowds?

 

[00:16:01.19] – Chas Thompson

We went to Expo and we just about went crazy. You know, it’s a lot of people when you’re not used to anybody. And even in the summer, you know, you get the tourists come in. By the end of the day sometimes you can get quite a few groups come in all day long, and it’s kind of nice when they stop at the end of the day, sort of.

 

[00:16:18.21] – Judy

What about the wildlife that you have here, Chas?

 

[00:16:21.00] – Chas Thompson

Well, we have in the herring season, the big herring season when everything’s so busy, we have a young eagle landed here in the oak tree here two years ago. Eventually he’ll come now within a few feet. I can just whistle and he comes around the house looking for me. And then the killer whales come in now and then. Last summer they were right in around the station here. There was about 6 or 8 boats fishing here and we were right out in amongst them. So I had my video camera out and they came within about 20 feet of me and I was sitting there with the engine off taking movies of them. They’re really something to see.

 

[00:16:55.26] – Judy

As I’m leaving our Chrome Island paradise, we’ll take a break.

 

[00:17:16.21] – Speaker 11

Is she still stable?

 

[00:17:16.24] – Narrator

When people depend on Air BC, Air BC depends on the BC Tel Group for an integrated, reliable telecommunications system that combines a variety of BC Tel products and services.

 

[00:17:30.05] – Speaker 10

Air BC dispatch.

 

[00:17:31.01] – Narrator

For the technical support it takes to keep that system fully operational.

 

[00:17:35.07] – Speaker 10

We’ll take care of it.

 

[00:17:38.20] – Narrator

For cost-efficient, leading-edge technology, and for proven dependability 24 hours a day, every day. That’s what people count on. That’s what business counts on. From the BC Tel Group. BC Tel. Quality—we make it a way of life.

 

[00:18:33.06] – Judy

BC at Work now profiles the BC Federation of Labour.

 

[00:18:37.01] – Scott

Most British Columbians know about the BC Federation of Labour, but what they know about it comes from the media, which means they link the Federation to high-profile news stories. Although the Federation is often involved in high-profile activities, much of what we do is not of interest to the news media. The result is a very lopsided public image of the Federation. The BC Federation of Labour is involved in many programs which are of direct benefit to the community. Programs such as the Anti-Racism project, which was established over two years ago and continues to educate people in the community and the workplace about racism and how to stop it.

 

[00:19:13.02] – John Weir

The Federation of Labour’s campaign against racism benefits the community in a number of ways. First of all, it helps to broaden understanding in the community, understanding of race, religion, culture, those kinds of things. It also reduces stress on a number of people in the workplace, and that’s a very important objective because you can’t separate the workplace from the rest of the community. And also, I think it’s important that people see institutions in our communities as being responsive to the needs of the various people who make up Canada today.

 

[00:19:48.16] – Narrator

It is estimated that 1 in 5 British Columbians are functionally illiterate. These people cannot read or write at levels which will allow them to function properly in society. Some cannot read or write at all. The Federation is in the process of developing a program which will encourage these people to seek the educational opportunities which are available to them.

 

[00:20:08.07] – Gene Errington

We see our program as benefiting not just the workers on the worksite, but everybody in the community. When people can cope with their jobs, when they can look for promotions, when they can protect themselves by being able to cope with health and safety regulations, this is going to benefit their families, this is going to benefit the community. As they become literate, they will be able to take a wider part in public life. We see this as having enormous impact, not just for our workers, but for everybody.

 

[00:20:36.19] – Speaker 5

Basically, the women and kids we see at Crabtree Corner are poor, some are also abused, and some of the moms have alcohol problems.

 

[00:20:45.07] – Scott

Virtually everyone in the province knows about the United Way and the social service agencies which it supports financially. But very few people know the large role the Federation of Labour and its affiliated unions play in the United Way fundraising campaigns.

 

[00:20:59.06] – David Rice

We know that half of the United Way of the Lower Mainland funding, and that will be somewhere over $6 million this year, comes from employee contributions. The campaign labour committee, which is a group of us who work full-time at making the campaign as effective as possible, have arranged with employers to book six people, six union officers off the job this year to work full-time on the United Way campaign.

 

[00:21:28.24] – Scott

While much of what the BC Federation of Labour does generates headlines in the newspapers, some of our most important work goes unnoticed.

 

[00:21:36.18] – Martin Sheen

Please stop buying California table grapes. It’s as simple as that. Thank you.

 

[00:21:42.28] – Scott

The Anti-Racism campaign, the Literacy Project, the United Way, even this television program, all contribute to the communities of our province in a positive and beneficial way. It’s something worth remembering.

 

[00:21:55.01] – Speaker 10

What do I do now? I work in a candy factory sorting sesame snaps out, and I like it because it’s good pay and it’s good hours for me. I can sleep all day and work all night, stuff like that.

 

[00:22:07.10] – Speaker 10

It’s a cool job.

 

[00:22:14.12] – Judy

Oh, come on, Scott, it’s not that hard.

 

[00:22:16.06] – Scott

Oh, Judy, isn’t it time we took a break?

 

[00:22:18.04] – Judy

All right.

 

[00:22:24.01] – Narrator

The next Prime Minister has to take real action on childcare. The next Prime Minister must stand up for equal pay for work of equal value. And care that women get equal treatment on the job. Women my age want pensions that will let us live with dignity and security. The next Prime Minister must understand that.

 

[00:22:42.05] – Speaker 10

I’m voting for Ed Broadbent.

 

[00:22:44.03] – Judy

Ed! Ed Broadbent! Ed Broadbent! There’s no other choice.

 

[00:22:52.28] – Martin Sheen

Hello, I’m Martin Sheen. You know, when you buy California table grapes, you help finance the pesticide poisoning of thousands of California farm workers and their families. The California grape growers don’t really care much about the health of farm workers. They only care about making more money. So if you want to help stop this horrible pesticide poisoning of farm workers and their families, please stop buying California table grapes. It’s as simple as that. Thank you.

 

[00:23:22.24] – Judy

While Scott and I jog to the point, here’s Charlie Farquharson.

 

[00:23:41.24] – Charlie Farquharson

The wife and me’s been farming for 35 year, man and beast. Getting in the hay every June, having a gang clash with our neighbours in August, regular as crockwork. And in all that time, I never had an accident. Oh, I’ve been kicked by a cow and throwed by a horse and bit by a snake, but them wasn’t accidents. Them suckers done that on purpose. So I never had none of your workers’ constipation and had to go up in front of a board for to investigate my occupational disuses. But I sure would like to get some of that vacational rehabilititiation for either the wife or our boy Orville. The wife had an accident last Friday night when she was singing at a charity concert for your sick and tired of your United Church. Velita, she’s the second mezzanine soprano in the Parry Sound Centennial Choir. They have a chorus of over 60, although the wife’s only 58. And Velita don’t get to warble all the time, so she brings along her knitting and puts it down when she stands up for the sing. Well, they start up with your national anthem, not the one where they changes the words every three years, the old Canada, but the one has the same tune as your Yankee one, My Country, What’s It to You.

 

[00:24:44.18] – Speaker 7

And as soon as they finished that, Velita sat down right on them knitting needles. They had to take her to the hospital to remove 45 stitches. She’s all right now. She’s home lying under the doctor’s supervisor without a stitch. But you know what I want to know is, is she entitled to your workers’ condensation in the end? I doubt if our boy Orville’s up for the workers’ condemnation just for having that awful impediment in his back. He can’t get it off of the bed in the morning for to help me with the chores. And as for myself, I’m thinking of your futures as well as your pastures. Mind you, you have to watch your step at both places. And I think I’d have a better chance of getting your workers’ conflagration if I belonged to a union. So I’m thinking of becoming one of your UFOs. That’s your United Farmers of Ontario, not your unidentifiable flying objects. I think I better join right away before I’m overtook by the next catarascophy.

 

[00:25:35.25] – Speaker 9

I’m an accountant, and I don’t know if I like everything about my job. I prefer to do something else.

 

[00:25:44.11] – Speaker 7

If I could have any job, well, I’ve spent the last 17 years raising my children, and I’m just thinking about that right now. I just haven’t really made up my mind exactly what I’d like to do, so it’s a real question.

 

[00:25:57.10] – Speaker 8

Ski instructor, Whistler. Why? Because there’s happy people always coming there, and so it’s a happy environment and just happy people.

 

[00:26:05.16] – Judy

What do you do now, and what do you enjoy about your job?

 

[00:26:07.28] – Speaker 8

Well, I teach skiing in Whistler, and I really like it because there’s happy people there. And all I can do is make them happy. They want to give me money to be happy, and I like that.

 

[00:26:19.23] – Judy

You know, Scott, that was really exhilarating.

 

[00:26:23.00] – Judy

All that fresh air and exercise is great.

 

[00:26:24.24] – Scott

Yeah, Jude, it was a slice.

 

[00:26:28.19] – Judy

Well, that’s it for this week. We’ll see you next week.

 

[00:26:31.14] – Scott

Good night.

 

[00:26:32.19] – Judy

Good night.

 

[00:26:33.17] – Judy

You know, Scott, maybe next week we could get the producers to do a show about the wilderness trail.

 

[00:26:41.16] – Judy

Scott.

 

[00:27:07.02] – Scott

If you have a good story about a BC union, worker, or company, write to us at BC at Work, Suite 411, 1200 West Pender, Vancouver. The producers of BC at Work would like to thank the following companies for supplying goods and services. Our show hosts travel BC in the luxury of a 28-foot motorhome provided by Okanagan Manufacturers. The crew vehicle for the show is a 1988 Chevy S-10 Blazer, compliments of Westminster Auto Leasing. Our fuel expenses throughout BC have been provided by the Petro-Canada dealers and agents. Our energy is Canada. While on the road, the cast and crew of BC at Work stay at Coast Hotels, the choice of the frequent traveller. Everyone on the show can stay in touch no matter where we are in the province thanks to Autotel and cellular equipment compliments of Cellular Express and BC Cellular. Aerial footage made available through the services of Vancouver Helicopters. This week, BC at Work has been made possible in part by contributions from Labour Canada, CUPE BC, CU&C Health Services Society, and the Port Alberni and District Labour Council.