Teaching materials
The subject of this film is Tatsuro “Buck” Suzuki, a fisher and early environmentalist on the Fraser River in British Columbia who also played a key role in the return of interned Japanese Canadians to the coast after the Second...Video
Garry Worth was a red diaper baby whose father joined the Labour Progressive Party (a front for the Communist Party) in 1946. Garry was born and raised on Vancouver Island where his father worked in logging. When he finished high...Video
Jackie Campbell was born and raised in Vancouver, but it was in Sointula that she became acquainted with the fishing and shorework industries. Jackie packed salmon roe for a small business, shared childcare with her cooperative community, and was introduced...Video
In this interview, Dan Miller reflects on his varied and influential career. In his youth his family moved often, and he figures he attended 12 or 13 different schools. Graduating high school in North Vancouver, Dan briefly worked on tugboats...Video
Progressive lawyer Jim Quail first worked for legal aid organizations in BC helping farmworkers and tenants in the late 1970s and 80s. He successfully fought Bill Bennett’s attempt to eliminate tenants’ rights, was a leading participant in the Solidarity Coalition...Video
Sean grew up in Burnaby where he began his political activism early as a paperboy delivering Pacific Tribune newspapers for Harold Pritchett. Sean’s father was the longtime editor of the Pacific Tribune and Sean’s mother was also politically active. Due...Video
In this far-reaching conversation, Lee Loftus discusses his experiences as a third-generation insulator, and union member and executive with the Heat and Frost Insulators Union Local 118 in British Columbia. This interview was conducted by Ken Novakowski on March 19,...Audio
From union organizing in Steveston to postwar civil rights and environmental advocacy, “Buck” Suzuki’’s contributions spanned decades and sectors. A foundation in his name continues his legacy today. In this episode of On the Line, we celebrate the life of...Video
Bill Routley was born in 1948 in Chatham, Ontario. He was the son of two ministers who raised him in Duncan, on Vancouver Island. The treatment of employees at a shoe repair business in Victoria kindled his interest in workers’...Video
George Heyman was born in Vancouver to parents who were survivors of the Holocaust. They were assisted by the Japanese Consul in Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara, to escape Poland. George attended high school in Vancouver, working the night shift at Safeway,...Video
Elsie Dean, 99 years old at the time of this interview, grew up in Saskatchewan during the 1920s and ‘30s. She describes the impact of the Depression on her family’s livelihood. Educated to Grade 8 in a one-room school, Elsie...Video
Harold Steves was born in Vancouver in 1937 and grew up on his family’s farm in Steveston. It was a diverse farming and fishing community of Japanese, Chinese, Ukrainian, and First Nations families. An early memory of Harold’s just before...Video
Andy Ross was born in Newcastle, England. Growing up he was surrounded by unionized workplaces, from coal mines to industrial enterprises. Emigrating to Canada, he became a bus driver in Vancouver and was a member of the bus drivers’ unions,...Video
Wayne Peppard grew up in Castlegar, BC, working for a short time at the Cominco smelter in Trail. His introduction to the labour movement was with the United Association of Journeymen & Apprentices of the Plumbing & PipeFitting Industry of...Video
Mae Burrows details her early life and influences, and then her work with the Labour Environmental Alliance Society (LEAS) which brought together trade unionists and environmentalists at a time when logging companies were instigating the “war in the woods.” This...Video
Bill Smith was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and grew up in Dallas, Texas. He moved to British Columbia in 1970 and subsequently spent more than 40 years working as a commercial fisherman in Prince Rupert and the North Coast. In...Video
Colin Gabelmann came to Canada as a child in 1947 from London, England. He was influenced by his family’s ties to social democratic parties in Europe which continued in Canada where they were strong supporters of the CCF (Cooperative Commonwealth...Video
John Jensen was a Danish-born union and community activist in Northwestern BC He was an active member of the Carpenters’ Union and a delegate to the Kitimat and Terrace District Labour Council for 50 years. This interview was donated to...
