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Sucha Singh Deepak was born in 1948 in Punjab, India and immigrated to Canada in 1970, where he worked in lumber mills in Quesnel, B.C. and Fort St. James, B.C. This interview was conducted by Dr. George Davison on Dec...Video
Dire working conditions and unfair treatment fueled a movement to advocate for BC farmworkers’ rights in the 1970s, soon becoming the Canadian Farmworkers Union, a first in Canada.Video
In the 1940s, British Columbia's sawmills and logging camps were marked by racial division and discriminatory policies targeting workers of Chinese, Japanese, and South Asian descent, often supported by the labour movement at the time. The International Woodworkers of America...Plaque
This bronze plaque is located inside the Armstrong Spallumcheen Museum, 3415 Pleasant Valley Rd., Armstrong, BC. It was developed with the support of the City of Armstrong. The plaque was cast at Ornamental Bronze, a unionized foundry in Richmond which...Historical materials
Christine Hayvice Micklewright was a vice-president of the BC Federation of Labour, and a member of the Vancouver Industrial Writers Union. She was an officer of the airlines division of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW). A significant portion of the...Booklet
Joe Naylor (1872-1946) was an often-overlooked but profoundly influential figure in British Columbia's labour history, remembered as a radical union leader and a committed socialist.Booklet
Darshan Singh Canadian was an organizer for the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) in BC from 1941-1947 working to overcome fear and misconceptions about unions among South Asian workers.Booklet
A work train carrying Japanese labourers derailed near Burnaby Lake, BC, on November 28, 1909 resulting in a devastating loss of life. The unheated boxcar, carrying 43 passengers, plunged into a ravine after the ground beneath the tracks washed away...Teaching materials
An important and often unknown story of the town of Paldi, located on Vancouver Island, and the history of Indo-Canadian workers in BC’s forest industry. See the rest of our Working People Lesson Plans here.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...Teaching materials
This film powerfully links the working lives of Indigenous union activities along Burrard Inlet, while examining the early social justice and collective organizing of Local 526 of the Industrial Workers of the World, the “Bows and Arrows”. Assess the economic...Audio
This recording contains a 1964 interview with Hachiro Miyazawa and his son Joe Miyazawa about the Camp and Mill Workers Union which Hachiro helped to organize in the 1920s to represent Japanese lumber mill workers in British Columbia. The interview...Audio
This is a joint interview with Charles McGregor Stewart (1891-1968) and Peter Campbell Munro (1887-1971), who were active in the Street Railwaymen’s Union in Vancouver, British Columbia in the early decades of the 20th century. They discuss the impact of...Audio
The fight against apartheid in South Africa was fought on many fronts with the solidarity of anti-apartheid groups around the world. BC unions and activists were a proud part of this global movement. In this episode of On the Line...Audio
Percy Trerise (1886-1965) was born in Cornwall, England and arrived in Canada around 1908. He initially worked as a granite cutter. He describes a jurisdictional dispute between granite cutters and stone cutters as the industry adopted pneumatic drills. The dispute...Audio
Take a deep dive into the historical and contemporary roles of women in BC's fishing industry. Today, the industry has largely disappeared due to economic shifts, free trade, and declining salmon stocks. In this episode of On the Line, we...Video
Gayle Nye was born and raised in Victoria, BC, as were her parents and grandparents. The earlier generations worked in the fishing industry, but a family tragedy inspired Gayle’s father to leave fishing and join the public service. Gayle’s started...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...Audio
Darshan Singh Sangha made a huge contribution to the early organizing efforts of the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) and campaigned relentlessly for justice for South Asians in the 1940s. In this episode of our On the Line podcast we...Article
Charles S. Sager called out racism in an open letter to Prince George city council in 1921. "We are forced to bear the full responsibility of our race, forced into the lowest of menial occupations and then despised for doing...Video
Brian Nasu, born in Tofino, BC and raised in East Vancouver, grew up in a family deeply connected to the fishing industry. As a young person, Brian started working at an IGA grocery store that was in the process of...Article
The summer of 1910 was a hot one for labour across North America. In the first couple of weeks of July, more than fifty thousand garment workers went on strike in New York in a dispute that would eventually draw...Article
Parades – particularly Labour Day parades – were big attractions in the early years of British Columbia. While a venue for unionized workers to assert their place in society these parades excluded large segments of the community. Participants were mainly...Video
Michele Alexander was born in St. Boniface, Manitoba. She moved to the United States in the early sixties after her parents divorced and her mother married an American. She returned to Canada in 1992 seeking a better life. At the...Audio
In the heyday of train travel, Black men were hired to cater to overnight travellers. Turned away by the major unions, they formed the Order of the Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black labour union in North America. In this...Audio
A fierce 1938 strike made history when mine workers faced extreme retaliation for organizing with the International Woodworkers of America (IWA). Despite 30 years of wretched working conditions there had never been labour issues at the mine, until an obstinate...Audio
We are exploring the history of Chinese-Canadian market gardeners in Armstrong, BC, a community once known as “The Celery Capital of Canada.” Moving beyond traditional union stories, this episode of our On the Line podcast highlights the vital contributions of...Audio
The International Woodworkers of America (IWA) defied deep-seated racism in BC’s forest industry by hiring Asian organizers. Their efforts helped integrate thousands of workers into the union.This episode of our On the Line podcast highlights the pioneering efforts of Roy...Video
Warren Williams’ labour activism came to him through his family, who has a deep connection to Canada’s Black community. Warren’s uncle, Lee Williams, fought for equal employment rights for Canadian sleeping car porters, and the formation of the Order of...Audio
In the dark years of the Great Depression, workers at the Fraser Mills lumber plant in what is now Coquitlam put aside their differences and fought for fair wages and dignity. In this episode of the On the Line podcast,...Article
With the end of the Great Depression, labour’s long hostility towards Asian workers slowly began to change. The International Woodworkers of America led the way by hiring three non-Caucasian organizers to break down the barriers of race and unite workers...Article
Clarence Clemens moved to British Columbia from Edmonton sometime in 1937. He soon found work on the docks as a longshoreman employed by Empire Stevedoring and settled into the predominantly Black neighbourhood of Strathcona in East Vancouver. The heart of...Video
Brian Hamaguchi worked in fish canneries in the lower mainland and was a shop steward and executive member of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU). Previous generations of his family also worked in the fishing industry and were...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...Article
Emmitt Holmes (1924-2005) came to British Columbia in the 1940s from Saskatchewan and was the only black member of the Vancouver Local of the International Woodworkers of America (IWA Local 1-217) when he joined in 1944. Holmes incorporated his trade...Article
With high unemployment and a recession in full swing, the Asiatic Exclusion League (AEL) was formed by the Vancouver Trades and Labor Council in August 1907, with the aim of “keeping Oriental immigrants out of British Columbia”. It is a...Video
Lloyd Edwards came to BC from Trinidad in 1953 and got his first teaching job in 1957 on Texada Island. He taught in several BC communities before settling in Surrey. As President of the Surrey Teachers’ Association in 1974, he...Article
The thousands of Chinese immigrants who endured so much helping to unite Canada by rail left little record of their ordeal. But we do have one personal account written by former railway worker Wong Hau-Hon in 1926. Following are some...Article
In the summer of 1954, racist signs on the women’s washrooms at the Namu fish cannery divided the facilities between “Whites” and “Natives”. They had been there for years, but despite demands from both the United Fishermen and Allied Workers...Article
Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood was a vibrant and diverse community in the 1930s, a mix of Black and Chinese families, businesses and entertainment venues. Opportunities were few for Black workers looking for employment in the city after high school or university,...
