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Pam Smith, a professional genealogist from Yorkshire, England, had no idea she was related to a celebrated activist in Canada until author Roger Stonebanks came knocking. She knew that her great-grandfather George had a brother who went abroad, but the...Audio
John Murray "Jack" Campbell (1882-1969) came to Canada from Ireland in 1906, working at various jobs including on the Canadian Pacific Railway, on ranches in the Okanagan, eventually settling in Burnaby where he joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers...Audio
Jack Henderson (1880-1968) was a labour activist and community leader in Vancouver, Canada. Henderson discusses his long involvement in the labour movement, starting when he joined the Amalgamated Society of Railroad Servants in England in 1896. He describes his experiences...Audio
William Arthur (Bill) Pritchard (1888-1981) was a major figure in BC labour and politics. Born in England, Pritchard came to BC at the age of 23. He edited and wrote for The Western Clarion and was active in the Socialist...Teaching materials
These teaching materials are designed for Social Studies 10 and Social Justice 12, addressing the essential question of challenges women face in unionizing compared to men and how these circumstances have evolved. View Steam Laundries Strike Teaching Materials (PDF)Video
Ginger Goodwin's murder is a cornerstone of BC's labour history, resonating for over a century. Goodwin is remembered as BC’s first labour martyr, a leader who took a principled stand against a war he didn't believe in, advocating instead for...Historical materials
The Western Clarion was a pivotal publication in Canadian labour and socialist history. From 1903 to its final issue in 1925, it served as the official organ of the Socialist Party of Canada, offering a unique window into the revolutionary...Historical materials
Originally started in 1907 by the Vancouver Trades and Labor Council as the Western Wage Earner, the British Columbia Federationist was a weekly labor newspaper published in Vancouver, BC. Visit the British Columbia Federationist digital archive (external link).Historical materials
District 18 organized and negotiated collective agreements in the coalfields of BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan and had a membership of 6,000. The District Ledger, the newspaper of United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) District 18 was founded by Frank Sherman,...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.Teaching materials
This film looks at an important figure in BC labour history whose life and death continue to cause debate today. Ginger Goodwin’s early activism started in the coal mines of Vancouver Island and continued with the smelter workers of Trail...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
Charles Grant MacNeil (1890-1976) was a veteran of the First World War. Upon his return to Canada, MacNeil became secretary of the Great War Veterans Association and advocated for other returning soldiers. He was elected in 1935 as Member of...Audio
Arthur J. Turner (1888-1983) was a socialist and trade unionist who came to Canada from England in 1913. He was a member of the International Association of Machinists at the shipyards in Victoria, before relocating to Vancouver. He joined the...Article
On February 18, 1918, two hundred oil refinery workers at Ioco, BC — 30 kilometres east of Vancouver — walked off the job. Provincial constables were immediately dispatched to Ioco for special duty, even though newspapers noted that no disorder...Audio
A short-lived union at the IOCO (Imperial Oil Company) oil refinery near Port Moody from 1918-1921, the Oil Refinery Workers affiliated with the OBU (One Big Union). The Union held a two-week strike in 1918 which resulted in large wage...Audio
The 1919 Winnipeg General Strike is widely commemorated as a landmark moment in Canadian labour history. In Vancouver, 10,000 workers joined a sympathy strike, staying off the job for nearly a month. In this episode of the On the Line...Article
The intense class struggle of the first two decades of the twentieth century in BC included a small but strong group of women. Many showed their mettle during early strikes. An example was the gutsy strike by Vancouver laundry workers...Audio
Working conditions for women in the early 20th century were already grim, but the Spanish Flu epidemic added another frightening layer. Against this backdrop, women laundry workers led a five-month long strike. In this episode of the On the Line...Audio
In the early 20th C, the large, exploited workforce of the smelter at Trail was ripe for organizing. Those efforts were contentious and the politics formidable. Company unions versus legitimate unions, communist union leaders versus anti-communist union leaders, International unions...Article
Under close police surveillance, the 1936 Vancouver May Day parade announcer mocked passing effigies of local white nationalist Tom MacInnes and Mayor Gerry McGeer. “Volunteers to throw Tom and Gerry into the bay?” the announcer taunted the crowd in his...Article
A fiery Irish-Catholic who lost both parents before he turned 12, Jack Kavanagh came to Vancouver in 1908 after serving in the British Army in South Africa during the Boer War. Upon arriving in BC, Kavanagh took up the tile-laying...Audio
Miners had long struggled to unionize against coal barons, facing loss after loss. In 1911, the United Mine Workers of America were invited to make a final attempt to challenge the mine owners. What followed was explosive. This episode of...Article
Hilda Harvey Kavanagh died in second wave of 1919 Spanish Flu British Columbia experienced three waves of the “Spanish Flu” epidemic in 1918-19. As many as 1,000 people died in Vancouver alone over 15 months of the influenza. Health officials...Article
Gordon J Kelly was known as a calm, kind and fair-headed longshore leader. When the Spanish Flu pandemic killed him in 1918, thousands came to his lavish funeral.Article
At 12 o’clock sharp on August 2, 1918, Vancouver transit operators stopped their streetcars in mid-route, drove them to the barns and walked home. The city’s normally bustling waterfront fell silent, as 2,000 burly stevedores and shipyard workers streamed from...
