Patricia Wejr Interview: A Life in Labour, Nursing, and Communications
In this fascinating and wide-ranging interview with Patricia Wejr, she describes her long career in communications, nursing, reproductive health, and the labour movement. Patricia attended Simon Fraser University for Communications, and while there took a co-op position at Co-Op Radio, where she was involved with creating the long-running (and still extant) Union Made program. This led into Patricia’s work forming a company to do labour history work for unions.
This interview was conducted by Donna Sacuta on June 26, 2023 in Burnaby, BC. It is part of our Oral History Collection.
In this fascinating and wide-ranging interview with Patricia Wejr, she describes her long career in communications, nursing, reproductive health, and the labour movement. Patricia attended Simon Fraser University for Communications, and while there took a co-op position at Co-Op Radio, where she was involved with creating the long-running (and still extant) Union Made program. This led into Patricia’s work forming a company to do labour history work for unions.
She later returned to school to become a registered nurse and maintained her labour activism. She spent a number of years in England training and doing midwifery work, completing a Masters’ degree in Medical Sociology while having children, then working with the Women’s Reproductive Rights Information Centre in London before returning to B.C. At that time, the NDP government was downsizing nursing positions, so Patricia took part-time and short-term positions, before beginning work in the Communications Department of the BC Nurses’ Union. She describes many of the programs carried out by BCNU over subsequent years. Patricia currently volunteers with the BC Labour Heritage Centre.