Showing 17935 results

archival descriptions
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-06-SD_WLHP_329 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Lil Godfrey talks about the Lake Cowichan Women’s Auxiliary travelling delegations; women’s activities during the 1946 strike and the Auxiliary’s 10th anniversary; the Auxiliary’s community role as fundraisers and supporting services; the local chapter of the charity Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE); the importance of Gordon’s general store and the co-op; and the Indo-Canadian community at Cowichan.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-15-SD_WLHP_351 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Jean Scott discusses social attitudes towards domestic abuse, and her work with the Canadian Air Force during the war. She also discusses the beginnings of her interest in politics, her early involvement with the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the involvement of women in the party, and the Political Action Committee organized by the Canadian Congress of Labour. Finally, she discusses working for trade unions as office secretary, the types of industries being organized, attitudes towards trade unionism, and the International Woodworkers Association’s rejection of the International.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-17-SD_WLHP_349 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Jean Shiels discusses the Mother’s Council and relief during the Great Depression. She also discusses the peace movement, the League Against the War on Fascism, and support for Spain in the 1930s. Finally, she discusses the Young Pioneers and summer camp, race relations, women in trade unions, and birth control.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-01-SD_WLHP_070 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Mrs. Atwal, Mrs. Maan, Mrs. Johal and Mrs. Gill talk about managing a working class wage including not being able to afford going to a restaurant, the importance of women raising animals and gardening to feed the family, and taking on menial jobs; how despite their poverty they all enjoyed those early times; Mrs. Johal tells a story of finding her cow in the house eating her knitting; living in housing owned by the mill companies; their responsibility towards family members including helping those immigrating during their first years in Canada; their experiences working outside the home, including in nursing and as agricultural labourers.

Bullock, Ruth
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-03 · File · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

File consists of 4 video interviews with Ruth Bullock. Subjects include: Early life on Salt Spring Island; domestic work; the Great Depression; injustices faced by women and girls; reproductive rights; the CCF; canning industry; assembly line work; union factionalization; women’s auxiliaries.

Ruth Bullock (nee Fraser) was born 1909 in Trout Lake, West Kootenay District, B.C. Ruth was a feminist dedicated to reproductive rights education and advocated for legal abortion. In 1934, she joined the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) a social democratic party. She met her husband, Reginald Walter Bullock (trade unionist, CCF member, boilermaker) in 1938. The Bullocks left the CCF and Communist Party during WWII in protest of the organizations’ support for the war effort, subsequently joining the Canadian Trotskyist movement in Vancouver until the branch disbanded in 1985. When Socialist Challenge/Gauche socialiste was recognized by the Fourth International Ruth declared her support and remained an active supporter. In her later years, she managed Vanguard Bookstore, a distributor of radical literature. Ruth died 1994 in North Vancouver.

FTBT - E. Fordham - #1
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-05-SD_WLHP_240 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Elizabeth Fordham discusses her experiences during the Great Depression, including difficulties with housing, food, and looking after children. She also discusses the women’s labour movement and the types of organizing undertaken by the movement. Finally, she discusses the pacifist movement during the 1930s.

FTBT - E. Fordham - #3
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-05-SD_WLHP_241 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Elizabeth Fordham discusses her job pressing clothing. She also discusses her reasons for immigrating from England to Saskatchewan, and her subsequent movement from Saskatchewan to British Columbia. She talks about the birth control movement and the lack of sexual health education for women. Finally, she discusses her experiences setting up a summer camp for workers’ children.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-06-SD_WLHP_330 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Lil Godfrey discusses issues surrounding the Canadian IWA split from the International in 1948; labelling of trade unionists as radicals and communists; the social focus of Women’s Auxiliary activities after 1948; early conditions in the bunk houses. Lil describes photos, printed material, and newspaper clipping, from her scrapbook that document the Auxiliary. Includes information on other members and the IWA Trek to Victoria.

Griffin, Betty
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-07 · File · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

File consists of video interviews with Betty Griffin. Subjects include: Boeing factory work in WWII; Mayday Parade; Powell Street grounds demonstration; equal pay; Worker’s Educational Association; Miss Production contest; the war effort and Fascism.

Margaret “Betty” was born in 1922. After her first year of university she supported the war effort by working in the aviation manufacturing industry with Boeing at their main factory on Sea Island. She became a union supporter and organizer. Her husband, Harold “Hal” Griffin, was associate editor of the Pacific Tribune in the early ’50s. In 1959, Betty became an elementary teacher in Burnaby. She quit when she became pregnant in 1963 and no maternity leave was available. On her return to teaching four years later she joined the BCTF negotiating team, helping to establish maternity leave and indexed pensions. She was given an honourary lifetime membership for her 14 years of service. She was Past-President of the Burnaby Teachers’ Association. At the age of 92 she declared her hobby was “Fighting injustice.” She died on May Day, May, 1, 2017.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-16-SD_WLHP_333 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Irene Seed further discusses her experiences in Youbou, the Women’s Auxiliary, raising children, and her happiest memories. She also discusses her husband’s death from kidney disease, her widow’s pension, and the loggers in the community.

Shiels, Jean
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-17 · File · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

File consists of video interviews with Jean Shiels. Subjects include: Relief in the 1930’s; Women’s Unity League; the single unemployed; On to Ottawa trek; Mother’s Council; peace movement; League Against the War on Fascism; support for Spain in the 1930’s; Young Pioneers.

Jean Stewart Evans (1927-1995) was born in Vancouver, BC, second child of Ethel, and well-known labour rights organizer, Arthur “Slim” Evans. She recalls a childhood home always open to organizers and labourers in need, and impacted by her father’s arrests and short-term imprisonments. After high school, Jean took a variety of jobs including as an attendant on Canadian Pacific Railroad steamships, server, sales clerk, and bakeries manager for a grocery chain. In 1944, her father died three weeks after being struck by a car while crossing the street. Jean married Seaman Leslie Arthur Sheils of Hornby Island in 1947 and they had two children. Les became a Master of deep-sea towing vessels and worked internationally, and in later years, worked for BC Ferries. Jean devoted her adult life to fighting for fair work and wages; was a founding member of the On-to-Ottawa Trek Committee (1985); and co-wrote an account of her father’s life (1977). She volunteered in the Hornby Island community; serving on the Co-op and ratepayer boards, and with the Hornby Recycling Depot. Jean passed away in Comox in 1995.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-20-SD_WLHP_238 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Masue Tagashira discusses her immigration from Japan to Canada in 1927, her life in Japan prior to moving, and the differences between rural life in Japan and Canada. She also discusses life, work and wages on logging camps.

FTBT - Mrs. Tagashira - #3
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-20-SD_WLHP_239 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Masue Tagashira discusses her separation from her son, her marriage and leaving her husband, working in retail, being reunited with her son, and the importance of education for her children.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-01-SD_WLHP_071 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Mrs. Atwal, Mrs. Maan, Mrs. Johal and Mrs. Gill talk about the dangers of forestry jobs; criticism of the union for supporting workers charged with working unsafely even if the worker is in the wrong; how the union helped them get holiday pay and retirement pensions; the ways women support the union during strikes such as feeding people on the line; how women had to be very careful of household budgeting.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-03-SD_WLHP_340 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Ruth Bullock discusses her early life on Saltspring Island, and the injustices faced by girls. She also discusses her first job as a housekeeper in New Westminster, including wages and daily duties. Finally, she talks about her first marriage, enduring the Great Depression, the difficulties of pregnancy and childbirth at the time, and her fears that her newborn baby girl would face the same injustices she did.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-03-SD_WLHP_341 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Ruth Bullock continues discussing abortion, the difficulties of pregnancy and childbirth, and her involvement in the birth control movement. She discusses her increased involvement in politics, and her joining of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in 1933, and the position of women inside the party. Finally, she discusses changes within politics and the women’s movement with the advent of World War II, and her work in the canning industry in the Mission area.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-03-SD_WLHP_093 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Ruth Bullock discusses factionalization within leftist parties and labour organizations, particularly as such factionalization affected attitudes towards the war. She also discusses how women were politicized during the war, and her experiences within women’s auxiliaries.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-07-SD_WLHP_081 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Betty Griffin discusses her experiences working in the Boeing factory during World War II, including details about hours and wages, working with men, and her feelings towards the war effort. She also discusses her involvement with leftist politics, union organizing, and social life within the union.

CA SVE SD-01-02-01-07-SD_WLHP_082 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Betty Griffin discusses daily life as a Boeing employee, including an account of her first day at work. She also discusses her experiences as union shop steward and social committee chairman, including her experiences with getting fired (and subsequently re-hired) due to her involvement with the union. Finally, she discusses her experiences with going to university after having experienced working life, the Mayday Parade, and demonstrations on the Powell St. grounds (now Oppenheimer Park).

Scott, Jean
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-15 · File · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

File consists of video interviews with Jean Scott. Subjects include: Prairie life; domestic work; country hospital work; WWII; domestic abuse; Canadian Air Force; CCF; Political Action Committee; Canadian Congress of Labour; International Woodworkers Association; the International.

Born Dorothy Jean Mathie (1912-2015) in Brandon, Manitoba. Her father was a retail grocer. Jean spent several years nursing her mother and helping with her siblings. At 20 she moved to Saskatchewan, married, and lived on her in-law’s farm. She left her husband early on because he was physically abusive; an experience that influenced her future activism. She worked as a domestic and nurse to survive the separation, eventually joining her married brother in Calgary around 1940. Determined to be self-sufficient, she continued housekeeping while attending business school. Jean took an office job at No 2 Wireless & Gunner School during the war. By the mid-40’s Jean and other family members relocated to Vancouver. She used her secretarial skills at a number of trade unions including the I.W.A and United Steel Workers of America. Later she married widower Francis Baldwin Scott (1911-2000). Jean remained an activist and earned numerous honours from their Chilliwack community. She was 90-years old when she received a doctorate from the University of the Fraser Valley. She was awarded a Governor General Person Case Medal (1990) and wrote her biography “Brown Sugar and a Bone In The Throat” (2005). Jean lived to be 102.

Marj Storm - Tape 1
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-18-SD_WLHP_007 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Marjorie Storm talks about her first job in Vancouver at Fraser Mills; sexual harassment in the workplace; working at Boeing main Sea Island plant as a riveter and fitter; her placement by National Selective Service at Pacific Veneer (now Canadian Forest Products) in 1946; how the I.W.A. defended the right of married women to work at her mill; attitudes of men on the job towards working women; wage differential between sexes and segregated seniority lists; increase in representation of women in the union; the winning fight for equal pay for equal work in 1966.

Marj Storm - Tape 2
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-18-SD_WLHP_008 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Marjorie Storm talks about actions by women for equal access to jobs; use of arbitration; the employers’ negative response to equal pay; pressure by women forestry workers for changes to the Human Rights Code and how, working through the union, changes were subsequently passed by the provincial NDP government. She also talks about how she got involved in the union in the 1950’s representing the 350 women working in the mill; locking down the plant to stop a foreman from taking workers’ jobs; negotiating on behalf of all workers at her plant.

Marj Storm - Tape 4
CA SVE SD-01-02-01-18-SD_WLHP_010 · Item · [198-] or [199-]
Part of Sara Diamond fonds

Marjorie Storm explains the importance of passing her resolution through the I.W.A. “Ladies” Auxiliary before taking it to conference; women’s support of the union and job actions; feminism and the women’s movement in the 1970’s; becoming politically active and eventually Vice-President of the NDP; the social safety net and the trade union movement.