While much of the CPR was built by Chinese immigrants, Penticton’s local branch, the KVR, was an exception. Immigration policies were formulated to guarantee constant rotation of labourers, but as anti-Chinese sentiment was coming to a boiling point, various head taxes and measures were taken to slow immigration from China to Canada, interrupting supply of Canada’s most needed workers. Cheap labour became desperately needed more than ever to continue to develop the Canadian Pacific Railway. The CPR claimed British workers to be too forthright and unwilling to accept low wages and primitive work environments; and because these workers spoke English natively, they would have no difficulty voicing grievances directly to their employers. However, as immigration policies of the time still preferred white European protestants, the work was left to the “obedient and industrious” Eastern and Southern Europeans.
Coming from the most rural parts of Europe, mostly from Italy and Ukraine, these railway "navvies" acted in ways unfamiliar to Anglo-Canadians, who then labelled them as primitive and unsophisticated. These non-British immigrants faced numerous challenges in comparison to that of their English counterparts who deemed them only suitable for the less desirable labouring jobs; A notion that was quickly backed by Canadian railway companies. Not only the labor, but also the lives of these men were then deemed cheap. In 1909, the Canadian Pacific Railway spent more money promoting immigration than that of the Canadian government as the company collaborated with various governments in a propaganda campaign promoting rail jobs. These advertisements were placed in immigration offices and newspapers across Europe with the promise of providing homestead land in return for labor. In addition, agreements were in place between the CPR and shipping companies in whereby bonuses would be paid from the CPR for carrying immigrants to Canada.
If not directly recruited by the railway, a good deal of workers would be brought on by private recruitment agencies. These agencies were known to purposefully mislead workers to make an extra buck. Of course, immigrant workers unable to speak or understand English were most vulnerable to such negligence.
“Many such agreements used by private employment agencies were one sided. [….] Too commonly things were skillfully misrepresented if not deliberately falsified and men engaging thus were hastily bundled off to find themselves the conditions of work and pay in isolated camps." - Edmund Bradwin
Due to this prejudice, many foreign rail laborers began to seek labor unions or radical organizations, as subscribing to such ideas came with various benefits. In Canada, the Industrial Workers of the World and the Railway Brotherhoods were formed as branches of their American counterparts to defend the interest of workers in their specific crafts. Especially, appealing to foreign workers who were often treated with indifference by employers.
One of the many benefits of being a member of a brotherhood or union would be the assurance that, in the case of an accident, one’s family would know if a member was injured or killed. As working conditions brought forth a constant risk of injury or death, and many times accidents would leave rail workers, unconscious, severely injured, and unidentifiable. Brotherhoods put small identification medallions on the watch chains of their members, allowing for medical teams or other rail workers to properly identify men, assuring families of the whereabouts and safety of their loved ones. Foreign rail workers especially found importance in such organizations as meetings were held to educate men on the basic skills needed to survive working on the CPR, whether that be teaching them English and the monetary system, ensuring no boss could take advantage of them, to skills needed to endure the unfamiliar and harsh climates of Canada. Along with meetings for members, auxiliaries were formed for the wives and families of brotherhood members bringing together a sense of community while far from home.
The Industrial Workers of the World were reportedly active in Penticton and surrounding areas during the construction of the KVR, with the Brotherhoods of Railway Employees following thereafter. The Similkameen Star newspaper published a Labor commission report in March of 1914 saying, “Though many railroad laborers are members of this organization [industrial workers of the world], very little effort is made to carry into practice the pernicious practices of the IWW.” The commissioner went on to note the peaceful nature of the foreign rail worker’s labour organizing in Penticton and Naramata, and doubting their commitments stating, “As these laborers come to realize the opportunities of our province, the influence of the IWW will disappear.” However, unionism continued to prosper among rail workers and talks of strikes continued to circle through the KVR’s labour pool in the mid 1910’s. It was not long until all of British Colombia caught “strike fever” after a series of walkouts and strikes were organized by workers across the province. The railway industry grew to become of the most heavily unionized industries in North America.
The prospect of unionization was especially accepted by foreign laborers as it was one of the only spaces where such people prospered. Without local unions, conditions for the average foreign worker would have been significantly duller. It was because of the local union branches, alone, that newspapers in Canadian towns with large immigrant communities, such as Fernie, were even able to publish articles in foreign languages. And without the leadership of English brotherhood members, many navvies would have never familiarized themselves with monetary systems, stopping employers from out smarting them.
References
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Accident Id medal #14078 medallion with chain. eBay. (n.d.). https://www.ebay.com/itm/203808750454
Building the railway. Connecting Canada. (n.d.). https://cpconnectingcanada.ca/#.immigration-settlements
LaCette, S. (2006, October 17). Subject: Strikes and Labor Unrest . Cornell University IRL school. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/5117176.pdf
Mackinnon, M. (2001, May). Trade Unions and employment stability at the Canadian Pacific Railway ... https://www2.clarku.edu/faculty/jbrown/papers/mackinnon.pdf
The Railway Labourers: The Navvies. Atlas of alberta railways -- building railways. (n.d.). https://railways.library.ualberta.ca/Chapters-5-1/
Smyth, F. J. (1914, March 13). Similkameen Star. Open Collections. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/similkameen/items/1.0407083?o=3
Strikes. The Story of Italians in Fernie, 1881 - 1921. (2019, August 13). https://www.communitystories.ca/v2/fernie-community_communaute-fernie/story/strikes/
Williams, M. (2008). Myra’s men: Building the Kettle Valley Railway, Myra Canyon to Penticton. Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society.
Wright, J. M. (1913, November 28). Similkameen Star. Open Collections. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers/similkameen/items/1.0386169?o=4
Comments