Re-opening of Combines hearings

United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union past president Homer Stevens (left), president Jack Nichol and secretary George Hewison confer outside the hearing room at the Hotel Vancouver as the Combines Branch renews investigation of the union under the Restrictive Trade Practices Act following the adjournment of hearings two years earlier. Although presented as an investigation into the whole fishing industry, documents presented during hearings and court proceedings showed clearly that the UFAWU was the sole target of the probe. Union officers refused to answer questions about the union's internal affairs at the hearings, and challenged the authority of the Combines branch to compel them to appear, arguing that organizations of "workmen" were exempted from the provisions of the Act. Their argument was ultimately upheld when B.C. Supreme Court Justice Harry McKay ruled Oct. 9, 1979 that working fishermen were indeed workmen and therefore could not be ordered to appear. While he made no ruling on the Combines investigation itself, no further hearings were ever held.