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Bill Routley was born in 1948 in Chatham, Ontario. He was the son of two ministers who raised him in Duncan, on Vancouver Island. The treatment of employees at a shoe repair business in Victoria kindled his interest in workers' rights. After leaving that job, he started working at the B.C. Forest Products Youbou sawmill, where he soon became concerned with safety hazards and the lack of training. Routley was elected chair of his local's (IWA Canada, Local 1-80) safety committee and then as…