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Paul Ramsey was born in the United States in 1944. His father was an engineer and a Democrat, who served as a council member for 16 years in the suburb where Paul grew up. Paul aspired to be an academic and in 1971 he moved to British Columbia with his family to pursue doctorate work at the University of British Columbia. In 1975, after he had completed his studies, he accepted a job at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, having been attracted to the philosophy of community-based…

Peter Cameron was chief shop steward at the Phillips Cables plant in Vancouver, the first plant certified with the Canadian Electrical Workers, which merged with CAIMAW (Canadian Association of Industrial Mechanical and Electrical Workers) in 1969. He served on the CAIMAW national executive board and then came on staff as a national representative in the early 1970s. Peter negotiated collective agreements, handled arbitrations, and serviced local unions, especially in the mining industry…

"Sy Pederson was born into a logging family of fallers in Courtenay and followed the family tradition when he turned 21. Falling was a dangerous job and Sy recognized the hazard posed by the piecework system. He organized fallers in an illegal strike in 1972, despite union opposition, where they stayed home to successfully achieve a day rate system. Active in his union, the International Woodworkers of America (IWA), he became president of his local as well as of the labour council.

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Harold Steves was born in Vancouver in 1937 and grew up on his family's farm in Steveston. It was a diverse farming and fishing community of Japanese, Chinese, Ukrainian, and First Nations families. An early memory of Harold's just before his fifth birthday is of his childhood friend giving him her teddy bear when the government's internment of people of Japanese origin forced her family to leave their home.

After finishing high school, Harold attended the University of British…

Stan Shewaga was born in St. Boniface and grew up in the north end of Winnipeg. After working in Louisiana for a while, he joined the American Army in the fifties, when he was about 17. After he left the army, he hitch hiked throughout Canada and ended up working in logging in B.C., where he learned to be a rigger. He received his journeyman ironworker ticket while working at the pulp mill in Port Alberni. After that, he started working at Harmac, the pulp mill in Nanaimo, B.C., where he got…

Hans Brown worked for the Hospital Employees' Union (HEU) in BC for 13 years, taking the lead on pay equity and classification between 1974 and 1987. He is best known for his connections to BC's New Democratic Party (NDP). He was an accomplished organizer and fundraiser who was campaign manager for the successful election of the first NDP government in 1972. In this interview Brown discusses his introduction to labour when he managed political campaigns in Ontario. He recalls the challenging…

Colin Gabelmann came to Canada as a child in 1947 from London, England. He was influenced by his family's ties to social democratic parties in Europe which continued in Canada where they were strong supporters of the CCF (Cooperative Commonwealth Federation) and the NDP (New Democratic Party). Gablemann became politically active at a young age, living in the Okanagan and moving to Vancouver to attend UBC. His involvement in the UBC NDP Club introduced him to the BC labour movement. After…

Lloyd Edwards came to BC from Trinidad in 1953 and got his first teaching job in 1957 on Texada Island. He taught in several BC communities before settling in Surrey. As President of the Surrey Teachers' Association in 1974, he led a one-day teachers' strike that resulted in reduced class sizes across the province. Edwards was also responsible for establishing the first staff committee in a BC school. At Prince Margaret High School in Surrey, he established a school Committee Against Racism…