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Mike Dumler's union career in the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) included many elected and staff positions. After coming to Canada from the United States as a Vietnam War veteran, Brother Dumler joined CUPE in Nanaimo. He became President of Local 401, and eventually became the first full-time President of CUPE BC. He participated in the Operation Solidarity movement of 1983, and was charged, along with other labour leaders, with sedition by the provincial government in 1987. His…

In this compelling oral history former BCGEU Director, Gary Steeves, recalls his formative years, the occupation of Tranquille residential institution in Kamloops and 25 years of his union's remarkable evolution. Told in his charming 'East Coaster' style, Brother Steeves relates experiences in both political and union worlds. As a representative with a mere four months on the job, Gary facilitated the month-long Tranquille Occupation during 1983's province-wide Solidarity protests. Step by…

George Brandak is a key figure in the archival history of labour in British Columbia. He was the head of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of British Columbia for almost 40 years where he began to acquire material related to early BC unions as well as the CCF and the NDP. He reflects on some of the academics and politicians he met during his career, as well as his outreach to students and the public encouraging their awareness of labour archives.

Born in Newfoundland, David Gellately made his way to B.C. in the early 1970s. He became a provincial government employee in northern B.C. and an activist in his union, the BCGEU. David was elected as Regional Vice President for northwestern B.C. and was at the master bargaining table during the negotiations in 1983 when the province came close to a general strike during Operation Solidarity. When he became a staff member of the union he lived and worked in Terrace, Kamloops and Prince…

Judy Darcy started out as an enthusiastic public speaker and leader in her kindergarten days in Sarnia, Ontario, and has never looked back. Judy was very active in the student movement and in the women's movement, including being on the Abortion Caravan in 1970. This activism set the stage first for her rank-and-file involvement with CUPE as a library worker in Toronto, then leading her local union, eventually heading the Metro Toronto CUPE Council, and then sitting on the CUPE National…

Darryl Walker, of the BC Government and Service Employees Union (BCGEU), served as Provincial Vice President (1999 to 2008) and President (2008 to 2014). In this interview Walker describes his working-class background and his introduction to unions and social justice organizations in Canada and England. He was mentored by former BCGEU Presidents John Shields and George Heyman, and speaks about his experiences with public sector bargaining, strikes and protests. In 2018, Walker was elected…

In this second of two interviews, Hans Brown discusses his management of BC NDP (New Democratic Party) election campaigns from 1972 to 1996. The interviewer and Hans share a conversation about political advisors they both met over the years and the modernization tools they brought to election campaigns in BC. He also relates his experience as a Vice Chair at the Labour Relations Board, plus his classification and job evaluation work at the HSA (Health Sciences Association) and the HEU (…

Jim Sinclair was born and raised in Ontario, where his early work experiences brought him into conflict with employers and demonstrated the need to advocate for workers.
He moved to Vancouver and worked there for Co-op Radio and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and in Nelson for the Nelson Daily News. Jim then organized workers and bargained collective agreements for fishers and shore workers in the fishermen's union and worked on their paper. Jim was committed to improving health and…

Patrice Pratt was born in Ohio in 1948 and grew up in Arizona in a staunchly Catholic family with five children. She attended Catholic schools and moved to San Francisco to attend the University of San Francisco, a Catholic Jesuit university. It was located two blocks from Haight-Ashbury, a neighbourhood made famous by the hippie movement of the time.
Patrice met her husband while at university and she moved to Canada with him in 1969 because he did not want to serve in Vietnam. They…

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…