Introduction

The Onset

The Chinese Strikebreakers

Imported Strikebreakers

Traitors

The Fallout

Introduction

Most people who immigrated to British Columbia’s coal mining towns were regarded for their expertise or their willingness to work hard. Those who had previous experience in the coalfields of Britain, Pennsylvania or Washington made excellent miners and mine supervisors. Immigration officials also favored Eastern Europeans and Scandinavians who, they believed, were hard-working people suited to heavy physical labour such as shoveling coal and hauling timbers.

"Extension Coal Miners, CA. 1909" BCARS E-01189

From 1912 to 1914, when several thousand miners and their families moved to Vancouver Island, less focus was placed on their skills than on their ability to work as strikebreakers.

In September 1912, coal miners from Cumberland and Extension had gone on strike to persuade their employers to recognise their union. By May 1913, almost all coal miners who had worked on the island before the strike had joined the protestors.

The companies soon found other workers to take the striking workers' places. The strikers looked upon these "scabs," as they called them, with contempt. The coal companies hired these men so that they would not have to concede to the strikers’ demands.

Much has been written about the Big Strike on Vancouver Island, but few people have looked at this event from the strikebreakers’ perspectives. It seems as though even today, we regard these immigrants as turncoats and adversaries of the struggle toward improving working conditions in BC’s mines. In reality, they were brought against the struggle by force or necessity.

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