Historical Society NEWSLETTER ISSN 0042 - 2487 April 2015 Vol. 54 No. 7

Bread & Roses: Women and the Labour Movement April Speaker: Joey Hartman and the Re: Sisters

“As we go marching, marching, in the By the first International Women’s Subsequently in the 1940s, most wom- beauty of the day, Day in 1911, almost 6,500 women of en found their union activism limited A million darkened kitchens, a thou- all nationalities represented 8% of the to women’s auxiliaries. Their hus- sand mill lofts gray, paid workforce in Vancouver. Most bands earned a “family wage” and few Are touched with all the radiance that worked as domestic servants, while women participated in waged labour. a sudden sun discloses, other jobs included fish workers, tele- For the people hear us singing “bread phone operators, seamstresses, teach- By the 1970s however, and and roses, bread and roses.” ers and laundresses. economic necessity drove women into the workforce in large These lyrics speak to the need numbers. Unions started to for sustenance, as represented bargain women’s issues such by bread, and beauty in our as maternity leave extensions lives, by roses. Based on a and top up, family leave, flex- poem by James Oppenheim and ible hours, the ability to use inspired by a speech given by sick leave for family mem- Rose Schneiderman, it is as- bers and affirmative action. sociated with a successful 1912 Massachusetts textile strike; By the early 1980s, the however, the message is univer- struggle shifted to equal pay sal. for work of equal value, and other forms of equity. Two With photographs, quotes and feminist based unions were music, April’s speakers, Joey formed to advance women’s Hartman and the Re: Sisters Women building airplanes at Boeing plant on Sea issues in a labour climate feminist chorus, will describe that did little to recognize events and general trends of Island in Richmond in the mid-1940s. Photographer: Briddick, City of Vancouver Archives, AM54-S4-: Air P1.3 the need for change. Today, significance to women in la- the aims of women in labour bour, with a particular focus on indi- still reflect the need for sustenance and viduals in Vancouver and B.C. From the end of WWI to the end of WWII, it was a roller coaster ride for quality of life. It is not surprising that Aboriginal women in labour. In the 1920s, desir- Join us for this very unique approach women, having lived and worked in able work became available but disap- to women in the labour movement, an the lower mainland since time im- peared in the 1930s only to return in under appreciated but very important memorial, were at the vanguard of the WWII when women entered manu- part of Vancouver and British 700 mostly aboriginal women cannery facturing in huge numbers. However Columbia history. workers who struck in 1900. They at war’s end, over 80,000 Canadian helped win a settlement and improved women were laid off to clear their jobs Joey Hartman and Bruce M. Watson piece rate for salmon. for returning vets.

Next Meeting: 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 23, 2015 at Museum of Vancouver President’s Notes Bicycles and Motorcycles since 1914 oey Hartman’s talk this month on the history of n Vancouver, the Deeley name has been synonymous with Jwomen in the Vancouver labour movement draws my Imotorcycles since the Bromsgrove, England-born Fred attention to Irene Howard, a longtime Vancouver His- Deeley opened his first shop at 1075 Granville in 1914. Just torical Society (VHS) member who joined the Society three years later, Fred acquired a Harley-Davidson franchise. almost fifty years ago. Hartman’s talk will introduce us By 1925, Fred owned the motorcycle shop, a bicycle shop to key Vancouver individuals who sought social rights and one of the largest car dealerships in . In that year, for women. One such individual was Helena Gutteridge, his son Fred Jr. took over the motorcycle business, which a trade unionist and social activist whose story Irene would eventually move to West Broadway. In 1953, Fred Sr.’s tells in The Struggle for Social Justice in British Colum- grandson, Trev, became the company’s General Manager. bia: Helena Gutteridge, The Unknown Reformer (1992). Although A cartoon from the book speaks volumes about the dif- Trev passed ficulties that Vancouver women faced in their struggle away in for social justice. Published on the front page of the 2002, the Vancouver Sun on March, 27, 1937, the cartoon shows business Helena standing in the City Council Chambers, a rolling continues pin in hand, saying: “Now let’s see — new curtains over today in there — flowers — ash trays — and er— the language!” a huge Helena Gutteridge, a member of the socialist CCF party, complex on had become the first woman elected to Council. Clearly, Boundary being taken seriously as a woman in politics was going Road just to be a challenge. north of Broadway. Helena had arrived from England in 1911. Born into The building The Deeley shop at 563 West Broadway in the working class, trained as a tailor, and active as an houses 1926, where it had now been for a year since English suffragist, she immediately made her mark in a unique moving from Granville. An advertisement in Vancouver as a trade unionist, labour researcher, cor- museum the window touts “80 miles per gallon” for one respondent, and voice for working class women about showcasing of their motorcycles. Photo: Trev Deeley Collection suffrage. She fought to make visible the issue of female over 250 unemployment and in 1918 successfully promoted the historic motorcycles. The collection — representing over 50 passage of BC’s first bill to establish minimum wages manufacturers from around the world — is considered to be the for women. In the 1930s, housing became Helena’s finest private collection of motorcycles in Canada. main issue, prompting her to question housing condi- tions in the West End and spearhead the struggle for Join our affable host, Terry Rea, for a tour of this fascinating social housing. museum on Saturday, April 25th at 1:00 p.m. Now retired, Helena offered an attractive subject for a writer like Terry is a former Deeley employee, who has been involved Irene Howard. Born in Prince Rupert to Swedish im- with motorcycles and car racing in the Lower Mainland since migrant parents, Irene grew up in mining camps around his teens. Terry will talk about the Deeley family history as Smithers and the Bridge River area. Their lives were well as the motorcycle collection. Even if you have never shaped by her father’s work as a miner, a story she told had an interest in riding a motorcycle, the Deeley story and in her fourth book, Gold Dust on His Shirt: The Story collection is a unique part of Vancouver history and not to be of an Immigrant Mining Family. But it is her first book missed. that connects her most directly to the VHS. Presented This tour is free for VHS members and $9 for non-members first in 1968 as one of a series of papers on Vancouver’s (if space is available). There are a limited number of tickets ethnic history, the talk emerged in 1970 as Vancouver’s so please reserve early by calling the Vancouver Historical Svenskar: A History of the Swedish Community in Van- Society’s Info-Line at 604-878-9140 and leaving your name, couver, the Society’s first major publication. Congratula- phone number and email (if available) so our tour coordinator tions, Irene. can reply with a confirmation. Tickets are available on a first- Bob McDonald, President come basis. [email protected] The Society is Looking for You Upcoming Speakers

he Vancouver Historical Society is a volunteer organization Tthat depends on members for its success and continuity. The VHS invites everyone (including non-members) The Society is always looking for individuals with talent to attend our monthly talks. The talks are free and and skills that help the organization to promote an interest in are held at the Museum of Vancouver, 1100 Chestnut Vancouver history. If you have any background in accounting, Street (close to Vanier Park) at 7:30 p.m. on the publicity, media, organization, writing, event planning, man- fourth Thursday of every month except June, July, agement, or similar fields, we would be interested in meeting August, December). you. That kind of background is always needed on the Soci- ety’s Executive Board. You don’t have to be an expert or even Thursday, May 28, 2015 know much about Vancouver history. (You’ll pick that up eas- Daughters in the City: Mennonite Maids in ily enough if you’re interested.) The Executive Board meets for Vancouver about 90 minutes once a month, nine times a year to direct the Speaker: Ruth Derksen Society’s goals. Terms for Board members are one year. Please In the early 1930s, young Mennonite women — contact [email protected] for mostly adolescents — began to arrive in Vancouver, more information. seeking work as domestic servants. Most had recently come to Canada as refugees from Russia, having escaped from the terror of Stalin’s regime Len McCann 1927-2015 and consequently their desperate families owed a We are all substantial debt to the saddened by the for their journey. These indomitable young single death of Len women, however, were pioneers of their community McCann, one of for they broke through the barriers of the “evil city,” the Vancouver the English language and the upper-class British Historical culture. Significantly, they shaped the settlement Society’s longest patterns of not only Vancouver, but also western serving members. Canada. The author and speaker, Ruth Derksen, Born in Shanghai pays tribute to their impact and their long lasting where his father’s legacy. family had lived since the 1860s, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015 the young Len Raincoast Jews: Integration in with his mother Speaker: Lillooet Nordlinger McDonnell survived four years in a Japanese The speaker will explore the lives and contributions internment camp in the Philippines before migrating to of five leading Jews living in British Columbia Victoria in 1945. In 1968 he became an assistant curator between 1860 and 1970: Cecelia Davies for her with the Vancouver Maritime Museum, later to become charity work in early Victoria, Hannah Director who Curator of Maritime History. A walking encyclopedia on rose in a small mining camp to become head of the the shipping world, he could identify almost any ship on school board, Leon Koerner the Czechoslovakian sight. Very active in the VHS from the time he joined, Len refugee who was associated with the lumber served as president from 1978 to 1983 and acted as our industry and became known for his philanthropy, representative at numerous Historical Federation meetings. Harry Adaskin who started the first UBC music He will be most vividly remembered for his ringing of school and Nathan Nemetz who rose to become the bell of the Robert Kerr at our Incorporation Day the first Jewish chief justice of British Columbia. Luncheons, a tradition that he began in 1979 and continued Emphasis will be placed on how their Jewish for thirty-five years. This kind and generous man, a dear heritage shaped their professional legacy and friend of the VHS, will be much missed. contributions to Canadian society. Peek into the Past with Jim McGraw

ake a close look at the open-sided crate in the truck nually to Canada’s best hockey team, which the Vancouver Tand you can just barely see an outstretched arm near Millionaires won in March 1915). the back. That is one of the outstretched arms of the bronze statue of Lord Stanley laying on its back. The crated statue British sculptor Sydney March was commissioned to create is being readied for the move to its final spot in Stanley the eight-foot-tall Lord Stanley statue. March was the sec- Park on an April day in ond of nine children, 1960 — 55 years ago. eight of whom would become artists. The The statue would be March family is noted dedicated on May for having completed 19th, 1960 by Cana- the National War Me- da’s Governor-General morial in Ottawa be- Georges Vanier. gun in 1926, a monu- ment designed by According to the their brother Vernon, Chuck Davis’ website, who would die before www.vancouverhisto- it was finished. ry.ca, J. S. Matthews, Vancouver’s archivist, Johnston National had discovered a let- Storage, whose work- ter written October 19, ers are moving the 1889 by an unknown statue in the photo, person, promising a also has a long his- suitable future monu- tory in Vancouver. ment to commemorate John Atkin’s research Stanley Park’s dedica- Sydney March’s Lord Stanley statue being readied on April 26, 1960 shows it had its start tion in that year by for the move to its eventual Stanley Park home. in 1913 as “one man, Lord Stanley. When Williams Brothers Photographers Ltd., City of Vancouver Archives, AM54-S4-: Mon P105.5 a team of fine horses Matthews discovered the letter in 1950, he realized the and a wagon.” The “one man” was Elmer Johnston origi- promise had not been fulfilled. For the next few years, Mat- nally from Ontario. Johnston had great success and by thews went about campaigning for the funding of a statue. mid-century, his group of companies had become one of the largest warehousing and distribution networks in the west. Stanley was Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Pres- Johnston himself was very active in the community becom- ton, serving as Canada’s Governor-General, from 1888- ing the head of the B.C. Automobile Association and the 1893. (In 1892 Lord Stanley gave a cup to be awarded an- Vancouver Tourist Association in the early 1940s.

Vancouver Historical Society Executive Board: 2014 - 2015 (Elected May 22, 2014) EXECUTIVE APPOINTED POSITIONS President Robert McDonald Archivist Alexandra Allen Vice President Michael Kluckner Info Line Jeannie Hounslow Treasurer Scott Anderson Newsletter Mailing Mary Gavan, Diane Switzer Recording Secretary Kellan Higgins Tour Coordinator Jo Pleshakov Director (Membership) Elizabeth Hawkins CONTACT INFORMATION Director Eve Lazarus Vancouver Historical Society Information Line: 604-878-9140 Director (Newsletter Editor) Jim McGraw Mailing Address: P.O. Box 3071 Vancouver, BC V6B 3X6 Director Florence Sung Website: www.vancouver-historical-society.ca Director (Programs) Bruce M. Watson Newsletter Editor: [email protected]