It has been called the bloodiest conflict in Canadian labour history, and it happened in our backyard.
Last night, driving west from Kapuskasing, I stopped at the sign that identifies the monument for the Reesor Siding Incident. The light was failing, and I was late getting home, but I thought, This time I'm stopping.
How many times have we driven past a sign identifying an historic site or a monument or a plaque and said to ourselves, "Okay, interesting, but I'll stop next time."
I've always remembered my late father, Robert, telling me about the "incident". I was away teaching in another northern community at that time. In 1963, Robert worked in management for Kimberly-Clark of Canada in Longlac, Ontario. He had transitioned from lumberjack (after a near-fatal bush accident) to the job of safety supervisor. The incident moved him, and consequently I was moved. The Lumber & Sawmill Workers' Union that had organized the Longlac wood industry was also operating in Kapuskasing District. When the union went on strike in Kap, where Kimberly-Clark had a decades-old mill under the name of Spruce Falls Power & Paper Co., the Greenstone area union members also struck . . .
Read the complete post by this local author at http://bit.ly/1ZoLBdC
Last night, driving west from Kapuskasing, I stopped at the sign that identifies the monument for the Reesor Siding Incident. The light was failing, and I was late getting home, but I thought, This time I'm stopping.
How many times have we driven past a sign identifying an historic site or a monument or a plaque and said to ourselves, "Okay, interesting, but I'll stop next time."
I've always remembered my late father, Robert, telling me about the "incident". I was away teaching in another northern community at that time. In 1963, Robert worked in management for Kimberly-Clark of Canada in Longlac, Ontario. He had transitioned from lumberjack (after a near-fatal bush accident) to the job of safety supervisor. The incident moved him, and consequently I was moved. The Lumber & Sawmill Workers' Union that had organized the Longlac wood industry was also operating in Kapuskasing District. When the union went on strike in Kap, where Kimberly-Clark had a decades-old mill under the name of Spruce Falls Power & Paper Co., the Greenstone area union members also struck . . .
Read the complete post by this local author at http://bit.ly/1ZoLBdC
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