Saturday was the annual Miners Memorial at Cumberland Cemetery, the resting place of Ginger Goodwin. He was hunted down and assassinated by a Dominion Police special constable in 1918, a labour activist now honoured annually at his graveside. Thanks to the Cumberland Museum and Archives, the Campbell River and Courtenay and District Labour Council, CUPE, BCGEU, the Village of Cumberland and the BC NDP Government, his legacy lives on, more than 100 years after his death. His death sparked Canada's first general strike in Vancouver which was the precursor to the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, a defining moment in Canadian labour history. I took the occasion to pay tribute to the labour movement and its fight for fairness, equity and justice in our country; and, to report on the progress of our caucus towards making life more affordable for Canadians through our national dental and pharmacare plans and towards protecting the rights of works through our success in banning replacement workers on federal worksites. At the same time, we have much work ahead of us to achieve safe, secure and affordable housing for all, climate action, Indigenous justice and living wages for workers.
Tseshaht First Nation- Orange Shirt Day
Thank you to Tseshaht First Nation for welcoming us to its territory on Orange Shirt Day, also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is a day when we remember the children who died in the Indian Residential Schools, the suffering of all those who were removed from their families through many decades and the legacy of intergenerational trauma caused by the government’s policies. It was a day to re-commit to the reconciliation of historical wrongs and the implementation of all 94 Calls to Action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Klecko Klecko to Elected Chief Councillor waamiiš (Ken Watts), Tseshaht Elders and all the community members who worked to make this year's walk and cultural events so successful and to the residents and visitors to the Alberni Valley for showing their support on this important day.