Bushworkers gave lives in 1929 Ontario strike Martyrs in CLC’s Hall of Fame On May 4, 1992 the Canadian Labour Congress officially recog- nized the sacrifice of two of our union Brothers who gave their lives for the betterment of workers in northern Ontario in the late 1920's. The CLC has announced that its Labour Hall of Fame has inducted two deceased organizers, Brothers _ John Voutilainen and Viljo Rosvall, once members of the now defunct Lumber Worker’s Industrial Union of Canada. In the winter of 1929 Brothers Voutilainen and Rosvall were orga- nizing an escalating strike effort against the American Pidgeon River Company which had logging camps at Onion Lake, which is about 20 miles east of Port Arthur (Thunder Bay). On November 18, 1929 Rosvall left Port Arthur to meet Voutilainen at a small Finnish-Canadian farm- ing community called Tarmola, about ten miles north of Port Arthur. After they met they both headed east towards Onion Lake to organize the strike. week later two Finnish trap- pee reported to the union office in ort Arthur, that both men had dis- appeared and not shown wu cabin near Onion Lake as ha arranged. This sent the union into an emer- ency meeting after which they formed a search party to go and look for the missing Brothers. The union went into the Pidgeon Timber Company camps run by an anti-union contractor named L. Maki, who said he didn’t known what happened to the men but that he had seen them crossing the ice of Onion Lake in the direction of his camp. An investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police said that the two men fell through the ice and drowned. But the union said it was implau- sible and that the police investiga- tion was a white wash. The cops only questioned Maki himself and the union wanted a full blown investigation which included an interview with trappers and bush workers. The men were still missing, so in late December the union, fearing that their bodies would be found and secretly removed, sent out a search party to camp out near Onion Lake in a cramped trappers cabin and waited for the spring thaw. The long freezing winter months of ice and snow storms passed while the union had the Onion Lake area staked out. Then on April 19th as the spring thaw peperessed the body of John Voutilainen was found beside a creek which was about two feet deep and running into the lake. our days later the search party found Rosvall’s body a few hundred yards away down the stream, com- pletely on the land. All along the union suspected foul . They found it unbelievable two experienced bush workers, one of whom was a trapper with a ata been cabin on Onion Lake could possibly drown or perish near the shallow water. No one in the union could believe that they could fall to their death in different spots. Rosvall’s right arm was broken, his clothes were torn and he was struck in the head with a blunt instrument. In the ‘funeral parlour, a hole in the forehead of Voutilainen was covered up. Despite all these signs, the Coroner’s jury found the cause of death to be drowning. But the bush workers cried foul, saying that they were either clubbed or choked to death by company thugs. At the largest funeral in Port Arthur, over 5,000 gathered in a gloomy procession on April 28, 1920. Brothers Voutilainen and Rosvall became martyrs in the bush work- ers’ fight against the timber bosses in the north of Ontario. The funeral procession was lead by a Finnish-Canadian organiza- tion’s brass band which solemnly played “The International.” As the procession moved through the streets of Port Arthur, an eclipse of the sun took place and the day was darkened. Union representative, Ulf Hautamaki delivered a eulogy with the conclusion that “God himself has shown us today that he is too ashamed of this heinous crime, ashamed that murderers remain free.” No one was ever prosecuted for the murders of John Voutilainen and Viljo Rosvall. To this day their killers are unknown. e Funeral procession in Port Arthur drew over 5,000 mourners, on April 28 1930, during an eclipse of the sun. ¢ Don Hutsel, president of the TBDLC (1.) and Pat Little, president of Labourer’s International Union of North America Local 607 stand near a plaque displayed to honour Rosval left, and Voutilainen. The CLC Hall of Fame collection is housed at the Labourers International Union Hall Local 183 in Toronto. Tragedy remembered as part of community’s past For union people in Thunder Bay the admission of Viljo Rosvall and John Voutilainen into the CLC’s Hall of Fame brings a great deal of pride. In the Thunder Bay area (for- merly Port Arthur) the legends of these two labour martyrs are well known and are part of the folklore of the Finnish community from where the two men came. Both were members of the LWIUC which is the ancestor of IWA-CANADA in Thunder Bay. In the mid 30’s the LWIUC became affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and the Lumber and Sawmill Workers’ Union. In 1987 the LSWU joined with IWA-CANA- So the stories of the two labour martyrs, Voutilainen and Rosvall have a special significance to IWA- CANADA members. They best rep- resent a time of early struggle for woodworkers when our union fore- fathers were pitted against interna- tional lumber and pulp and paper barons, who had little if no respect for working people. Wilf McIntyre, president of IWA- CANADA Local 1-2693 in Thunder Bay says: “These two men were on the frontier of labour when they gave their lives to organize workers in one of the most difficult periods in the history of the union move- ment.” Rosvall and Voutilainen were Continued on page eighteen ‘Photo courtesy Finnish Historical Society - Thunder Bay LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1992/7