PEOPLE AND PLACES

IWA ARCHIVES

= Harvey Landon Ladd, seen here
in 1951, piloted the IWA in Ontario.

Pioneer of IWA in Eastern
Canada passes away

On July 31, one of the IWA’s great-
est pioneers passed away following
a lengthy and courageous battle
with cancer. Brother Harvey Landon
Ladd, the IWA’s pioneer organizer
and leader in Eastern Canada, from
1947-1970, was 85 years old. Harvey
was born in Vancouver's West End
and, at an early age, studied history
and politics on his own. He became
a CCF youth organizer in the Great
Depression of 1930s, working his
way from the B.C. Lower Mainland,
to Vancouver Island and the south-
ern B.C. Interior before riding the
tails to Ontario. In 1947 Brother
Ladd, who was working for the
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers’
Union out of Sudbury, was contact-
ed by the Canadian Congress of
Labour's George Ballard and George
Brown of the CIO to organize work-
ers into the International
Woodworkers of America CCL-CIO.
The IWA was handed over the for-
mer bargaining units of the National
Union of Furniture Workers and
established roots in the Hanover,
Ontario area. Brother Ladd would
become the director for the |WA
Eastern Canada District which then
became Regional Council 2 in 1958.
He led efforts to establish and grow
the union in Ontario, Quebec, and
the Maritimes. In ‘58-’59 he led the
IWAss historic efforts to organize
bushworkers, who faced horrible
conditions, in Newfoundland.
Following a strike that was a little
more than two months old, premier
Joey Smallwood passed legislation
to decertify and outlaw the IWA in
March of 1959 — one of the most
infamous acts in Canadian history.
Brother Ladd would lead Region II
until 1970 when he became the sec-
ond Vice President of the
International Union. In 1973 he
became the first vice presient,
assuming responsibilities for
research and organizing. Regarded
as one of the finest orators in |WA
history, Ladd was an inspiration to
thousands of workers who struggled
to organize the union in a very diffi-
cult era. The base that Ladd and oth-
ers laid in Eastern Canada is the
foundation of the union in north
Central and southern Ontario today.
Brother Ladd is survived by his wife
and life-long friend Jocelyn of
Toronto, five daughters and a son.
He is also survived by several
grandchildren.

= Seen reviewing a draft business plan at the Labour Heritage Centre project office in Burnaby are (I. to r.)
Indranil Guha, Zahra Rashid, project chairman Jack Munro and Katherine Hebb.

PHOTO COURTESY BURNABY NOW

FORMER IWA CANADA PRESIDENT LEADS LABOUR HERITAGE PROJECT

A place to celebrate our history

IF AND WHEN IT’S BUILT, it will be a unique place
in Canada, if not the world. A project is underway to con-
struct what would be known as the Labour Heritage
Centre in Burnaby, B.C.

Former IWA Canada national president Jack Munro,
one of B.C.’s most respected citizens, is leading a special
project to plan, raise funds for and construct a unique
facility in the City of Burnaby. The Labour Heritage
Centre, estimated to become a 35,000 square foot build-
ing, will be a special place for B.C.’ers, Canadians and
people from around the world to gather, reflect and learn
about the history of the province’s working people.

“What we are trying to do is build a permanent place
where we can visit to pay tribute to and celebrate our rich
labour heritage,” says Brother Munro. “History is in the
eye of the beholder and we know it took a lot of invest-
ment by many entrepreneurs to build this province.
Their story has been told many times and in many
places. What is lacking are the missing stories of how
ordinary working people sacrificed and toiled to build
B.C. People from B.C. and immigrants from around the
worked in mining, forestry, fishing, construction and
agriculture. They built railways, highways, dams and
bridges and worked in both the public and private ser-
vices that have contributed so much to the social and eco-
nomic well-being of us all. This will be a place to honour
them.”

The international-calibre centre is to have unique facili-
ties including a resource library and archives; interactive
display rooms, state-of-the art classrooms, multi-media lec-
ture hall and theatre; gift shop, art gallery and showroom;
a restaurant and cafe; and a memorial garden to honour
those who have lost their lives in workplace accidents.

In early May the City of Burnaby approved consider-
ing a long-term lease for a 4.1 acre parcel of land, on
Gilpin Street, across from the Shadbolt Centre for the
Arts and the Burnaby Village Museum and Carousel.

Brother Munro and others, with the generous assis-
tance of Concert Properties, have set up a project office
on Dominion Street in Burnaby. Sister Brenda Wagg,
well-known chair of the IWA Council’s Women’s
Committee, is working as the project’s coordinator. An
ad-hoc committee of volunteers first approved the for-
mation of a volunteer executive committee consisting of
Brother Munro a chair; Mervyn Van Steinburg of the
Labour Participation Department of the United Way of
the Lower Mainland as vice chair; John Kay, assistant to

the president of Working Enterprises as treasurer; and
Norman Garcia, a representative from the USWA —IWA
Council, as secretary.

This past summer the project office, funded by dona-

tions from the B.C. Federation of Labour, the IWA, the
Steelworkers, CUPE B.C., the BCGEU, and the UFCW,

developed a business and marketing plan to take on a
fundraising drive. Three University of British Columbia
students, Indranil Guha, Katherine Hebb and Zahra
Rashid produced a formidable plan.

“We are proud of the work that has been done on the
business plan,” says Brother Munro. “A project of this
size and scope has to have a lot of preparation up-front,
so that when fundraising begins, we have all the bases
covered.”

Munro says the project will be approaching the labour
movement, industry, both the federal and provincial gov-
ernments, and private parties to donate funding to vari-
ous aspects of the project. Capital costs, operating
expenses and an endowment fund must be put together
to assist the centre become sustainable. With strong sup-
port and assistance from the City of Burnaby and its
planning department, prominent B.C. architect James K.
Cheng, Simon Fraser University, UBC and the B.C.
Institute of Techonolgy, the project is getting off on the
right foot.

“We look at this centre as having numerous func-
tions,” says Brother Van Steinburg. “It will demonstrate
the history and culture of work — and not only from a
trade unionists’ perspective. It will be a place for all work-
ers of all origins to study and learn about all aspects of
work: past, present and future. And it will be a place to
learn, instruct and debate numerous issues around the
world of work.”

The project has gained support from prominent histo-
rians and archivists including Gary Mitchell, the B.C.
Archivist; Simon Fraser Labour history professor Mark
Leier; and UBC Special Collections and Rare Books cura-
tor George Brandak.

Brother Munro says word is spreading about the pro-
ject in many different circles. “This is something people
are getty pretty excited about and we are delighted,” he
says. “The one thing we all have in common is work. We
want to celebrate that and give it the respect it deserves.”
On September 13, the ad-hoc committee endorsed the
formation of the “B.C. Labour Heritage Society,” under
the province’s Society Act.

24 | THE ALLIED WORKER SEPTEMBER 2004