Canada in the early 1900s saw a high number of strikes due to unrest in the labour movement, which affected employees in the mining industry. Coal miners had their share of grievances, which built the framework for their two year long strike in 1912. The Vancouver Island Coal Miners’ Strike began on September 16, 1912 when a day long holiday in protest of the unfair firing of a union man, Mottishaw, was called (Mickleburgh 51). Mottishaw’s unfair dismissal would be the catalyst for the beginning of the strike, bringing the coal miners’ longtime grievances to light. The United Mine Workers of America international supported the strike by assisting with strike pay and with the miners’ protests. The fight for recognition of miners’ union and rights, wages, and unsafe working conditions were the main concerns of the strikers, and would become the focus of the next two years. Before the strike began, Chinese workers became the enemy of Canadian unions due to Canadian miners’ racist assumptions, although they too wished to support the strike. Female relatives of the coal miners had grievances about the way workers were being treated by the mining companies, and supported the strike. The reasons for the 1912 Vancouver Island Coal Miners’ Strike demonstrate that the coal workers had legitimate grievances that they hoped to solve through striking.
Two miners, underground, in a short seam with large chunks of coal one is holding a safety lamp, photograph, pre 1920, C160-021, Mining – General Photos Album, Cumberland Museum and Archives, Canada, https://www.flickr.com/photos/cumberlandmuseum/6814920438/in/album-72157629438536307.
