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Title proper
IWA Women's Auxiliary of Lake Cowichan
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- sound recording
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- Source of title proper: Supplied title based on item contents.
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
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Date(s)
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1979-08-09 [date recorded] (Creation)
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c/o Sara Diamond
Scope and content
CALL NUMBER: T3604:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): IWA Women's Auxiliary of Lake Cowichan : [tape 1] RECORDED: Lake Cowichan (B.C.), 1979-08-09 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: This is a composite tape [i.e., a group interview] with five former members of the Lake Cowichan Women's Auxiliary of the IWA: Eva Wilson, Lori Belin, Lil Godfrey, June Olsen and Mary Greenwell, who were active in the Women's Auxiliary during the 1930s and 1940s. The women tell of their family and work backgrounds and their subsequent involvement with the union auxiliary. The women come out of very different backgrounds, some with strong trade union families (Nanaimo miners), and others from anti-union backgrounds. Most came to Lake Cowichan as young women who had married loggers. June Olsen, however, came as a teenager, grew up in Lake Cowichan, and joined her friends in the auxiliary. Conditions in the 1930s were primitive; couples lived in shacks without plumbing or electricity, the hospital was in Chemainus, and the road was terrible. TRACK 2: The Women's Auxiliary was pulled together in the 1930's by Edna Brown with the help of some of the organisers for the union. It helped to cut across the isolation that many of the young wives experienced, and to draw them into the struggle to organise the woods. The organiser went from home to home and to isolated logging camps, organising the auxiliary. Women were concerned with safety (because logging was and is an extremely dangerous business), as well as getting a better road to the hospital, and protecting and providing funds and cover for the union organisers. CALL NUMBER: T3604:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): IWA Women's Auxiliary of Lake Cowichan : [tape 2] RECORDED: Lake Cowichan (B.C.), 1979-08-09 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: As the auxiliary developed, its functions expanded and it became the central instrument in creating a community at Lake Cowichan; providing social events, education, and political involvement; establishing the P.T.A., Red Cross, swimming lessons, theatre group, doing war support work, getting fresh milk into the town, organising a children's parade, Dominion Day and Labour Day events, a Lady of the Lake contest, and coordinating with other women's groups, as well as supporting the union's activities. The members attended conventions of the union and federated auxiliary in Vancouver and Eugene (Ore.), and were instrumental in forming auxiliary policy across the IWA because of the large numbers and success of their organisation. TRACK 2: In 1946, during the march to Victoria during the strike, the Lake Cowichan women marched in the front of the trekkers. In Victoria, they organised food and lodgings with other auxiliaries. In 1948, the Lake Cowichan Auxiliary split; the majority of its members went with the WIUC. These years saw some violent confrontations, for example at Iron River, where the IWA crossed WIUC picket lines. The women and their husbands were excluded from the new IWA auxiliary at Lake Cowichan after the WIUC collapsed, and some of them became involved in the co-op, while others later did support work for the IWA when their husbands re-entered the IWA.
Notes area
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Immediate source of acquisition
Women's Labour History Project, 1988-06-28
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A digital copy is available. Please contact staff for further information.
Reference cassette copy available in container 000443-212.
Restrictions on access
No access restrictions apply.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
- Copying Restriction: None.
- Use Restriction: Released "for placement in public archives; transcription, editing, and publication; and use in educational programming and broadcasting."
- Copyright Status: Copyright Sara Diamond.
Finding aids
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General note
Accession number(s): T3604
Credits note
speaker: Lori Belin, speaker: Lil Godfrey, speaker: Mary Greenwell, speaker: June Olsen, speaker: Eva Wilson, interviewer: Sara Diamond
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
- Collective bargaining--British Columbia
- Depressions--1929--British Columbia
- Forest products industry--British Columbia
- Labor unions--Organizing
- Logging--British Columbia--Vancouver Island
- Strikes and lockouts--British Columbia--History
- Women in the labor movement--Canada--History
- Women labor union members
- Women--British Columbia--Social conditions--1918-1945
- Women--British Columbia--Social conditions--1945-
- Women--Employment--British Columbia
Place access points
Name access points
- International Woodworkers of America (Subject)
- Woodworkers Industrial Union of Canada (Subject)