Editorially speaking...
I set my calendar by Joseph Mairs.
Every January for, I’ve lost track now how many years, the second to last Sunday of the month is his memorial day in Ladysmith, this one on the 23rd.
Joseph Mairs was a coal miner, union activist and champion cyclist racer who was imprisoned during the Great Strike of 1912-14 where, a month short of his 22nd birthday, he died of tuberculosis. Hence Island labour unions have made him a martyr in the never-ending struggle to achieve safe and equitable work conditions.
Mairs’ is the most striking monument in Ladysmith Cemetery; you can spot it from the gate.
But I’ve written about him before so this is just a reminder for those who are interested in attending, that the memorial event is this coming Sunday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Hall, 1135 4th Street, Ladysmith, at 1 p.m.
Guest speaker John Clarke will speak on ‘Social Struggles in the Wake of the Pandemic.’
There’s always great folk music with a labour theme and a march behind a piper to the cemetery to place wreaths at Mairs’ grave.
Should you go, or if you ever visit the Ladysmith Cemetery, look around at the headstones, particularly those bearing the common date, Oct. 9, 1909. That’s the day an underground explosion rocked the Extension Colliery and killed 32 men.
May we never forget our coal mining heritage.
PS.: Joseph Mairs, and my recent post on the 1930 Blakeburn Colliery disaster that killed 45 miners, remind me of the many, many coal mine heroes who haven’t been remembered in any tangible way.
It seems that in this politically correct and revisionist New Age we topple statues rather than erect them. I’ll never forgive our public schools system of the past three generations (at least) for having, in my mind, totally failed how many 1000s of students by not instilling in them a love of their country through teaching them Canadian history as it should be taught.
There I go, spitting in the wind again...
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I told you about the recent scrapping of B.C.’s oldest working tug, the Sea Lion. Proving yet again that we don’t value our heritage. What an opportunity lost, just as it seems likely that the B.C. Maritime Museum will finally get the ideal waterside location it’s needed since it had to vacate the old provincial courthouse in Victoria’s Bastion Square.
But, so be it, the damage is done.
I also told you how the Sea Lion served as a water taxi during the infamous Komagata Maru incident of 1914 when 376 East Indian immigrants were barred from landing at gunpoint in Vancouver even after their right of entry was confirmed by the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
Six months prior to the Sea Lion being in the news because of her Coast Guard enforced demise, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart issued an apology for the 1914 affair. Specifically, the city’s “racist role,” as it was reported by the Canadian Press, and he announced that May 23 has been declared as the annual Komagata Maru Day of Remembrance.
Make no mistake, I’m pleased that our various levels of government and public institutions have embarked upon a policy of truth and reconciliation with our First Nations. I just wish we could extend an olive branch to more of our priceless and irreplaceable heritage sites and artifacts that serve as hallmarks to our many accomplishments
Sigh.........
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