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authority records
Whittaker, John William
Person

Jack Whittaker worked for 48 years in British Columbia sawmills before his retirement in 1959. His last position with British Columbia Forest Products Limited (BCFP) was superintendent of the Youbou Sawmill on Cowichan Lake, Vancouver Island.

Person

James Paterson became president of the Moran Company in 1909 and then General Manager of the Seattle Construction and Drydock Company in 1912. He formed the British Pacific Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd. in order to obtain the contract for building submarines in Vancouver, B.C.

Robertson, James Wilson
Person · 1857-1930

James Robertson was born in Scotland and in 1875 came to Canada where he joined his father in farming and in the management of cheese factories and food exports to the United Kingdom. Robertson was an educationalist and agricultural expert. He participated in many national service organizations and chaired two royal commissions: an investigation into industrial training (1910) and an enquiry into the Sydney labour unrest of 1923. He was Dairy Commissioner for the Dominion from 1890 to 1904. From 1905 to 1910, Robertson served as Principal of Macdonald College. In 1919 he was appointed Canadian Director of Food Supplies and represented Canada on the food section of the Supreme Economic Council in Paris. Robertson received honourary LL.D. degrees from four universities and was created a C.M.G. in 1905.

Drabek, Jan
Person · 1935-

Jan Drabek was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on May 5, 1935, the younger of two sons of a lawyer-journalist. He moved to New York with his family in 1948. He holds a BA from American University, Washington, DC, 1960 and pursued graduate studies at Mysore, India and the University of British Columbia, where he received a teaching diploma in 1966.

Mr. Drabek worked as a newspaperman, broadcaster and refugee resettlement officer and travel agent. He taught in Vancouver at Kitsilano High School from 1966 to 1976.

Drabek has written a number of popular fiction books and some non-fiction. His fiction is fast-paced, often humorous and laced with intrigue and clandestine affairs. It also has a strong political flavor. His non-fiction reflects his social concerns and deals with the subjects of education and with retirement options. He has also written children’s fiction and has published numerous short stories, articles and critical reviews for newspapers and periodicals, including a column in The BC Teacher. He was a member of the National Council of the Writers’ Union of Canada and has served two terms as the President of the Federation of BC Writers. In the 1980s he also tutored for the Open Learning Agency.

Mr. Drabek returned to his homeland in September of 1990 after the reinstatement of democracy in Czechoslovakia. He worked there in various high-ranking civil service positions before deciding to return to Vancouver in December of 1998.

On-to-Ottawa Trek Committee
Corporate body · [ca. 1983-1987]

The On-to-Ottawa Trek Committee was formed in 1985 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Trek. The On-to-Ottawa Historical Society was established in 1988 as a non-profit organization to preserve the memory of labour rights movements, specifically the On-to-Ottawa Trek of 1935. The 60th Anniversary of the Trek occurred in 1995. The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour organized a week-long commemoration of the Trek, which included a declaration of good will from the Mayor, a walking tour of the area where the Regina Riot occurred, and various speakers and workshops. Several men from the 1935 Trek attended as well as Jean Sheils. Scope and content: This sous-fonds consists of material generated by the On-to-Ottawa Historical Society and its predecessor organization, the On-to-Ottawa Trek Committee. The material was created and used between 1985 and 1995, corresponding with the 50th and 60th Anniversary of the original Trek. This Trek grew out of discontent about the poor wages and working conditions that were present at military-run relief camps. In the 1930s unemployment was rampant and 20,000 men across Canada were stationed at relief camps throughout BC interior and Northern Ontario. Dissatisfied with pay (20 cents a day) and working conditions, workers began walkouts and left the camps to come to Vancouver to make their demands heard. There were many protest and rallies in Vancouver which led up to the Trek. At the time of the Trek, Arthur Evans was District Organizer of the Workers’ Unity League, and was leader of its affiliated union, the Relief Camp Workers’ Union (RCWU). He was instrumental in organizing the plan to travel to Ottawa to voice their concerns to Prime Minister R. B. Bennett. The Trek set out from Vancouver on 3 June 1935 with an estimated 1,000 men riding on top of railway cars.
They made several stops along the way in communities such as Kamloops, Field, Golden, and Moose Jaw, picking up more supporters as they went. 2,000 Trekkers arrived in Regina in mid-June and were detained there for several weeks. They were not allowed to travel onwards to Ottawa nor were they allowed to leave. On 22 June Evans led a delegation of eight men to Ottawa where they met with Prime Minister Bennett. These discussions did not go well and the group returned to Regina. On 1 July, at a peaceful protest, this tension culminated in what is now known as the Regina Riot, in which 3,000 Trekkers and supporters engaged in hours of street fighting with local police and the RCMP. The Riot left one police officer dead, several hundred people injured, and thousands of dollars of damage to downtown Regina.
The Trekkers returned to Vancouver and four men, including Evans, were charged for belonging to an unlawful organization, the Relief Camp Workers Association. Charges were later dropped, due in part to massive public protest against the Riot.

Hamm, Jim, 1949-
Person

Jim Hamm was born in Abbotsford, BC, in 1949 . He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in history from Simon Fraser University in 1975 . Later, he received a Teaching Certificate (1977) and classes in Film Studies (1981-1983) from Simon Fraser University. He has been writing, producing and directing documentaries since 1983.

His documentaries have included :
Radical Attitudes : The Architecture of Douglas Cardinal (2004)
The Spirit Wrestlers (2002)
Turning Down the Heat: The New Energy Revolution (1999)
Between The Rock and A Hard Place (1996)
The Air We Breathe (1995)
Smile and Dial (1986)
Generic Desire (1983)

Over the years Jim Hamm has production managed the feature films: Terminal City Ricochet, Shelly, and Regeneration . He line-produced the docu-dramas, A Chance For Change, about aids awareness in native communities and The Sentencing Dilemma, an examination of the sentencing issues the courts face when prosecuting assault cases. He also production managed the documentary, Gurdwara – House of the Guru, on the spiritual life of the Sikh community in Vancouver.

Miertsching, Johann
Person

Johann Miertsching accompanied the Polar expedition in search of Sir John Franklin in the capacity of interpreter aboard the ship "Investigator".