Union Zindabad! — South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia

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picketing by himself at JensenMushroom Farm. “I was justwalking back and forth withthe placard on my neck. Itwas a narrow road entranceto the farm and it’s right onthe freeway and just next toa big ditch, then the narrowroad and entrance to thefarm. So they came out withtwo pickup trucks with theirstrikebreakers from inside[the farm] parallel to eachother, they were just drivingand pushed me away so Iwould not be able to be on theroad, almost pushed me into the ditch. Then theystopped and just started beating me up.” 11Sarwan Boal faced more than one incident ofviolence, including being threatened at gunpointwhen he was visited a farmworkers’ cabin. “Thenthe farmer came running; somebody must havetold him the union people are here. And he had agun in his van, he’s got the gun right at us, bothof us. We’re standing at the door. He said, ‘get outof my farm!’ I said, ‘look, we we’re here legally. Wegive you the notice’. And he said, ‘I’m going toshoot you!’ And then his wife came running frominside the house and she took the gun off of himand that was it.” 12On his way home from a banquet celebrating the union’s first certificationat Jensen Mushroom Farm in July, CFU Organizer Sarwan Boal was savagelybeaten. Image Photos-092. Canadian Farmworkers Union Collection, Simon Fraser University Library.Achievements and LegaciesThe exhausting slog and minimal advances eventuallywore down the union’s leaders. They left totake other jobs, and the Canadian Farmworkers’Union began to fade. Yet there was a strong senseits success could not be measured solely in unioncertifications.It was clear to organizers that the path forwardwas via political change. When the NDP formedgovernment in BC in 1991, Moe Sihota—the firstSouth Asian to be elected to federal or provincialoffice in Canada—became Minister of Labour.The minimum wage rose to $7 an hour, the highest11 Raj Chouhan, interview with Anushay Malik, May 21, 2021. Union Zindabad! Interview Collection.12 Sarwan Boal, interview with Anushay Malik, April 21, 2021. Union Zindabad! Interview Collection.Chapter 7 • Canadian Farmworkers Union | 91
A series of CFU buttons. The rising sun button was the new CFU logodesigned by President Raj Chouhan and unveiled at the first convention.Raj Chouhan photo, Canadian Farmworkers Union Collection, Simon Fraser University Library.
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Union Zindabad!South Asian Canadian
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Union Zindabad! South Asian Canadia
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Sikh emigrants on arrival in Vancou
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South Asian, Japanese and European
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Seymour Lumber Company Mill, North
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Hastings Street Vancouver 1905 City
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movement. British Columbia unions i
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“Indian immigrants after landing
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BC’s labor newspaper promoted “
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organized labour, politicians andfo
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Fred Lockley, “The Hindu Invasion
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Group portrait of workers at Carlso
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Columbia River Lumber Company (Gold
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Columbia River Lumber Sawmill, Gold
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“I rememberwhen my grandfatherTha
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False Creek 1912 © BC Labour Herit
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“…the reason why the temple was
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Hindu’s Bunkhouse and Cookhouse,
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“East Indian immigrants at CPR Pi
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North Pacific Lumber Co., Barnet Ph
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Youbou sawmill workers N00336, IWA
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Soldiers in Vancouver harbour en ro
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The movement was broadly supported
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In January 1912, IWW members and th
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Dominion Executive. He was fully en
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Sikh sawmill workers, c. 1920, Grea
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understood three Hindu sawmill work
Page 55 and 56: Canadian Western Lumber Company [Fr
Page 57 and 58: protection. If they joinedthe union
Page 59 and 60: Slash Burning Kapoor Lumber, 1938Im
Page 61 and 62: Provincial Archives of Alberta, J.3
Page 63 and 64: Courtesy IWA Archives.
Page 65 and 66: Darshan Singh Sangha influenced the
Page 67 and 68: The entire membership of the IWA go
Page 69 and 70: Translating unionliterature into Pu
Page 71 and 72: Darshan Singh Sangha described the
Page 73 and 74: “Beware: Racial and Religious Hat
Page 75 and 76: © BC Labour Heritage Centre, 2021.
Page 77 and 78: At the 1949 IWA District Council No
Page 79 and 80: Members of IWA Local 1-357 walk the
Page 81 and 82: Racist immigration restrictions mea
Page 83 and 84: Courtesy United Steelworkers.then y
Page 85 and 86: of employment was on strike. She wa
Page 87 and 88: their traditional dresses andsaris
Page 89 and 90: Punjabi out of the Punjab originall
Page 91 and 92: Hospital Employees’ Union, The Gu
Page 93 and 94: On May 27, 1984, eleven women mushr
Page 95 and 96: Fraser Valley, BC Indo-Canadian str
Page 97 and 98: Raj Chouhan at microphone, Charan G
Page 99 and 100: Union leaders, activists and member
Page 101 and 102: Canadian Farmworkers Union Collecti
Page 103 and 104: Bhangra Giddha dancers at CFU Anniv
Page 105: his Bhangra performers faced repeat
Page 109 and 110: Raj Chouhan, President of Canadian
Page 111 and 112: BC Organization to Fight Racism pro
Page 113 and 114: discriminated against farmworkers.J
Page 115 and 116: In the 68 years since the IWA began
Page 117 and 118: Indo-Canadian drivers at Yellow Cab
Page 119 and 120: Fraser Mills for several years befo
Page 121 and 122: Jaswant Singh Berar was active in t
Page 123 and 124: Jarnail Gill, 3rd Vice President of
Page 125 and 126: Jinny SimsVideo link: https://vimeo
Page 127 and 128: South Asian Labour History Advisory
Page 129 and 130: Kaatza Station Museum & Archives, W
Page 131 and 132: Palumbo, Colleen. Golden Memories.
Page 133 and 134: Fire Insurance Plans and MapsCanadi
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Union Zindabad! — South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia

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