Les McDonal (far left) leads Local IBEW 213's left faction en route to a demonstration of unemployed building trades workers, Vancouver City Hall, 1960.
A wildcat for BC’s labour movement
Les McDonald skied, rock climbed, hiked, scaled mountains and led the 1966 wildcat strike at the Lenkurt Electric plant in Burnaby, leading to the formation of BC's most successful independent union.
“The walkout began when plant workers, most of them women, charged off the job to protest hard-nosed company attitudes. When they delayed their return, Lenkurt [the company] fired all 257 employees, the confrontation erupted into mayhem, on the picket line and within the union.” FULL STORY
“Yahgulanaas understood something fundamental: if you want to influence people and inspire change, you must first meet them where they… FULL STORY
“I had to know what was beyond the next horizon.”—John Clarke
“In real life, when you have the luxury of paying attention, the ordinary and the amazing turn out to be… FULL STORY
“Perhaps it was their having worked their way up in the industry from a Fraser River gillnet skiff, but the… FULL STORY
“Once the men were taken in care the greatest administration concern seemed to be expenses. [Author Wayne] Norton embarked on… FULL STORY
“[La Manzanilla] boasts a mangrove swamp inhabited by crocodiles and local characters, such as Pedro, whose red ball cap reads… FULL STORY
“He doesn’t yet hear the gentle / footsteps the other side / of his very last door.”—George Bowering
“Intertwined in this script, are two remarkable women, writer and subject, whose fierce intelligence, artistic brilliance, great beauty and sheer… FULL STORY
“Because Schiwy views ritual as a sacred part of the creative process, many of her workshops include components with dance… FULL STORY
“Freddy’s voice is spot-on—slightly self-deprecating and in equal parts awe and confusion as he interacts with a world whose social… FULL STORY
“We’re now having to deal in 2026 with issues that might have been remedied effectively 170 years ago, but were… FULL STORY
“HBC understood that its presence in New Caledonia was largely based on bluff and that a failure to uphold its… FULL STORY
“[Twenty-six years ago,] Canada was trailing 2 to 1 when Carlo Corazzin tied the score on a stunning bicycle kick,… FULL STORY
Bear with me for a moment while I shake my fist at this cloud. There are, no doubt, many things… FULL STORY
When he died in 2023, BC environmentalist David Garrick, known to friends and colleagues as “Walrus,” left more than 100… FULL STORY
In Plant Teachings from My Auntie: Gathering Coast Salish Plants for Medicine, Textiles, Nourishment, and Ceremony (New Society $24.99), Geraldine… FULL STORY
Edgy is a word that’s been blunted by overuse to describe art, music or writing that’s gratuitously bizarre; superficial stunts… FULL STORY
“[With] the realization that we had an art form, something to be proud of, this put me on a beautiful… FULL STORY
[Betty Baxter’s] dedication to making sports better for women athletes shines through on every page. She continues to respond to… FULL STORY
