This episode, released close to International Women’s Day (March 8), recalls an important political reform cause in Saint John’s past that was part of a national and international movement: the fight for women’s voting rights. Starting in the late 1800s, the Saint John Women’s Enfranchisement Organization, which was a spinoff from a national organization, worked tirelessly for the provincial franchise for New Brunswick women as a citizenship right.

The Saint John suffragists, who had male allies, were the most active group in the Maritime provinces working on the issue. The stories of its key members, such as Emma Fiske, Mabel Peters and Ella Hatheway, deserve to be better known. Many were involved in other causes, such as public playgrounds for the urban poor, temperance and worker’s rights and became involved in reform activism because of strong religious convictions. They held meetings, wrote letters to newspapers, organized petitions, lobbied politicians and even drafted legislation. Although mainly middle class in background, their challenging of the status quo was met by inertia, ridicule, hostility and misogyny.

Saint John’s suffragists hosted the prominent American abolitionist, social reformer and women’s rights champion Julia Ward Howe in the 1890s and in
1912, famous British suffragette Sylva Pankhurst, who was on a North American speaking tour. Although the Saint John Women’s Enfranchisement Organization avoided the militant tactics of their high profile British ‘sisters,’ they were inspired by their struggles and shared their goals.

The long and determined campaign of Saint John’s suffragists finally succeeded in 1919, when all women, regardless of their marital status or personal property holdings, were extended the right to vote in provincial elections. The exception were First Nations women who lived on reserves (who would have to wait more than 4 decades).

This episode ends with an interview with the leading expert on the history of women’s voting rights in Atlantic Canada, Dr. Heidi MacDonald, Dean of Arts at the University of New Brunswick Saint John. Dr. MacDonald is the author of We Shall Persist: Women and the Vote in the Atlantic Provinces (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2023): https://www.ubcpress.ca/we-shall-persist

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-fight-for-women-s-voting-rights

Two weeks before Great Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, the Saint John central business district was the site of another type of conflict, a labour struggle that pitted more than 100 members of the street railway union against the unpopular streetcar company. The three-day strike drew thousands of onlookers and supporters to the uptown area and produced the most iconic image from early 20th-century Saint John, two tram cars resting on their side in Market Square, observed by curious citizens. Despite its significance, the strike and riot are not commemorated by a plaque or found in any tourism promotion materials for the city.

This episode begins with an overview of the history of the city’s streetcar system, which in the era before mass automobile ownership and public transit buses was an essential urban service for commuters, workers and shoppers. We next examine the labour movement in early 20th century Saint John, noting some of its victories and losses, to remind listeners that Saint John in the past was also a workers’ city and that unions were in the vanguard of social reform.

We next move on to the causes of the strike, which involved unfair labour practices by the employer, and how the union members maintained discipline and appealed to replacement workers to come over to their side, while non-union sympathizers used intimidation tactics to stop the running of the streetcars. The overturning of two streetcars on the second day of the strike led to some of the most dramatic incidents in the city’s history. These included the reading of the Riot Act; a foolhardy and dangerous cavalry charge into a crowd of several thousand men, women and children; an attack on the company’s power plant that knocked out electricity to the city for a few hours; a less successful attempt on the company’s car barns and workshop that was fended off by armed private detectives and the calling out of several hundred militia, armed with rifles, bayonets and cavalry sabres, to maintain order.

The episode concludes with a conversation with playwright and Université de Moncton literature professor Thomas Hodd, author of the play O’Brien, which is inspired by the events in Saint John in July 1914. The discussion here includes the richness of Saint John as an inspiration for dramatic work and the importance of telling New Brunswick stories. O’Brien, a production of Theatre New Brunswick, will be staged in several New Brunswick communities from March 5 to March 16, 2025. The play’s Saint John date is March 9, 2025. For more in the production, see: https://www.tnb.nb.ca/obrien/.

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-1914-street-railway-riot

In this episode, we return to Sept. 11 1968 and the early moments of the first skyjacking in Canadian history on board Air Canada Flight 303. The flight had arrived from Moncton, New Brunswick to pick up passengers at Saint John with a final destination of Toronto. In addition to pilot, Ronald Hollett, and second officer, Ronald Bromley, the crew consisted of flight attendants Christine Waud and Beverley Atkinson. Christine and Beverley were the first people on board to realize that a hijacking was being attempted.

According to a list released to the press by Air Canada, the passengers who boarded the Vickers Viscount at Moncton were Judie Peterson of Ajax, Ontario and her Moncton-based grandparents, George and Lilian Peterson; Mrs. B.W. Smith; restaurant owner and boxing promoter Fred Smith of Chatham and Rene Durelle, Canada light heavyweight boxing champion of Baie St. Anne. Rene was accompanied by his father and trainer, Placide, brother of the famous New Brunswick boxer Yvon Durelle, the “fighting fisherman”; Francine Levy of Toronto, and her 20-month old son Phillipe; Mrs. J.W. Sabina and Mrs. P.R. Sabina of Winnipeg; Camille Chanard of Downsview and Gerard Hennigar of Toronto. The passengers who joined the flight at Saint John were Susan Pridham, 21-year old Gary Newman, a member of the Canadian armed forces; Berta Peacock; Mike Wennberg and “Mr. Garvey,” who had arrived by automobile from Halifax.

The episode, which includes clips from recent interviews with three passengers who boarded Flight 303 at Saint John, as well as flight attendant Christine Waud and Air Canada passenger agent Charles “Bud” Cavanagh, recounts what happened once the flight was in the air and how it was diverted from its original destination to the airport at Dorval, west of Montreal. This was after “Mr. Garvey,” whose real name was Charles L. Beasley, produced a loaded revolver and demanded to be flown to Cuba. Beasley explained that he was a Black Power activist who was on the run from the Central Intelligence Agency. We next examine the peaceful outcome of the incident, the legal consequences for Charles Beasley, and its short-term impact on airport security. We conclude with a brief examination of the legal changes and security measures that eventually ended- for the most part- the Golden Age of skyjacking in Canada, but not before an incident in 1971 on another Air Canada flight led to the first successful act of aircraft piracy in Canada.

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-first-skyjacking-in-canada