Interview with Rémi Jodouin About the Foreigners Strike of June 1934
Date: 1976
Credits: BAnQ Rouyn-Noranda, Comité du 50e anniversaire de Rouyn-Noranda funds, interview series. 08Y,P34,S2,P59.
Photo caption: Rémi Jodouin, En-D’ssour, Ville Saint-Laurent, Éditions québécoises, 1973, 208 pages.
Photo credits: A.J. Corvec.
Interviewer: Did you experience one of the first strikes that happened over here in 1934?
Rémi Jodouin: Yes, but from afar if you will, because I was in Arnfield when the immigrant strike broke out. It was in June of 1934. It was pretty hard for these folks because it was, let’s say, an illegal and non-organized strike. And these folks didn’t get all the credit they deserved for that strike. Because a lot of them got fired and we went and got recruits in the forest, lumberjacks, who took their place. The strikers were only committed to try and improve the safety systems and the lifestyle for miners.
Interviewer: At that time, there were no laws to protect the workers, right? So, it was a labour-management dispute at the mine?
Rémi Jodouin: That’s the whole point. The boss could do as he pleased. If he didn’t like the sound of your voice, he could just fire you and hire someone else. And there were a lot of people longing for a job.