Albert "Ginger" Goodwin (May 10, 1887 – July 27, 1918), nicknamed Ginger for his bright red hair, was a migrant coal miner who advocated for workers' rights and promoted the cause of unions in British Columbia, Canada. Angered by the working conditions in coal mines, Goodwin sought to increase wages and improve working conditions, and fought companies that disregarded workers' rights. He participated in and led multiple strikes, and served as a delegate for the British Columbia Federation of Labour and as an organizer for the Socialist Party of Canada. In the years following his increased activism and involvement with labour unions, Goodwin fell under scrutiny for his opposition to military conscription during World War I. He was killed by a police officer in 1918. Following his union involvement, Goodwin entered politics, running as a candidate for the Socialist Party of Canada in the 1916 provincial election representing Trail.

Goodwin eventually did sign up, but was initially exempted from conscription after a medical examination found him unfit for service. There is debate on whether Campbell fired in self-defence or if he shot Goodwin deliberately, acting under special military orders. A section of the Vancouver Island Highway 19 that passes through Cumberland was named Ginger Goodwin Way in 1996. Although the signs were removed by the province's Liberal government in 2001, the NDP government reinstalled them in 2018.

On July 27, 2018, the BC government proclaimed Ginger Goodwin Day to acknowledge his work as a champion of labour rights. A vigil is held every year during Miners' Memorial weekend, with people placing flowers on Goodwin's grave.

In 2016, the film, Goodwin's Way, directed by Comox Valley native and Capilano University Documentary Film Program Alumnus Neil Vokey, debuted. The film was initially developed at Capilano University under Canadian filmmakers and mentors Jack Silberman and Michelle Mason, and documents the town of Cumberland resisting the opening of a new mine and resurrecting the legacy of Ginger Goodwin. Residents share their viewpoints on the life story of the labour hero.

Quotes

"...we know that all this misery is the outcome of someone's carelessness and that someone is the capitalists, those who own the machinery of production... This class of parasites have been living on the blood of the working class, they are responsible for the conditions existing at the present time... To throw this system over we have got to organize as a class and fight them as class against class... and our weapons are education, organization and agitation... and the principles of Socialism, for it is necessary that you know when to strike and how to strike, and if we have not these weapons when the time comes, we shall not be able to predict the outcome of the fight... we have the power and the lever to overthrow the existing society."

See also

  • Ginger: The Life and Death of Albert Goodwin

References

Further reading

  • Mayse, Susan, January 1, 1990, Ginger: The Life and Death of Albert Goodwin, Harbour Publishing, 212 pp., with index and bibliography,
  • Albert (Ginger) Goodwin Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  • Daily Bleed Calendar May 10, 1887 Reference page
  • BC government proclaims July 27 'Ginger Goodwin Day'
  • The Death of Ginger Goodwin British Columbia: An Untold Story