Collection search - Briggs, W.S. - Interview

FRONTIER COLLEGE

1990-0214

Sound

1 of 1

1975-06-17

Marjorie Robinson (Interviewer)

Interview by Marjorie Robinson of Mr. W. S. Briggs of Toronto who talks about his experiences as a labourer-teacher for Frontier College in 1925 and 1926 and again in 1928 and 1929. Briggs recalls his work in the CNR camp in the Fraser River Valley, British Columbia where he was a flagman, and in the winter of 1928 and 1929 at a railway camp near Cartier, Ontario clearing snow and ice from the track switches at temperatures of -50 degrees F. Discussion of the difficult living conditions where the men lived in converted boxcars and performed heavy manual labour from dawn to dusk for approximately 30¢ an hour. Other topics include Briggs' attempts to teach English to the immigrant workers in the western camps and to the French-speaking workers in Northern Ontario. Comments on Dr. Edmund Bradwin, former principal of Frontier College, the philosophy of the College, and the impact of large-scale immigration in Canada round out the interview.

English

Open

No Restrictions / Pas de restrictions