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  • A photo from a newspaper article of a small group of people in aprons. The headline says Pemmican for North Trappers.

    Tasting Pemmican: From Community to Commercial

    Emily Horrill

    Pemmican recipes have changed a lot over the centuries, passing from Indigenous people to colonial hands and back.

    Pemmican is one of the highlights of ECAMP’s labour history Curiosity Tour – Strikes, Struggles, and Success. As we begin a season of stories about Sensing the City, we wanted to do a deep dive into the history of its production in Edmonton.

    So ECAMP’s own Emily Horrill – who leads these tours – wrote a fascinating article for those who want to know more about this tasty, nutritious food.

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  • A black and white photograph of a streetscape on Jasper Avenue. There is a dirt road, and a few one and two story tall wooden buildings. The middle building has a sign that reads Wing Lee Chinese Laundry. Three people in suits and hats are standing near the door.

    Chinese Hand Laundries: A History of The First Chinese Entrepreneurs in Edmonton

    Jessica Szeto

    Cafes and laundries were common businesses for Chinese pioneers to start in early-20th century Edmonton. But the stories of their owners – and the discrimination that forced them into these industries – are less well-known. In the newest addition to ECAMP’s labour history series, author Jessica Szeto writes about laundry owners like Chung Kee and Sam Sing Mah, and the brutal conditions for laundry workers.

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  • Clock In: Stephanie and Henry

    ECAMP Comms

    Stephanie Harpe says she got a lot of things from her dad Henry, including a wicked work ethic and a positive outlook on life. On this episode of Clock In, host Jay Gilday speaks with Stephanie and Henry about how he made the most of tough situations, why their family moved to Edmonton, and what Stephanie admires most about her dad to this day.

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  • Cover art for this episode of Clock In. The text Clock in is at the top, and Tamisan Bencz-Knight and Marjorie Bencz look at the viewer below. They are each wearing headscarves and smiling.

    Clock In: Tamisan and Marjorie

    ECAMP Comms

    Working at the same place as your mom can be a privilege and a pain. Tamisan Bencz-Knight is the Manager of Strategic Relationships & Partnerships at Edmonton’s Food Bank. Marjorie Bencz is the Executive Director, a member of the Order of Canada, and her mom. In this episode of Clock In, host Jay Gilday talks to Tamisan and Marjorie about putting food and hope on tables, following in someone’s footsteps, and what kind of team it takes to meet a crisis head on.

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  • Cover art for this episode of Clock In. The text Clock in is at the top, and Nas and Saniya Ghalehdar look at the viewer below.

    Clock In: Saniya and Nas

    ECAMP Comms

    Saniya Ghalehdar wants to make sure her dad Nas makes it into the history books. Nas Ghalehdar owned Teddy’s Bar & Grill on Jasper Avenue from 2006 – 2017. In this episode of Clock In, host Jay Gilday meets Saniya and Nas to learn about long hours, love stories, and finding just the right salt for the corned beef.

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  • An illustration. A silhouette of a hand with broken, twisted fingers frames faces of Indigenous children in school uniforms, seated as if posing for a class picture. The background is the colour of dried blood, and between the silhouetted fingers, the background juts in in the shape of even smaller hands, covering children's eyes, ears, and mouths.

    “More Than Half a Day”: Child Labour at the St. Albert Youville Indian Residential School

    Dr. Crystal Gail Fraser

    A letter written by a lawyer in 1939 shows Indigenous families challenging the legality of forced child labour at St. Albert Youville Indian Residential School. For decades, at this school and others, Indigenous children endured exploitation, violence, and dangerous work under the “half-day” system. Parents and children resisted, despite repression. Survivors’ stories demand accountability, truth, and justice, as Canada continues failing to act on reconciliation.

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  • A postcard showing Woodward’s department store building. Text at the bottom of the postcard reads “C. Woodward Ltd. Department Store, Edmonton, Alberta.”

    My Grandma Going Out into the World: Working at Woodward’s

    Harma-Mae Smit

    Facing boredom, depression, and loneliness, 1960s stay-at-home mother Harma Smit decided to get a job.

    In 1967, when Harma found a job at Edmonton’s Woodward’s department store, it was just becoming more common for married women to seek work outside the home.

    In this addition to ECAMP’s labour series, Harma-Mae Smit recounts her grandmother’s experience in the retail workforce. Relying on family reflections, Smit discusses community reactions to her grandmother’s decision to work, her positive experience as an employee at Woodward’s for nearly two decades, and the material and mental benefits that the added income had for her grandmother and the rest of the family.

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  • Happyland

    Elizabeth Cytko and Toryn Suddaby

    One hot summer Sunday in 1910, Edmontonians lined up for ice cream in a tiny downtown park called Happyland. A scandal ensued. Our latest ECAMP story is a comic tale about those wicked delights, and why Edmonton police and City Council threatened to “out-Toronto Toronto.”

    This addition to our labour history series was written by Elizabeth Cytko and illustrated by Toryn Suddaby.

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  • A photograph of workers with picket signs standing outside the Bay Building downtown, with the A-Channel "A" logo above them.

    Station of Broken Promises

    Adrian Pearce

    Previously, ECAMP presented a story from an A-Channel employee who decided to cross the picket line during the 2003-4 strike. Adrian Pearce – a cameraman who helped lead the strike – submitted this response. Read what the strike was like for workers who held the line for 166 days.

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  • : A three-storey brick cell block is connected to a workshop and another large industrial building with two tall chimneys. There is a large hole in the side of one of the buildings suggesting it had started to be dismantled and/or suffered structural damage. A tilled farm field that would have been worked by prisoners is in the foreground.

    Hard Times in the Alberta Penitentiary, 1906-1920

    Matt Ormandy

    The Alberta Penitentiary operated on Edmonton’s River Lot 20 from 1906 – 1920, where Clarke Stadium is today. It was the first federal prison in Alberta. One constant in prisoners’ lives was unpaid hard labour, from mining coal to farming potatoes.

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  • A black and white photograph of a middle-aged woman shown in profile from the shoulders up. She wears a v-cut black top with a long white pearl necklace and her hair is pulled back into a low bun.

    Maud Bowman: The leader who kickstarted the Art Gallery of Alberta

    Danielle Siemens

    In the early 1920s, a resolute woman named Maud Bowman set out to start the Edmonton Museum of Arts – today’s Art Gallery of Alberta. Bowman was a somewhat unconventional model of a female museum leader. Her work is even more remarkable given the sexism she faced.

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  • A photo of an Tom Daniels, one of the ironworkers featured in Alvin Finkel's story Waltzing with the Angels. Here he is an older man with glasses, sitting in an office.

    Waltzing With the Angels: The Metis Ironworkers Who Built Edmonton’s Downtown

    Alvin Finkel

    The people who did the most dangerous jobs constructing the skyscrapers in downtown Edmonton in the 1960s and 1970s were almost all Metis ironworkers. That included the CN Tower.

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