Lots of parents tell their kids stories on family road trips around Alberta, but Soni Dasmohapatra’s dad tells stories about the bridges he built along the way. In this addition to ECAMP’s labour history series, Soni celebrates Dilip Dasmohapatra’s career as a civil engineer and community organizer.
In the 1960s, Bill Rogers convinced the Alberta government to invest both computers and the training needed for their workers to program these machines, launching a data revolution. Women dominated these data entry roles under strict, often discriminatory conditions. Despite long hours and limited advancement, they powered early digital governance, pioneering computer use in western Canada and forging lasting professional bonds.
Women like Emma Minde joined Homemakers’ Clubs to overcome isolation by doing work like sewing, canning, and charity drives together. Indian Affairs required its approval to start these clubs though, and used them to monitor members’ activities.
Relying only on volunteer labour, the need to fabricate many of the mechanical and structural parts from scratch, as well as [funding grants from] which did not come on a constant schedule, this rebuild of Edmonton streetcar No.33 took over a decade to complete.
One hundred years ago my father stepped onto Canadian soil for the first time. It wasn’t until he passed away…
Disclaimer: Due to the importance around the legal designation of Indian status, this article sometimes uses the term “Indian” to…
Renaming places in Edmonton has become a major point of public discussion with several renamings occurring, or being proposed, since…
Surrounded by rows of towering tomato, cucumber and pepper plants in a greenhouse near Edmonton, I marvelled at tapas from…
Edmonton is a unique blend of indigenous and introduced species. As a sprawling city that contains eighteen-thousand acres of river-valley,…
I remember the first time I met Elba, mother of my close friend Yazmin (or Yaz as friends and family…
Craftwork, as a hobby, has seen a resurgence of popularity recently. Knitting for example, has become a social act with…
As a kid, I remember the downtown Woodward’s store as a treasure trove of sights, sounds, and smells. It was the…
