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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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  • Four people posing for a photo on the side of a two lane paved bridge on a sunny day, with heavily forested mountains behind them.

    Bridging Alberta: Dilip Dasmohapatra’s YEG Origin Story

    Soni Dasmohapatra

    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.

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  • Margaret Littlewood, wearing aviation gear, steps out of a small prop plane. She is looking at the camera and grasping the hand of an air force officer dressed in a military coat and hat and wearing thick gloves.

    “Queen of the Link”: Margaret Littlewood, Canada’s Only Woman Flight Instructor during WWII

    Bruce Cinnamon

    In 1943, skilled pilot Margaret Littlewood, rejected by the RCAF for being a woman, became the only woman Link Trainer instructor in Canada. Hired by aviation pioneer Wop May at Edmonton’s Air Observer School, she trained 150 pilots, overcame sexism, and later earned Canada’s highest pilot licence—helping pave the way for future women in aviation.

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  • Four women sit at workstations in an office setting entering data on key punch machines. One worker, bent forward, appears to be resting with her head in her hand.

    Alberta’s Government, the Mainframe Computer, and Women’s Work

    Cathy Roy

    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.

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  • A young white man, Private Jim Stone, wearing a Canadian military uniform from the early 1930s.

    James “Big Jim” Stone, The People’s Commander

    Tiffany Chan

    James “Big Jim” Stone, a decorated WWII veteran, led the Second Battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in the Korean War. His firm leadership, tactical brilliance, and battlefield courage culminated in a pivotal victory at Kapyong. Honoured posthumously as a Korean War hero, Stone’s legacy rests on resilience, strategy, and the respect of the soldiers he commanded.

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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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  • Hot Wheelz lip syncs on stage in a seven-pointed mask with many eyes, which obscures their own eyes.

    Hot Wheelz: Raising a Middle Finger and Building World Class, Accessible Drag

    Kels Valenzuela Delamarter

    Hot Wheelz is a drag artist and self-described “disabled genderqueer monster.” They are widely celebrated as one of the first ambulatory wheelchair users to join the Edmonton drag scene. In this addition to ECAMP’s labour history series, author Kels Valenzuela Delamarter tells the story of their rise, deliciously macabre costuming, and goal “to turn the corporate ladder into a ramp.”

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  • Tessie Oliva, a young Filipina woman, pictured in a nursing school graduation photo wearing a 1960s white nursing uniform.

    “She Can Move Mountains”: Tessie Oliva’s Impact on the Nursing Sector in Edmonton

    Giselle General

    In 2020, Giselle General discovered a museum exhibit honouring Tessie Oliva, a pioneering Filipino-Canadian nurse who supported immigrant nurses in Alberta. Oliva’s decades of work included founding the Filipino Nurses Association in Alberta, advocating for Internationally Educated Nurses, organizing large-scale recruitment from the Philippines, and fighting for permanent residency for newcomers—cementing her legacy in Edmonton’s healthcare and immigrant communities.

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  • Senior portrait of a young white woman with dark hair wearing a high-collared dress. Text read “Miss G. Misener.” It is the senior photo of Geneva Misener from Queen’s University.

    “More than a prize scholar or bookworm”: The Leadership and Legacy of Dr. Geneva Misener

    Pamela Young

    Geneva Misener, the University of Alberta’s first woman professor, was a pioneering Classicist and tireless advocate for women’s rights. Born in 1877, she earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, co-founded the Canadian Federation of University Women, and promoted women’s education, suffrage, and sport. Though underrecognized today, her enduring legacy reminds us that individual resolve can drive lasting social change.

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  • Sustained Opposition to Black Immigration

    Dr. Jennifer Kelly

    Newspapers frequently reported negatively on the arrivals of Black immigrants from the United States, including the Edmonton Bulletin, Edmonton Journal, and Calgary Eye Opener. The first group of Black peoples to arrive were noted rather disparagingly by one newspaper, “It was in 1908 that the first party arrived from the cotton fields of Oklahoma and settled along the Grand Trunk Pacific, the largest settlement being at Chip Lake.”

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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 photograph of Robert Goulet in a suit with slicked-back hair speaking to Laura Lindsay, who is elegantly dressed in front of a fireplace.

    Laura Lindsay, First Lady of Daytime TV in Alberta from 1955-68

    Katherine Koller

    When Sunwapta Broadcasting first produced local television in Edmonton in 1954, CFRN aimed daytime programs at the homemaker audience. Laura Banks was the popular face of this programming from 1955-1968, under the stage name Laura Lindsay. Decades after her death, she remains well-loved by women who tuned in for her sewing and cooking demonstrations and celebrity interviews.

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