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.
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.
Shima Robinson has always admired her mom. Shima served as Edmonton’s 10th Poet Laureate, and performs spoken word poetry under the name Dwennimen. Her mom, Elsa Robinson, is an accomplished visual artist and former teacher. Given how hard it can be to be a parent and make a living as an artist, Shima’s always wondered: How has Elsa pulled it off? And how have Elsa’s jobs and art informed each other? In this episode, Clock In host Jay Gilday helps Shima ask her mom, and finds the admiration runs both ways.
Meet Jay Gilday: musician, postal worker, and host of Clock In – An ECAMP Podcast. What parts of ourselves do we bring to our jobs? How much does our work define us? This first episode of the show is the start of a journey to understand how Edmontonians’ work and family lives shape each other, and the world around us.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
