The Reesor Siding Tragedy: Canada’s Bloodiest Labour Conflict

Northern Ontario, January 1963. Weeks of violence and rising tension, mob mentality, and failures in leadership culminated in the Reesor Siding Tragedy: a shooting that took the lives of three strikers from the Spruce Falls Pulp and Paper Company and left eight wounded. In the political and legal aftermath, the details of the event were quickly covered up, leaving Canadians to forget about it-until now.

Set against the backdrop of the harsh environment of the northern frontier, The Reesor Siding Tragedy: Canada’s Bloodiest Labour Conflict is a thrilling and thoroughly researched account of this important event in Ontario’s history.

Charles A. Beaudoin unmasks the mishandling by the provincial government, police leadership, and union and Spruce Falls management that led to the lives of hardworking men who just wanted to earn a fair income being changed forever. As tensions and labour disputes rise again across North America, this book asks us to consider what happens when things go wrong-and how we can do better.