Winnipeg Free Press

4 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2019 It's been a long time coming, but an eloquent memorial to the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike is about to reach its final destination. Inspired by photographer L.B. Foote's iconic photo of a streetcar being tipped over on Bloody Saturday, June 21, 1919, the full-size replica will be unveiled 100 years to the day after the pivotal event — and in virtually the same location, on the Pantages Playhouse plaza at Main Street and Market Avenue. Conceived by filmmaker and artist Noam Gonick and late sculptor Bernie Miller, the streetcar is made from steel and glass, with windows that light up at night. "It's life-size, and it's sunken into the ground to signify that 100 years have gone by, almost like an archeological dig like when dinosaur bones stick out of the ground," says Gonick. "So the wheels aren't visible — they're underground and it's sort of on its side, tilted like the streetcar was tilted when it was lifted off its tracks." Gonick, whose first short film, 1919, looked at the strike from the perspective of a Chinese bathhouse/barbershop, has had a life-long interest in social and labour history, largely thanks to his father, Cy Gonick, a former University of Manitoba Labour and Workplace Studies professor. "The General Strike was something that was talked about around our dinner table, perhaps in a different tone than other dinner tables in Winnipeg, maybe a bit reverential," he says. It was while Gonick was in Korea on another film project that the idea for the monument started percolating. He saw public art memorials to political uprisings in that country, and began asking why Winnipeg didn't have a visible memorial to the General Strike. "I thought it was a big oversight on our part, so I'd been thinking about, in my subconscious, ever since then ways that Winnipeg could commemorate the strike a little bit better than it has, and eventually this idea just kind of came to me. I can't remember the exact 'Aha' moment but we've been working on it for about five years now." The project has been supported by the Winnipeg Arts Council's Public Art program, Heritage Canada, Winnipeg Foundation, Centre Venture, and Manitoba's labour unions, including IATSE 856 and the Amalgamated Transit Union. Miller, who died in the fall of 2017, and Gonick originally envisioned a bronze monument, but decided to use "a real workers' material," that also pays homage to the metal unionists who started the strike, in solidarity with building trades. The Building Trades Council and Metal Trades Council morphed into one organization over time. While the final touches will be added on the Pantages site, modern-day union members under the Manitoba Building Trades umbrella constructed the streetcar at DMS Industrial Constructors' Transcona shop. Gonick wanted the workers to be the focus of a documentary about the project, and Winnipeg filmmaker Erika MacPherson has been happy to oblige, finding in them a source of profound inspiration. "Building the monument itself is front and centre — the workers as artisans using their craft to weld themselves into their history," MacPherson says. "It's a complicated build — they say it's not, but I can tell it is. It's different for them and it's meaningful for them. They're not artists or theorists or philosophers articulating how they see themselves in this scenario, but I think they're quite proud of making this thing and they've put a lot of work into it. They've put in a lot of care — it's really beautiful." MacPherson's documentary, The Tipping Point, was commissioned for CBC-TV series Absolutely Manitoba, but she expects its life to extend far beyond its original platform. Narrated by Miller's widow, Dr. Jeanne Randolph, the doc blends art, living history and social commentary that resonates as much today as it did a century ago. Many of the same conditions that gave rise to the 1919 strike have a new relevance, as modern-day activists have been mobilized to call out the One Percent, expose sexual harassment in workplaces and demand a living minimum wage. "Reflecting back on the workers who are building this monument, they're … creating this legacy to their own labour movement and to the guys that built the city, but at the same time something else is bubbling underneath," MacPherson says. The documentary creates another bridge between generations, bringing together young ironworker Tristan Mason, the son of DMS Industrial Constructors owner Brad Mason, with veteran John Lee, a Chinese-Métis labour activist who was president of the local Ironworkers union in the 1960s. "He still goes to every meeting and he's always reminding the young guys, 'You didn't get what you have without any effort — don't let it go, don't lose it,' " MacPherson says. Lee and Mason tour historic strike locations together, accompanied by a "ghost choir" — the Riel Gentlemens Choir — singing solidarity songs, including a new strike song MacPherson commissioned for the film, penned by Mariachi Ghost's Jorge Requena Ramos. The location near Pantages is particularly significant. On June 21, 1919, pro-strike veterans of the First World War staged a silent parade to protest the city's ban on public demonstrations and the recent arrests of strike leaders. Thousands of onlookers were on the scene when a streetcar was driven into their midst, inciting a confrontation. The streetcar was tipped over and set ablaze, and North-West Mounted police, anti-strike soldiers and police "specials" charged the crowd, injuring dozens and fatally shooting two men, Mike Sokolowski, who died on the spot, and Steven Schezerbanowes, who died two days later. "Families were out, women were dressed in their Sunday finest, there were kids out there. There was no way that the extensive understanding amongst that crowd was that they were there to have a violent confrontation," MacPherson says. The threat of further violence effectively ended the strike, which was officially called off on June 26. While there are plaques in the tunnel beneath City Hall and in the Manitoba Legislative building, it wasn't until 2017 that a significant public memorial appeared, in the form of the 1919 Marquee at Lily Street and Market Avenue. Made from weathered steel and designed by Montayne Architecture, it was chosen in a City of Winnipeg design competition. "You think about how incredible this event was for Canadian history, not just Winnipeg history but Canadian history … the city has never really done due diligence to honouring that history," MacPherson says, adding the streetcar is the image that immediately comes to mind when we think about the strike. "That streetcar was really the catalyst for so much — it was the catalyst for the violence on Bloody Saturday, the catalyst for breaking the strike. And this is such a beautiful monument." ❚ To learn more about joining the MFL, visit mfl.ca Doowah Design Inc. Client: MFL Job no: 7140 Insertion: As per client arrangement MFL ad - WFP / 4C / 3.375" x 9" Problems or questions, call Priscilla at 204-949-7230 WE'RE STRONGER WHEN WE WORK TOGETHER The Tipping Point STREETCAR MONUMENT WILL BE LIFE-SIZE HOMAGE TO LABOUR HISTORY The monument under construction. It was inspired by L.B. Foote's iconic photograph (above). 4 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2019

• Cover