Sawmill workers

Transcription of an interview with Ang Singh Sidhu in which he discusses his immigration status, the various sawmills he was employed at, and the diversity of employees at the sawmills. Sidhu also discusses the food he ate at the cookhouses and working in the boom as a logger in the sawmills. He further discusses his marriage to wife, his children and personal education history.

Ang Singh Sidhu discusses his personal background, immigration to Canada, his work in various sawmills in Canada and the food he was given. He also discusses his life after marriage and move to Victoria. Sidhu's wages per hour and length of shifts is also discussed.

Audio interview with Amarjit Singh Heer conducted by SB. Amarjit Singh Heer is a Canadian citizen who came to Canada in 1972. He began his first job at a mill near Williams lake. He also discusses his immigration to Canada, his immigration status, his personal history, and his experience working in various positions at sawmills such as Nanoose Forest Products, Nanaimo Forest Products and Western Forest Products. He also discusses how he was paid low wages and how it was difficult to gain seniority at the sawmills. Heer's encounters with racism and discrimination is also discussed.

Transcription of interview with Amarjit Singh Heer discussing his immigration to Canada, his immigration status, his personal history, and his experience working in various positions at sawmills such as Nanoose Forest Products, Nanaimo Forest Products and Western Forest Products. He also discusses how he was paid low wages and how it was difficult to gain seniority at the sawmills. Heer also mentions his encounters with racism and discrimination in Canada.

Amarjit Singh Heer's narrative discusses his immigration to Canada from Punjab, India. Heer became a Canadian citizen shortly after arriving in Canada and started working in sawmills. He worked in various sawmills in British Columbia including William's Lake, Merritt, Duncan, Nanaimo, Cowichan Bay and in Chemainus. Heer also had a variety of roles in the sawmills such as the green chain position, a plainer shift, a graveyard planer shift, and a foreman. Heer concludes by discussing how during his time in Canada, he commonly faced discrimination and racism from the European White settler community.

In a brick building at an unidentified sawmill in China, Herb Doman and another businessmen examine a number of thin strips of roughly-cut wood placed on a small wheeled cart. Herb's face is cut off by the upper edge of the photograph. Three more businessmen stand behind them. A wagon laden with long, straight wooden boards sits further back in the room. Smaller boards sit piled near the periphery of the room. The floor is covered in wood shavings. A crowd of onlookers stands at the edge of the room, gathered near a garage door leading outside. Another building and a short tree can be seen in the background.

Roughly-cut logs of various lengths sit piled in a dusty lumber yard at an unidentified sawmill in China. A brick is leaned against one pile to keep it from falling over. Dense trees and low buildings under a clear sky can be seen in the background.

Five workmen stand at various stations in an unidentified sawmill in China. An unidentified machine stands in the middle of the room. Various materials are arranged on wheeled carts and low platforms before the machine, including sheets of thin wooden laminate, rectangular plastic bags, and panes of reflective glass. Empty tables stand at the rear of the room to the right of the machine. Faint sunlight shines in through windows on the rear and left walls.

In a brick building at an unidentified sawmill in China, Herb Doman converses with three other businessmen standing near a wagon laden with long, straight wooden boards. Herb and the businessman to his right are both gesturing at something off-camera. The floor is covered in wood shavings. A crowd of onlookers stands at the edge of the room, gathered near a garage door leading outside. Another building and a short tree can be seen in the background.

In an unidentified sawmill in China, a worker holds a handful of wooden floor tiles above a larger stack of tiles while Herb Doman looks on. Another worker looks on from across the room. Pipes, boilers, switchboards and valves can be seen in the background. Faint sunlight shines in through windows on the rear wall.