Chapter 12 - Activist Awakenings

In December 1932, Dad provides another vivid image of his setting in the Fraser Valley. I’m sure it is Mount Baker he’s describing below when he mentions the “unreal-in-effect” mountain peaks to the south and east.

“For several days now we have had a very cold spell, with a strong east wind that almost defies one to keep a house warm. The river below is frozen quite a distance from the banks and in the center the ice floes move sluggishly to the sea. On clear days we see from the porch that the mountains on Vancouver Island, some fifty miles off to the west, are already snow clad, while the nearer mountains to the south and east have for some time thrust their white, unreal-in-effect, peaks into the ever-changing background.”

As the Depression and his own poor health dragged on, Dad was becoming increasingly more active in the rising Canadian socialist movement.

 “I am interested in Hugh’s (my father’s older brother) political aspirations, being myself as active as my health permits in the Socialist Party of Canada. I can see a great demand for men of honesty and intelligence in this movement which is fast gaining hold of even an Imperialistic colony like Canada. Already I have spoken before the local branch and I go as a delegate to a Provincial meeting in a week’s time.”

In a newspaper clipping dated June 1933, it appears that he had become the Vice-President of the Mission BC branch of the Socialist Party of Canada. By August of 1933, the Maple Ridge Gazette identified him as the President of the CCF (Co-operative Commonwealth Federation) Council for the Dewdney riding and I remember him saying that he chaired one of Tommy Douglas’s very early meetings.

However, as a single father, caring for a two year old was proving to be more and more difficult.
“As things stand now it would appear that the most sensible thing for us to do would be to replace this property on the market, even at a considerable loss, as my original share in the place (despite the protests of Mrs. Pomeroy) will gradually continue to dwindle in the face of the upkeep of a sick man and a growing child. If I was able to realize anything on the forced sale of this place, probably it would be advisable to get someone to look after Joan while I went to a sanatorium for a while.

"I want to thank you for the letters you have found time to send me and the good feeling that lies behind them. Especially I do appreciate your last letter in which you state that you would like Joan and myself to be there is Scotland under your care. If anything should happen to me, I would like to think of Joan being brought up in Scotland, that is if I had time to think while the ‘anything’ was happening. As for myself, even in Scotland, the best revolutionary country I know of, I am afraid I would be too much of a rebel. If, however, my fate is not already entered in the debit column of the book of destiny, it may yet be my lot to revisit the scenes of my childhood.”