Prince Rupert's rich labour history now featured as part of new Walking App from BC Labour Heritage Centre

The labour movement has long had a strong influence over the North Coast with the history of Prince Rupert, the stories of organizing, strikes, settlements and social activism passed down through the generations along the North Coast.

Now, residents and visitors can learn more about the storied tales of the labour movement in Prince Rupert through a newly designed walking tour

The tour starts outside the Highliner Inn, takes participants along the waterfront and into the heart of the city, the 1.5 kilometre  circle route will finish back on First Avenue and takes about 20 to 30 minutes at a steady pace, not including stops along the way.

Among the stops that make for the eleven points of interest the Longhsore Hall, Grant Trunk/CNR yards, Battle of Kelly's Cut, Canadian Fishing Company Cannery Fire, former site of the IWW Hall, Fishermen's Hall, Historic Japanese Cherry Trees, former site of the Westholme Opera House. former site of Islander Hall.

The Map from the new BC Labour Heritage Walking Tour of Prince Rupert
now available as an app through Google Play and Apple Store.

The Prince Rupert Walking Tour is one of a five tours hosted by BC Labour Walking Tours and the North Coast marks only the second tour outside of the Greater Vancouver area, with Victoria the other tour available.

Prince Rupert also had a place in the incubation for the walking tours, with the move towards creating the walking tours formed as part of the 2019 Future of Work conference which was held in the city in September of 2019.

The UFAWU-Unifor Facebook page made note of the new resource with a post last week, highlighting the local resources that were used to compile the entries for the tour.

Among the local contributions the design team approached the Prince Rupert City and Regional Archives, Prince Rupert Library, Museum of Northern British Columbia, UFAWU/Unifor and ILWU 505.

The Walking Tours have come together with the assistance of the BC Federation of Labour, you can learn more about the project from the BC Labour Heritage Centre website.

You can download the tour from the Google Play or Apple Store by typing in BC Labour History walking tour in the search engine and then selecting the Prince Rupert tour from the options available.

For more notes on Labour issues on the North Coast see our archive page here, items of interest related to tourism in the region can be explored here.