Reesor Siding Strike of 1963

The Reesor Siding strike of 1963 was one of the defining labour conflicts in Canadian history, resulting in the shooting of 11 union members, three of whom were killed. The violent confrontation occurred near the small Francophone hamlet of Reesor Siding (a ghost town today), that is located just west of Opasatika, approximately halfway between Kapuskasing and Hearst in Northern Ontario.

Fifteen hundred members of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local 2995 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, walked out on strike on January 14, 1963, effectively halting operations at the Spruce Falls Power and Paper Company which relied on their logs for wood pulp. Among the complaints of the woodcutters were a proposed wage freeze and a proposal by the company that would have seen the woodcutters working seven days a week over the next two months to meet quota.

Independent local farmer-settlers were also established suppliers of pulp wood to the mill, supplying approximately 25% of the company's annual needs. When asked to halt their own sales to put further pressure on the mill however, the farmers refused. Combined with a separate strike at The New York Times, one of the chief consumers of the mill's pulp, this weakened the bargaining position of the woodcutters. Union members began sabotaging the farmers' stacked piles of lumber, making it unsaleable. The farmers' refusal to support the strike, and the tactics of the strikers soured relationships with the community.

The situation deteriorated to the point that on January 23, the mayor of Kapuskasing, Norman Grant, was quoted in The Globe and Mail saying, "These settlers are getting so desperate they are going to go into the bush with guns and shoot anyone who tries to interfere with their cutting."

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