Interview with John Irvine

Audio recording and transcript of John Irvine's 1979 interview with Bernard McNicholl for the Coal Tyee History Project. Irvine shares details about both his and his father's experience working as coal miners in the Nanaimo area. He shares memories about living in Harewood, the Vancouver Island Coal Miners' Strike, and about how his family coped while his father was off work during the strike. He shares details about his different jobs which included delivering milk in the Nanaimo area and working as a mule skinner in various coal mines. He talk about union organizing in mines and also about safety conditions. Irvine ends the interview by reflecting on Nanaimo's social life, politics, transportation, and red-light district.