Skip to main content
Never Forgotten / On To Ottawa Trek film image; person holding a sledgehammer against a red background

Never Forgotten / On To Ottawa Trek

This event has passed

June 3, 1935 (90 years ago today) striking labourers departed Vancouver for Ottawa, to protest conditions in work camps set up at the height of the Great Depression for single, unemployed men. The beneficiaries of the Unemployment Relief Scheme worked on road construction and other physically-demanding projects, usually in harsh, remote environments, in exchange for room-and-board and 20 cents a day.

In 1935, about 1500 men from various British Columbia camps went on strike in demand for better working conditions. After a few weeks of protests, and encouraged by many expressions of support from the community, they decided to go to Ottawa to lay their demands before the Prime Minister. It was the beginning of the On-to-Ottawa Trek, a journey that has served as a source of inspiration to the workers’ movement in Canada for more than eight decades.

Featuring hundreds of archival photographs and extracts from multiple historical sources, Never Forgotten / On to Ottawa Trek brings a fascinating chapter of BC and Canadian history back to life.

Filmmaker Juan Andrés Bello will be in attendance and joined in conversation afterwards by representatives from the BC labour sector.

The production was supported by the Workers’ History Museum, Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CPUW), BC Labour Heritage Centre, the London Arts Council and Library and Archives Canada (DigiLab). This event is supported by UWOFA–University of Western Ontario Faculty Association.

Director

J.A. Bello

Featuring

Amanda Barker, Tod Fennell, John Fleming, David Huband, Braden Wright, Lou Lambert

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2025

Language

English

19+
52 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Screenwriter

J.A. Bello

Editor

Renee Bennett

Original Music

Daniel Seguin

Also Playing

A Streetcar Named Desire

Dir. Elia Kazan
122 min

"I don't want realism. I want magic!" declares Blanche du Bois, the tragic heroine who meets her nemesis in her sister's husband, Stanley Kowalski, in Tennessee Williams' great play. Brando's performance as Stanley is a turning point in American acting.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
The Other
The Other film image; two people looking out at sandy dunes

The Other

Dir. Joy Sela
100 min

Filmed from 2017-2024, including post October 7 and during the subsequent war, Joy Sela's documentary is an inspiring testament to how human beings -- even in the worst circumstances -- can transcend difference to forge connection and understanding.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
#Skoden
#Skoden film image; close on hand holding a tiny photo of a boy

#Skoden

Dir. Damien Eagle Bear
75 min

Pernell Bad Arm was a man, and much more than the provocative meme (captioned #Skoden: Let's go then) which went viral about a decade ago. Damien Eagle Bear gives us a warm and respectful portrait of the man he knew.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

On the Waterfront

Dir. Elia Kazan
108 min

Marlon Brando's definitive performance as Terry Malloy, a New York dockworker (and once a promising boxer) who loses faith in his union and his smarter but corrupt older brother Charlie (Rod Steiger) after a whistleblower is murdered.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre