Qualla: Reesor Siding Strike of 1963

Reesor Siding Strike of 1963: Introduction

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit P199, Public domain. The hamlet of Reesor Siding no longer exists. It is a ghost town today, a clearing in the boreal forest just west of Opasatika, roughly halfway between Kapuskasing and Hearst in Northern Ontario. But in the winter of 1963, this tiny Francophone settlement became the site of one of Canada's bloodiest labour confrontations, a midnight shooting that killed three men, wounded eight others, and left scars on Northern Ontario communities that have never fully healed.

Image: P199 | Public domain

Reesor Siding Strike of 1963: Woodcutters in the Cold

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit P199, CC BY-SA 3.0. On January 14, 1963, fifteen hundred members of the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, Local 2995 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, walked off the job. Their employer, the Spruce Falls Power and Paper Company, wanted a wage freeze and proposed that wo...

Image: P199 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Reesor Siding Strike of 1963: A Chain Across the Tracks

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit P199, CC BY-SA 3.0. Union members began sabotaging the farmers' stacked lumber piles, rendering the wood unsaleable. On January 23, the mayor of Kapuskasing, Norman Grant, told The Globe and Mail that the farmers were growing desperate enough to go into the bush with guns. The warning proved grimly ...

Image: P199 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Reesor Siding Strike of 1963: Three Men Dead Before Dawn

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit P199, CC BY-SA 3.0. Eleven union members were hit. Fernand Drouin was killed. Brothers Irenee and Joseph Fortier were killed beside him. Eight others fell wounded: Harry Bernard, Ovila Bernard, Joseph Boily, Alex Hachey, Albert Martel, Joseph Mercier, Leo Ouimette, and Daniel Tremblay. The shooting ...

Image: P199 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Reesor Siding Strike of 1963: Justice Denied

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit P199, CC BY-SA 3.0. All twenty farmers present that night were charged. Police confiscated five .22 rifles, three 12-gauge shotguns, two .30-30 rifles, two Lee-Enfield rifles, a .30-06 rifle, and a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver. But it was the union members who bore the heavier legal burden. A total o...

Image: P199 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Reesor Siding Strike of 1963: A Monument in the Bush

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit P199, CC BY-SA 3.0. The union erected a memorial to the dead and injured workers at the site, drawing public outcry. The Globe and Mail reported threats to destroy the monument. The Province of Ontario later installed its own historical plaque. In 1969, Stompin' Tom Connors included the Reesor shoot...

Image: P199 | CC BY-SA 3.0