This week Bill finally stops at a roadside monument he should have long ago
Labour Day has just passed; it is an important statutory holiday that means more than the back-to-school transition and the pending end of summer.
Always on the way to somewhere else on the back roads I am ashamed to say, over decades, I have passed by this roadside monument far too many times. That misplaced streak ended recently. At this location Highway 11 North is straight as an arrow. You can see the overgrown derelict farmsteads of “broken promises and shattered dreams,” along the way.
From a distance, at 100 kph you see the 10 m high white monument, set back on the south side of the railway line, it contrasts the green grove of conifers. And those trees are so important to this story.
Just two kilometres to the west on the highway there has always been that green sign there with the white letters – Chemin – Reesor – Road. The name symbolizes more than what most of us know. It remains Canada’s bloodiest labour conflict. Very few people know of the Reesor Siding incident. There are two songs written about this though.
For the rest of this article: https://www.timminstoday.com/column/back-roads-bill/back-roads-bill-roadside-labour-monument-remembers-tragedy-9487819