A new book explores the life and scandal of a controversial pioneer in Canada’s mining industry
Viola MacMillan’s life, shaped by remarkable accomplishments and the gripping Windfall scandal that took place in the 1960s, forms the heart of Toronto-based author Tim Falconer’s latest book, Windfall: Viola MacMillan and Her Notorious Mining Scandal.
Born in 1903 in Dee Bank, Ontario, MacMillan left school at the age of 12 to support her impoverished family, working as a cleaner with her mother. After the First World War, MacMillan returned to school and later moved to Windsor, Ontario, where she saved up money for business college by working as a telephone operator and live-in maid. After graduating, she was hired as a stenographer.
Falconer wrote that MacMillan’s interest in mining was sparked by her brother’s stories of working in a mine in Cobalt, Ontario. During a 1922 visit to a silver mine in the area, the mine captain told MacMillan that it was bad luck for women to enter underground sites. Undeterred, she dressed in mining overalls and a man’s cap and persuaded him to allow her into the mine.
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