Albert Goodwin was born in Teesdale, England on May 10, 1887. He is a lesser known hero of the Labour Movement in Canada, and this is a shame. For Albert "Ginger" Goodwin is a true martyr for labour rights, and a true example of how viciously the ruling class dealt (and still deals) with those who wish to better the lives of the many at the cost of the rich elite.
At about 15 years of age, Goodwin began working in a coal mine in Yorkshire. But young Albert Goodwin yearned for a better life. He ended up in Cape Breton, where he worked in another coal mine. In 1909 the miners went on strike. Since the workers had no means of protection from being treated as cattle by the employers, they were all fired and blacklisted.
Knowing that he would not get a job in that area again since his involvement with the strike, Goodwin moved to Cumberland, a small town on Vancouver Island. There he worked in a coal mine yet again and was heavily active in strikes from 1912-1914. The strikes were yet again crushed, strikes were still illegal in Canada at this time, and could be easily swept aside by any means necessary. Workers rights barely existed at all. Goodwin was once again blacklisted for his subversive activites.
He went on to work briefly at jobs in Merrit and Fernie. In 1916 he started work in a smelter in Trail and was elected secretary to the local Vice-President of the Labour Federation. In 1917 he led another failed strike, this time for the implementation of an 8 hour work day. He also opposed World War One. He managed to get away with not being conscripted thus far due to his lung condition. But after the strike in 1917 his status for conscription was mysteriously changed from "unfit" to "fit for battle." Considering his lung condition and the rate at which troops being sent to the front were dying, this was no less that a sentence to death.
Goodwin quickly went into hiding in the forest around Cumberland. He managed to evade authorities with the help of the local people until July 17, 1918. At this time he was finally hunted down by the Mounties, taken into the bush and shot to death. His funeral on August second was marked by British Columbia's first General Strike. He remains buried in Cumberland cemetery to this day. A stretch of highway nearby has been named "Goodwin way" There has been talk of changing the name of the stretch, but it has been met with stiff opposition from the locals.