N.S. strike that turned deadly a century ago a milestone for workers’ rights

The No. 12 Colliery at the coal mine in New Waterford, N.S. is seen in this handout photo from 1927. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University)

HALIFAX — During Nova Scotia’s storied 300-year history of coal mining, one deadly riot in 1925 proved to be pivotal for workers’ rights in Canada.

One hundred years ago today, William Davis — a 37-year-old Cape Breton coal miner and father of nine — was shot to death by a special constable hired by the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO) — a monopoly mine owner that had repeatedly turned to violence to end strikes over poor wages and unsafe working conditions.

“William Davis’s story highlights the many sacrifices that those unionized workers made when they stood up against oppression,” says Danny Cavanagh, president of the 70,000-member Nova Scotia Federation of Labour. “It serves as a reminder of a historic struggle that workers faced to secure their rights.”

Davis’s death on the outskirts of New Waterford, N.S., commemorated every year in Nova Scotia on June 11, was the painful culmination of a long series of strikes and chaotic skirmishes.

During that time, the lives of mine workers and their families were tied to the fortunes of the corporation, which supplied them with homes and offered them credit at company stores that provided food, clothing and supplies few could afford on subsistence wages. Most miners were left deeply indebted, their hopes for higher wages frequently dashed.

On July 1, 1923, a strike at the BESCO steel plant in Sydney, N.S., saw hundreds of soldiers and provincial police on horseback harassing and beating strikers and uninvolved citizens. A local publication described the resulting melee as a “reign of terror.” In Cape Breton, the event is still known as “Bloody Sunday.”

“That strike was crushed but there’s a number of those moments in the lead-up to 1925 as the pressure ratchetted up again and again,” said Lachlan MacKinnon, Canadian research chair in post-industrial communities at Cape Breton University in Sydney.

In early 1925, the miners were stunned to learn BESCO would again cut their wages. In response, District 26 of the United Mine Workers of America decided to go on strike. About 12,000 miners walked off the job.

Some unionized miners were thrown out of their company homes. And the corporation eventually withdrew credit from the company stores, making it difficult for miners to keep their families fed.

“People hunted for rabbits and deer and whatever else they could get,” MacKinnon said in an interview. “And so hunger was really setting in by the end of that winter.”

At one point, BESCO vice-president J.E. McClurg taunted the miners, saying: “We hold the cards. Things are getting better every day they stay out. Let them stay out two months or six months, it matters not. Eventually, they will have to come to us.”

The dispute came to a head when the water and electricity supplied to the miners’ homes was cut off. The miners decided to head to a company-controlled power plant and pumping station at Waterford Lake, where they planned to cut off power to the mine in New Waterford.

According to Nova Scotia’s Museum of Industry, between 700 and 3,000 miners, their relatives and neighbours walked to the plant where they were met by scores of special constables, many of them on horseback, armed with pistols and batons.

The company police opened fire as the crowd closed in. What happened next is subject to dispute.

One account suggests Davis was shot as he grabbed the reins of a constable’s horse. Another version tells of the miner being hit by random gunfire. Up to four other people were wounded. Many others were badly beaten or trampled.

“After that, the miners overwhelmed the company constables and they brought them back to a (New Waterford) park,” MacKinnon said. “There was concern, especially among the clergy, that the special constables would be lynched.”

Instead they were thrown in jail and eventually sent to Halifax.

Meanwhile, there was immediate retaliation against BESCO as all of its company stores were looted and burned. The era of the company store was over.

Davis was given the largest funeral the town of New Waterford had ever seen. And at a union convention later that year, June 11 was declared Davis Day. Miners across the region were given the day off.

“Ultimately, the British Empire Steel Corporation ... collapsed and was reformulated under new ownership,” said MacKinnon. “And the idea of using special constables was widely repudiated .... The government of Canada launched an inquiry.”

Nova Scotia’s Trade Union Act was adopted in 1937.

Bobby Burchell, a former miner and union executive, said Davis and his fellow miners made a huge contribution to the advancement of workers’ rights.

“Those guys back in the ’20s, they made a big difference in the laws, not only for Nova Scotia but ... for all of Canada,” said Burchell, who worked in the coal mine at Lingan, N.S., for six years before serving in senior union roles for the next 34 years.

“They were tired of living under company rules, with company stores and company doctors. They wanted some independence. They wanted some safety in the mines. They wanted better wages. They decided to fight for those benefits .... And laws were enacted to make the mines safer.”

Cavanagh said Davis’s sacrifice remains a key milestone in the province’s labour history.

“Reflecting on this story, we encourage people to think more critically about the ongoing challenges we face today,” he said. “In 2025, we’re still struggling to get paid sick days and making sure that workers have a living wage. Even though we’ve come a long way, there’s still much work to do around occupational health and safety laws.”

As for Burchell, his father, uncles and brothers all worked in the mines. And for the past 25 years, he has served as the master of ceremonies at the annual Davis Day commemoration at Davis Square in New Waterford.

That’s where he’ll be on Wednesday, along with some of Davis’s relatives and Bea Bruske, president of the 3.3-million-member Canadian Labour Congress.

Over the years, Davis Day has come to mean more than just a tribute to the fallen miner and his fight for fair wages. The event, also known as Miners’ Memorial Day, has become a day of remembrance for the more than 2,500 miners who have died as a result of accidents or disasters since 1838. Ceremonies will take place in many former coal mining towns across Nova Scotia, which has only one underground coal mine left at Donkin, N.S., where operations have been suspended since 2023.

Click here for a photo gallery of a ceremony for the 100th anniversary of Davis Day at Davis Square in New Waterford, N.S.

Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.