When ghosts hovered

community and crisis in the company town of Britannia Beach, British Columbia, Canada

Katharine Rollwagen

pp. 151-180

in: Marcelo J. Borges, Susana B. Torres (eds), Company towns, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012

Abstract

Britannia Beach is not a ghost town today, but between 1957 and 1965 residents and employees of the former company-owned copper mining town, located 48 km north of Vancouver, British Columbia, had good reasons to believe it would become one. The town faced two major crises in less than a decade, triggering mine shutdowns that threw the future of the town into question. Plummeting copper prices led to a ten-month closure in 1958 that divided the town and left many employees and residents feeling helpless. Ultimately, workers were unable to resist the shutdown, and many left to find work elsewhere. The second shutdown, triggered by a labor dispute in 1964, escalated when the company threatened to close the mine. This time, workers came together to fight for their jobs.