Muddied Water

She shouted from pulpits, raised her fists on the picket line and sang songs of freedom outside of prison walls the night the strike leaders were arrested. Oh ya, and she also ran the Labour Cafe, feeding thousands of striking women, in her spare time. Meet Helen Armstrong, a constant organizer who, by most accounts, was a strike leader, but underestimated by authorities because she was a woman.

Produced by Kim Kaschor and Marcy Makusa.

With files from Margaux Watt and Darren Bernhardt.

Bill Pritchard was one of the brains behind the strike. He was in Winnipeg just six days but would end up imprisoned for a year because of his "involvement" in the strike. In this episode we focus on the media and the messages of the day, from the One Big Union to the one big communist uprising feared by the governing elite. On June 10, 1919, the two sides would collide in what some history books call a "riot" and foreshadow the height of the violence to come.

Produced by Kim Kaschor and Marcy Makusa.

With files from Margaux Watt.

When the city stopped the first day of the strike, milk was not delivered to the Children's Hospital. This is how we come to know Ethel Johns, the superintendent of the Children's Hospital at the time. Her need for milk for the sick children contributed to the Strike Committee's creation of placards, which authorized certain services in the city. They read: "Permitted By Authority of Strike Committee". Ethel considered herself part of the middle class but, having come from modest roots, sympathized with strikers. Her character is tested on the night of a big storm when the Children's Hospital caught fire, and its roof was ripped off.

Produced by Kim Kaschor and Marcy Makusa.

Voice work by Nadia Kidwai.