William Davis Miners' Memorial Day

Part of a series on the
History of Nova Scotia
Events
Port Royal established 1605
Conquest of Acadia 1710
Halifax established 1749
Bay of Fundy Campaign 1755
Fall of Louisbourg 1758
Representative Government established 1758
Burying the Hatchet ceremony 1761
First significant Scottish immigration 1773
Battle of Fort Cumberland 1776
Birchtown established 1783
Capture of USS Chesapeake 1813
Freedom of the Press 1835
First Acadian MLA elected 1837
Responsible Government established 1848
‪Chesapeake Affair 1861
Co Op Movement begins 1861
‪Anti-Confederation Party elected 1867
Saxby Gale 1869
Launch of William D. Lawrence 1873
First airplane in the British Commonwealth 1909
Halifax Explosion 1917
Nova Scotia [Women’s] Franchise Act 1918
Launch of Bluenose 1922
Coal Miners' Memorial Day 1925
Pugwash Conferences established 1957
Springhill mining disaster 1958
NS Human Rights Commission established 1967
Acadian Federation of Nova Scotia established1968
First 'Treaty Day' 1986
Westray Mine explosion 1992
First Black MLA elected 1993
Mi'kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Tripartite Forum 1997
Viola Desmond Apology 2010
Other
  • Nova Scotia portal
  • History of Canada portal

Davis Day, also known as Miners' Memorial Day (and since November 25, 2008, officially William Davis Miners' Memorial Day), is an annual day of remembrance observed on June 11 in coal mining communities in Nova Scotia, Canada whereby citizens recognize all miners who were killed on the job in the province.

Origins

Davis Day originated in memory of William Davis, a coal miner who was killed during a mining strike near the town of New Waterford. The protest was in response to a decision by the mining company, British Empire Steel and Coal Company (BESCO), to shut down the drinking water supply and electricity to the town as a result of previous escalating strikes.

Davis was shot and killed at approximately 11:00 AM on June 11, 1925 and many other miners were injured, when striking miners were charged by the company police force, whose officers fired over 300 shots. In the weeks and months following Davis' shooting, company facilities were looted and/or vandalized, despite the deployment of the provincial police force and 2,000 soldiers in what remains Canada's second-largest military deployment for an internal conflict (after the Northwest Rebellion).

Current Commemoration

In commemoration of Davis' sacrifice, the United Mine Workers of America designated the day in his honour, with miners in Nova Scotia vowing to never work on "Davis Day" ever again. Davis Day was renamed District Memorial Day in 1938 (after District 26, U.M.W.A.) and in 1970, the date was changed to the second Monday in June. In 1974 this was reverted, with the original name (Davis Day) and the date (June 11) being restored. For the remainder of the 20th century, the pledge of never working on June 11 was maintained and Davis Day was observed as a quasi-civic holiday in most mining communities. The closure of Nova Scotia's last coal mine in November 2001 by DEVCO has somewhat muted the importance of Davis Day, however it has evolved to become a remembrance day for all workers killed in mines in the province.

Davis Day is observed in some or all of the following communities where the UMWA organizes services:

In 1994, 1996 and 1999, private member's bills to officially designate June 11 as Davis (Miners Memorial) Day were introduced in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. They did not proceed past first reading. In 2008 a private member's bill to officially designate June 11 as William Davis Miners' Memorial Day was introduced and passed.

References

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/15/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.