Explore every episode of the podcast Saint John: Nothing Happened Here

Two weeks before Great Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, the Saint John central business district was the site of another type of conflict, a labour struggle that pitted more than 100 members of the street railway union against the unpopular streetcar company. The three-day strike drew thousands of onlookers and supporters to the uptown area and produced the most iconic image from early 20th-century Saint John, two tram cars resting on their side in Market Square, observed by curious citizens. Despite its significance, the strike and riot are not commemorated by a plaque or found in any tourism promotion materials for the city.    

This episode begins with an overview of the history of the city’s streetcar system, which in the era before mass automobile ownership and public transit buses was an essential urban service for commuters, workers and shoppers. We next examine the labour movement in early 20th century Saint John, noting some of its victories and losses, to remind listeners that Saint John in the past was also a workers’ city and that unions were in the vanguard of social reform.

We next move on to the causes of the strike, which involved unfair labour practices by the employer, and how the union members maintained discipline and appealed to replacement workers to come over to their side, while non-union sympathizers used intimidation tactics to stop the running of the streetcars. The overturning of two streetcars on the second day of the strike led to some of the most dramatic incidents in the city’s history. These included the reading of the Riot Act; a foolhardy and dangerous cavalry charge into a crowd of several thousand men, women and children; an attack on the company’s power plant that knocked out electricity to the city for a few hours; a less successful attempt on the company’s car barns and workshop that was fended off by armed private detectives and the calling out of several hundred militia, armed with rifles, bayonets and cavalry sabres, to maintain order.

The episode concludes with a conversation with playwright and Université de Moncton literature professor Thomas Hodd, author of the play O’Brien, which is inspired by the events in Saint John in July 1914. The discussion here includes the richness of Saint John as an inspiration for dramatic work and the importance of telling New Brunswick stories. O’Brien, a production of Theatre New Brunswick, will be staged in several New Brunswick communities from March 5 to March 16, 2025. The play’s Saint John date is March 9, 2025. For more in the production, see:   https://www.tnb.nb.ca/obrien/.

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-1914-street-railway-riot

In this episode, we return to Sept. 11 1968 and the early moments of the first skyjacking in Canadian history on board Air Canada Flight 303. The flight had arrived from Moncton, New Brunswick to pick up passengers at Saint John with a final destination of Toronto. In addition to pilot, Ronald Hollett, and second officer, Ronald Bromley, the crew consisted of flight attendants Christine Waud and Beverley Atkinson. Christine and Beverley were the first people on board to realize that a hijacking was being attempted.

According to a list released to the press by Air Canada, the passengers who boarded the Vickers Viscount at Moncton were Judie Peterson of Ajax, Ontario and her Moncton-based grandparents, George and Lilian Peterson;  Mrs. B.W. Smith; restaurant owner and boxing promoter Fred Smith of Chatham and Rene Durelle, Canada light heavyweight boxing champion of Baie St. Anne. Rene was accompanied by his father and trainer, Placide, brother of the famous New Brunswick boxer Yvon Durelle, the “fighting fisherman”; Francine Levy of Toronto, and her 20-month old son Phillipe; Mrs. J.W. Sabina and Mrs. P.R. Sabina of  Winnipeg; Camille Chanard of Downsview and Gerard Hennigar of Toronto. The passengers who joined the flight at Saint John were Susan Pridham,  21-year old Gary Newman, a member of the Canadian armed forces; Berta Peacock; Mike Wennberg and “Mr. Garvey,” who had arrived by automobile from Halifax.

The episode, which includes clips from recent interviews with three passengers who boarded Flight 303 at Saint John, as well as flight attendant Christine Waud and Air Canada passenger agent Charles “Bud” Cavanagh, recounts what happened once the flight was in the air and how it was diverted from its original destination to the airport at Dorval, west of Montreal. This was after “Mr. Garvey,” whose real name was Charles L. Beasley, produced a loaded revolver and  demanded to be flown to Cuba.  Beasley explained that he was a Black Power activist who was on the run from the Central Intelligence Agency.  We next examine the peaceful outcome of the incident, the legal consequences for Charles Beasley, and its short-term impact on airport security. We conclude with a brief examination of the legal changes and security measures that eventually ended- for the most part- the Golden Age of skyjacking in Canada, but not before an incident in 1971 on another Air Canada flight led to the first successful act of aircraft piracy in Canada.  

Show Notes:   https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-first-skyjacking-in-canada

In 1968, Saint John made aviation history as the starting point for Canada’s first skyjacking: an Air Canada Vickers Viscount passenger plane headed for Toronto. This was the first of several acts of air piracy during the golden age of skyjacking in Canada. We begin our episode by discussing the golden age of commercial aviation in Canada, when passenger travel was associated with glamour, passenger comfort and convenience. Relatively expensive compared to later decades, air travel from the late 1950s to the early 1970s was not a mass phenomenon and the typical passenger was a male business executive. Female flight attendants, who tended to be young, were specially trained to look after passengers. Security was minimal; there was no screening of passengers and baggage; departure lounges were not controlled spaces and airports did not have protective fencing. Canada, with its low levels of crime, political violence and handgun ownership, seemed even less worried than the United States about airline security.             

The episode next examines the golden age of skyjacking, a global phenomenon that peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was heavily reported in the media and made an impact in pop culture in terms of humour, editorial cartoons, books and movies. Dozens of U.S.-based flights were hijacked, with many skyjackers demanding to be taken to Havana. Many on the political left regarded Cuba under the Castro regime to be a socialist haven from American capitalism, racism and imperialism. The skyjacker was often viewed as a new type of social rebel produced by the tensions of the 1960s, but not all of them were politically motivated. Some were fleeing the law, others demanded ransoms, others were thrill seekers or hungry for publicity and a few were mentally ill. Airlines and governments resisted implementing expensive and intrusive security measures until actual violence threatened aircraft, passengers and crews. Canada experienced several skyjackings, only one of which was successful.          

We move on to the background of the skyjacker of Air Canada Flight 303, a young African American from Texas, Charles L. Beasley, who had been involved with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Dallas. By the mid-1960s SNCC, which had taken part in the freedom struggles in the U.S. South, was morphing into an all-Black organization tied to the anti-Vietnam War and Black Power movements. Beasley’s name appeared in secret files of the FBI, which was monitoring political activities by Black activists. According to a later interview, Beasley became radicalized after the assassination of Civil Rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968. Whatever the reason, he took part in an armed bank robbery in the small Texas community of Ladonia in August of 1968 with at least two other men but escaped arrest. Wanted by the FBI, he fled to Canada. The episode ends with Mark and Greg speculating why and how Beasley ended up in Canada, and more specifically, Halifax, Nova Scotia, which he left in the early hours of Sept. 11, 1968, carrying an .22 calibre revolver and heading for the Saint John airport.    

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-first-skyjacking-in-canada

In Saint John, as in other cities, residents’ sense of geography is based on streets and neighbourhoods, but few stop to ponder why streets were given certain names or, in some cases, re-named. It turns out that many of the names of the city’s thoroughfares are a direct link to the colonial past and reflect the priorities of Saint John’s elite, as well as reflecting the power structure at the time. Simply put, the names of streets, parks and public buildings can tell us much about who dominated a community in the past and who was excluded.    

Saint John, located on unceded Wolastoqey land at the mouth of a majestic river whose European name had been bestowed by French explorers and traders in the early 1600s, was incorporated as a city in 1785 in the new British colony of New Brunswick.  Most of the first inhabitants were American-born Loyalists, mainly from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, who had been evacuated from New York City in 1783. That year, Paul Bedell prepared a town plan for the new community, which initially was named Parr Town after the governor of Nova Scotia.   Bedell’s plan, which included a number of squares or parks, superimposed a grid pattern on Saint John central peninsula south of Union Street.  

In this episode, we explore street naming in the Loyalist era (1783 to 1815) as well as the post Napoleonic Wars era when the British Empire was expanding and immigrants from England, Scotland and Ireland were settling in New Brunswick in increased numbers.  In addition to the British monarchy,  Britain’s involvement in the American Revolutionary War and the resulting Loyalist migrations inspired most of the first street names in a city founded by Loyalists.  As new streets were laid out, new names had to be found. In 1889, the adjacent town of Portland, now known as the North end, amalgamated with Saint John. Using examples from the city’s South and North ends, as well the West side (across the harbour), we explain how a number of street names honoured controversial British political, military, naval and diplomatic leaders, some of whom opposed the abolition of slavery. We end with a brief discussion of the issue of changing street names and who should be recognized by new street names in the future.      

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-naming-the-streets

In this last episode of 2024, we explore how Christmas was celebrated in Saint John in during the Victorian era (1837-1901). In this episode, we are honoured to include a discussion with Saint John’s “Mr. Christmas,” local author David Goss, who has published more than twenty books on Saint John and New Brunswick history.

As residents of a British colony, Saint Johners avidly followed trends from the ‘Mother county’, but because of their Loyalist roots and economic, social and cultural connections with the United States, celebrations in the city were also influenced by trends south of the border.  Printed material- books, magazines and newspapers- shaped a transatlantic culture of Christmas in the early to mid-Victorian era that emphasized December 25, Christmas Day, as a day for giving gifts and feasting. In the pre-Victorian era, some people exchanged presents as early as December 6; the days after Christmas was for donating to charity or servants and a final party often was held on January 6, the Twelfth Night.

The new approach to Christmas also emphasized domesticity- the family together at home- and was increasingly child centred. Although many people attended religious services on Christmas Day, popular culture, notably the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas (Twas the Night before Christmas) by American Clement Clarke Moore in 1823 and Charles Dicken’s instant class A Christmas Carol (1842), stressed secular themes of childhood innocence, merrymaking, and benevolence.  In terms of decorations and rituals, fashion also played a role with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert helping to popularize Christmas trees in the home as early as the late 1840s.  Middle-class people on both sides of the Atlantic also adopted or fine tuned other seasonal activities: sending Christmas cards, playing sometimes dangerous parlour games, feasting and in some cases imbibing alcohol to excess, singing Christmas carols (many of which were composed during the 19th century) and taking part in outdoor activities.   

Our guest David Goss recalls how Santa Claus was more for children and parents until a department store in the 1880s featured him in its window, causing a sensation. Christmas trees, decorated with burning candles, which could lead to house fires, caught on gradually in Saint John, but commercialization of Christmas was evident early on as merchants realized that there was a market for children’s toys. Unlike more recent times when many Canadians get into the Christmas spirit in early December or even in November, people in Saint John in the 19th century tended to wait until close to December 25 to decorate their houses, shop for presents and special foods and put up Christmas trees. Although there was social pressure to celebrate Christmas in style, many families in a city marked by poverty struggled to match the Victorian middle-class ideal. Despite this, the holiday was no doubt valued by the community.         

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-victorian-christmases

This episode examines Arnold’s attempts to set up a business empire in the pioneer colony of New Brunswick, based in the struggling and divided Loyalist town of Saint John from 1785 to 1791. As one of the few prominent residents with money, he bought and sold land, leased or purchased sailing vessels and established trading establishments in Saint John, Fredericton and on Campobello Island. He also advanced credit to customers and suppliers and became a partner with Munson Hayt, a Loyalist who had served in the Prince of Wales Regiment. 

Part 2 also examines Arnold’s personal and social life while he resided in Saint John, where he was joined by his wife and small children. The poverty and lack of currency in the fledgling colony led to Arnold resorting to the courts to recover funds from his many debtors-who included members of the elite. Following a fire that destroyed his warehouse and its contents, Arnold’s ill-fated partnership with Hayt led to New Brunswick’s first slander trial in 1791. Following an examination of whether a riot outside Arnold’s King Street residence after the slander trial actually took place, the episode concludes by looking at Benedict Arnold’s legacy in Saint John.

 Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-benedict-arnold

Little remains to show that the controversial American military leader, Benedict Arnold (1741-1801), lived in Saint John for several years after the American Revolution, except for a plaque on a building in the uptown area of the city. His name became synonymous with treason because of his involvement in an unsuccessful plot to turn over the Continental army’s fortifications at West Point on the Hudson River to the British in 1780, and his later appointment as an officer in the British army. In that capacity, he led successful expeditions against Charleton, South Carolina and New London, Connecticut before leaving American for London. In addition to remaining the worst example of a traitor in American history for United States citizens, Arnold continues to fascinate historians and recently was portrayed in the AMC historical drama Turn, a fictional account of espionage during the American War of Independence.   

In this episode, we discuss how historians have portrayed Benedict Arnold and how his early life may have shaped his character and approach to life, which combined a strong sense of personal honour, self-confidence, stubbornness and bravery with a lack of diplomacy and an inability to appreciate politics. The Connecticut-born entrepreneur was an early convert to the protests that led the Thirteen colonies to resist British economic policies in the 1760s and 1770s and eventually take up arms in the quest for independence. Despite only limited militia experience, Arnold emerged as a high-profile combat leader with superb tactical and strategic sense. His role in the capture of Ticonderoga, the invasion of Quebec and the retreat from Quebec early in the war placed him in the centre of the action. His leadership of a small flotilla on Lake Champlain in 1776 was instrumental in delaying a British counter offensive and his aggressive role in the Saratoga campaign the following year not only helped destroy that counter offensive, but also contributed to France joining the war as an ally of the American Patriots. Despite his considerable military contributions, Arnold had enemies in Congress and the Continental army. He was also suffering from battlefield wounds and financial problems. His appointment as military governor of Philadelphia led to his marriage to 18-year-old Peggy Shippen and sent in motion his positive response to British overtures to switch sides. We conclude this Part by exploring why Arnold chose to betray the cause of America independence and what resulted from this fateful decision.      

Show Notes:   https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-benedict-arnold    

In this episode, Mark and Greg have a conversation with Saint John author, Heather McBriarty, on underaged soldiers in the First World War. As in other cities in Canada , Saint John was swept by a wave of patriotism that encouraged many young men to volunteer for the Canadian Expeditionary Force.  Much of this patriotism was channeled into support for Great Britain, which most Canadians viewed as the ‘mother country’. More than 600,000 Canadians served in the army, most of whom were posted overseas. Until conscription was introduced late in the war, the Canadian military depended on volunteers and by 1916 these were in short supply. 

We start with a tragic incident that underscored the dangers of giving children uniforms, military training and loaded weapons.  From there we examine early 20th century attitudes towards childhood, the reasons why the military authorities permitted under-age volunteers, and the problems these youth created within the ranks. Like a number of their older comrades, many child soldiers were physically unfit for duty. In theory, recruits under 18 needed the permission of parents to volunteer; but this rule was often evaded, and proper documentation of age was not always provided- or demanded.  Later in the war, the minimum volunteering age was raised to 19-up until this point those under 19 were not supposed be sent to trenches, but 16, 17 and 18 year olds and younger boys-did see action. 

Roughly 2,000 child soldiers (meaning under 19) died during the war, with a fatality rate of 10% for those who served overseas. Other came back wounded, disabled or emotionally scarred.     

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-boy-soldiers-of-the-first-world-war

In early Saint John, most years saw an equal number of Protestants and Catholics coming to the city. In the second half of the 1840s, increasing numbers of Catholic immigrants, fleeing the Famine in Ireland, arrived in distress. During ‘Black 47,’ more than 100 vessels brought Irish emigrants to New Brunswick.  A record number died at sea enroute to Saint John, in quarantine on Partridge Island, in the alms house, or at an emigrant hospital/sheds on shore. Children who lost one or both parents were placed in a temporary emigrant orphan asylum,

We begin with a discussion of the failure of the potato crop, a staple food for much of Ireland’s population, and its impact on Ireland starting in 1845.  A demographic disaster was produced through the combination of contagious diseases, such as typhoid, typhus and dysentery, evictions of tenant farmers by landlords, and mismanagement and neglect by the British government and local authorities. Despite charitable donations from around the world, the provision of some aid, and the actions of some sympathetic landlords, one third of Ireland’s population disappeared within a few short years. Half died, and the other half emigrated to places like the United States and Canada. Most of the those who perished, and those who managed to escape, were Roman Catholic. An Gorta Mór (the Great Famine) produced massive trauma, spurred Irish nationalism and contributed to the ongoing diaspora of the Irish people.   

We then examine the immediate impact of the Famine emigration of 1847 on Saint John and area during a period of local economic weakness, outmigration, on-going ethnic and sectarian conflict and animosity against Irish Catholic immigrants. Positive and humanitarian responses to the crisis included medical treatment and the provision of charity; but there were also negative, nativist reactions. We end by discussing the impacts of ‘Black 47’ on Saint John and how it cemented Partridge Island as a place of suffering and tragic loss.    

This episode examines one of the darker chapters in the history of New Brunswick and what would become Canada - social violence in Saint John in 1849 that took up to a dozen lives. Join us to hear about what happened on July 12, 1849, when several hundred Orangemen from Saint John, Portland, Carleton and as far away as Woodstock, began to parade towards the Irish Catholic immigrant ghetto of York Point. The marchers, led by a member representing their hero, King William of Orange riding on a horse, were determined to humiliate their enemies, who they regarded as undesirable aliens. The men, women and even the children of York Point were equally determined to keep the intruders off “their ground.”       

Show Notes:  https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-york-point-riot-of-1849

In the summer of 1854, Saint John and the neighbouring town of Portland were hit by cholera, which killed between 1100 and 1500 people. The highest death tolls were among poor and immigrant populations who lived in low-lying tenement districts with poor drainage, limited access to clean drinking water, and primitive methods for disposing of human waste. Although the elderly and very young of the working class were most vulnerable, the disease also affected citizens living in middle class and elite city blocks and even those in rural areas surrounding the city.

                In this episode, Mark and Greg discuss how cholera was spread, its effects on those it infected, and how competing theories at the time made things worse.   

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-cholera-epidemic-of-1854-1

In our opening podcast episode, we examine the dramatic 1785 provincial election in Saint John, the colony’s largest settlement, which was punctuated by a riot. This contested election, the first in the colony, revealed simmering tensions among the Loyalist migrants that had been imported from New York. 

Show Notes: https://www.nothinghappenedhere.ca/post/except-for-the-1785-election-riot-1

Join us on September 17, 2024 for the first episode of Saint John - Nothing Happened Here.

Many people think that nothing significant ever really happened in Saint John, New Brunswick. This history podcast challenges those thoughts by uncovering little known tales from the city and providing fresh perspectives on the people, places and events of the past.

Mark Allan Greene is a history enthusiast who loves a good story. Greg Marquis is an academic historian who uncovers the past. Together, they bring you Saint John - Nothing Happened Here.