Year: 2009
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Evelyn Francis Elizabeth Gilbert(née Greg) was the wife of Charles “Charlie” Gilbert, the Alberta Federation of Labour’s first president after its merger with the Industrial Federation of Labour of Alberta in 1956. He served in that position till 1960. Her interview provides a glance at both her husband’s trade union career and the crucial role women played in a patriarchal period to allow labour-minded husbands to fulfil demanding jobs that fit uneasily with raising families. Evelyn stoically kept the home fires burning while Charlie assumed public roles. Evelyn was born in Winnipeg in 1913. An accomplished comptometer operator, she left school at 14 to work in the Hudson’s Bay Company’s statistical office. She met Charlie, a local printer who was taught Sunday school by Tommy Douglas, in church. They married in 1935 and had four children.
The Gilberts later moved to Edmonton. Charles’ AFL work allowed them to form lasting connections with labour movement giants such as fellow AFL executive Roy Jamha, and Neil Reimer, Canadian director of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW) and Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) leader from 1963 to 1968. Gilbert canvassed for her husband when he ran provincially for the NDP.
Keywords: Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP); Comptometer operator; Industrial Federation of Labour of Alberta; Neil Reimer; Printer; Roy Jamha; Tommy Douglas.
Transcript: Download (PDF)
See also: Alberta Federation of Labour; Women and Work in Alberta