72nd Regiment, Seaforth Highlanders of Canada engaged in Aid to Civil Powers for the Coal Miners' Strike on Vancouver Island, Nanaimo,1913 - 1914. Caption on page: "Echo Bay" Seaforth soldiers in one piece bathing suits on rocky beach at Echo Bay, during Miner's Strike, 1913-1914. They were possibly on R & R. The soldier at left is wearing a glengarry. Echo Bay is a settlement on the west side of Gilford Island in the Broughton Archipelago approximately 48 km northeast of Port McNeill. The Vancouver Island Coal Strike began on 16 Sept. 1912 when miners at Cumberland declared a "holiday" to protest the firing of Oscar Mottishaw. Canadian Collieries locked them out and hired Chinese and strike breakers. The issues were safety (gas explosions had killed hundreds) and union recognition. Other employers followed the pattern in resisting any union. By spring 1913, 3,500 miners from Vancouver Island were off work with the United Mine Workers of America providing leadership and strike pay. In the summer of 1912, the Vancouver and Nanaimo Coal Co., settled with its employees, but not before rioting, arsons and "shoot-outs" had broken out in all the coal towns. Peace was restored when the BC government sent in 1,000 militiamen. The withdrawal of strike pay in the summer of 1914 and the beginning of WW I ended the confrontation. By then the mines were running at almost pre-strike capacity using newly hired labour.