T. Fisherman's Hall/ Gastown Actors Studio

Category: Sites from the 'Labour, Work and Working People' booklet

The Fisherman's Union formed in 1900. Aboriginal fishermen were crucial to the fishing industry in the 19th century and many worked with their wives and children on company boats. During the 1900 Fraser River strike, Natives joined with white and Japanese fisherman to gain higher prices for their catch (see sites C and H)

The hall was constructed over a church bought by the Fisherman's Federal Union in the late 1930s. It served as union headquarters for nearly half a century, acting as the heart of the provincial organization, and a strike centre and meeting hall for many causes.

A mock mosaic mural painted on the walls by David Denbigh was dismantled when the union sold the building to the Salvation Army in 1985. Its new home is in the lobby of the Vancouver Maritime Labour Centre at 1880 Triumph Street. A cedar carving of a raven was also moved from the hall to the Maritime Labour Centre.It now hangs inside the auditorium above the entrance. Aboriginal 'lifers' at the Agassiz prison facility presented the carving to past union President Homer Stevens who had for a number of years supplied fish to the prison's annual potlatch.