Cape Breton miners angry businesses not staying closed for Davis Day
For more than 30 years, Sheldon Gouthro has worked as a coal miner underground.
Gouthro has lost colleagues on the job and Friday, he will take time to remember them, like he does every June 11.
Thursday, he was angry some businesses will not be doing the same.
"I'm devastated and I'm saddened by it because I think it's a slap in the face actually," said Gouthro.
Davis Day – or Miners Memorial Day -- is held to reflect on the sacrifices made by William Davis.
The 37-year-old father of nine was shot and killed by coal company police during a 1925 miners' strike in New Waterford.
Miners vowed to never work again on June 11. Many businesses followed suit – and stayed closed.
"In all of the mining towns that's how we all grew up was through miners supporting the businesses," said Gouthro.
"It seems like the end of an era," said Mary Pat Mombourquette, the executive director of the Cape Breton Miners Museum.
"This town was built on those men who went underground and dug coal for a living. Some of those men lost their lives, lost their limbs," says Mombourquette. "It's time to take a minute and think about them and thank them because we got the life we have because of them."
Students in former coal mining towns on the Island will only attend morning classes tomorrow out of respect for miners.
Both Mary Pat Mombourquette and Sheldon Gouthro are hoping businesses will also show respect and stay closed.
"I'd say close and think back to who supported you over the years here," said Gouthro.
The ceremony – which is held every year – has been cancelled this year because of the pandemic.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.