Never say Neve r Two ex-CN rail employees and their journeys to literacy

In the late 1960s, employees of the CN Rail (Slave Lakes Branch) were faced with an ultimatum. “ If you don’t join the union, you were out,” said Joseph Allen, former employee of CN. Those who wished to join the union had to become literate within three months, and for Joseph Allen and Elijah Allen Okpik, that was a challenge far more daunting than learning to drive and repair derailed trains.

Before the union arrived at Hay River, Elijah and Joseph held advanced positions at work. Although they had never been educated academically, both men had a natural gift for mechanics. Elijah said, “I worked on the railroad for six years, I knew every car.” He could calculate the amount of fuel and acceleration necessary for carrying any freight, and had an accident free record as a locomotive driver.

to Pine Point. Both Joseph and Elijah remember hilarious moments on the two-way radio. “The best time on the job was when we hauled gravel. We traveled 24 hours a day and had lots of fun. We saw lots of wildlife en route. There were Christmas dances. If there were any “cranky” managers, they got “kicked back” to Edmonton soon enough. We told them “If you don’t like it, you can go back to Edmonton. Leave us alone.”

Joseph

Allen was a trapper before he worked for the CN Rail, and he preferred the steady paycheck from CN. “ This was easier. We had income once every two weeks. You might trap for two weeks and only have a dollar. There was no work up North then, so I had to go find a job further south. My wages in 1966 were 90 cents an hour. That was big money then.”

“There was housing and running water, even washing machines,” said Elijah. “It was really something. We could also afford to buy a car. I bought a used '65 Ford that was in good shape. We would drive to Edmonton for shopping trips.”

“It was a good place to work. There were 375 of us from the north, coming and going,” said Joseph. Garrett Nutik, James Greenland, Sydney Peters, and Sandy Steffanson were some of the people he worked with. The trains carried weigh freight – fuel, grain, elevators, ore and lumber - it ran between Peace River

“For the first eight years, I was an engineer. Then when CN took over from Edmonton, I had to work in the shop as a laborer. I had to retrain to become a mechanic,” said Joseph. “I lost the job because I had no education at that time,” Elijah echoed, “when after six years they told me to go in the shop to keep it clean, I was disappointed.” Elijah felt trapped, although he could learn how to drive a train within a couple of hours, he found it hard to achieve grade 12 education in a matter of three months. He found a job with Peter Barton Drilling back in the North, and left Grimshaw with his family. Elijah felt angry with the union for forcing him to become demoted. He did not like the reduced work hours imposed by the union, as he was used to working twelvehour days and making more money from it.

Joseph spoke about his retraining. “I had to go to night school for three months, I used to just about cry, having to do those grammar exercises,” he laughed. Every night after work, it was straight to night school. “I had boxes and boxes of books and lessons. When I finally passed the course, I burnt them in a bonfire. I was happy not to need the damn papers anymore.”

Joseph eventually worked at CN as a certified mechanic for thirty-one and a half years. When CN rail was changing ownership in the late 90s, Joseph opted to retire and received a seven-year salary payout. “It was a good deal, because otherwise I would have to move to Vancouver or Edmonton,” he said. He also grew to appreciate the union. “When they go on strike, your wages go up a little,” he said.

Elijah “headed for the desk” when he was forty-eight. “It had always been one of my goals, to be literate. When I was a young boy, I wanted to go to school, but my mother was against it because my brother and sister who went to school came back speaking English, and they didn’t listen to her as well anymore.” He spoke to his oldest daughter about his dream and she found him a tutor. For three years, Elijah worked twice a week with the tutor on reading and writing, while he worked during the day as a truck driver. “Learning to read was like coming out of a shell. I was in a cage and suddenly I was free. I remember the first sign I read by myself. It was ‘SALE’. I felt so proud.”

Elijah has now been retired for six years from his job as head custodian of the Sir Alexander Mackenzie Elementary School. “I used to go to the grade one hallway to read what the kids were writing. Every year I got better. I used to have to memorize my work hours in my head, but knowing how to read meant I could do timesheets and do my job as head custodian. I would read the Bible out loud to my wife everyday. She helped me a lot because she went to school when she was young.”

In1993, Elijah and his wife went to Ottawa, where he received a Council of the Federation Literacy Award. “Who would ever imagine that a boy born in a tent could one day have a party with the governor general,” said Elijah. After meeting Elijah and Joseph, who could ever say that it’s too old to learn? Elijah even had his writing published in a book recently!