Photos from the North Shore News Collection at MONOVA, currently unprocessed.
By Alia Hijaab, MONOVA Volunteer
As I worked through hundreds of photographs from the North Shore News collection, one theme kept surfacing again and again: work. In every aspect of the word, labour showed up time and time again. The enormous amount of work of photographing day-to-day life for the photographers, who would then develop, print, and select their photos with an editor. Then I would look at the images themselves. Many were featuring small businesses and contractors. Everyone had a trade, and a skill to sell. I found images of the construction of Park Royal South, construction workers, mechanics, nurses, teachers, librarians, waitresses, bakers – labour was all anyone could think and talk about. These photographs tell the story of a North Shore that was, at its heart, a working-class community.
In the 1970s, the North Shore was a place where industries like shipbuilding, logging, fishing, and construction shaped daily life. Union jobs offered stability, and working-class culture was woven into fabric. Families would build a life through their labour and that would then fund the houses they purchased. Houses that today would be easily 3-4 times the price.
Fast forward to today, and the picture looks very different. Many of those shipyards and mills have been replaced with high-rise condos and retail spaces. Work is no longer as visible or as rooted in the community. Labour is often hidden behind computers and desks – that doesn’t mean it isn’t there, but it becomes less a part of our culture and how we relate to other people in our social circles. Instead, jobs in the service and tech dominate and we are starting to see the impacts of the gig economy as an added complication. Rising property values and gentrification have also changed who can even call the North Shore their home.
The newspaper saw it as their main mission to uplift the small business owner and the working man, explicitly mentioned many times in the editors letter among other places. Photographers would go to businesses and take professional photographs for them. You can see the photograph for its value. It is different now as most of us have a high quality camera in our back pockets, but in this time, a photograph was a precious thing, and a good ad in the newspaper could keep a business afloat.
Community archives help us pause and reflect on these shifts. The photographs remind us of the industries and people who built the North Shore and invite us to think about all the hands that were involved in building our towns. Looking back at the working-class North Shore of the 1970s helps us better understand the challenges and opportunities of today, and it asks us to carry forward a more inclusive story of labour, class, and community.
