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Create AccountThetford Mines, Quebec, incorporated as a city in 1905, population 16,174 (2016 census), 16,440 (2011 census). The city of Thetford Mines is located on the Bécancour River in the Appalachian Mountains, 107 km south of Quebec City. It was named after the town of Thetford in Norfolk, England. During the 20th century, it was one of the world’s largest asbestos mining and production centres.
The Asbestos Strike began on 14 February 1949 and paralyzed major asbestos mines in Quebec for almost five months. The Quebec government sided with the main employer, an American-owned company, against the 5,000 unionized mine workers. From the start, the strike created conflicts between the provincial government and the Roman Catholic Church, which usually sided with the government. One of the longest and most violent labour conflicts in Quebec history, it helped lay the groundwork for the Quiet Revolution
Despite being unoccupied for more than four years and in urgent need of renovations for decades, the Prime Minister’s official residence at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa has cost taxpayers more than $2.3 million in basic maintenance since 2015. Problems at the residence, which Margaret Trudeau once sarcastically called the “crown jewel of the federal penitentiary system,” include asbestos, radon gas, mould, knob-and-tube wiring and the lack of a fire-suppression system. A 2017 report estimated the cost of renovating the building at between $34 million and $567 million.
Val-des-Sources (formerly Asbestos), Quebec, incorporated as a village in 1899 and as a town in 1937, population 6,786 (2016 census), 7,096 (2011 census). The town of Val-des-Sources is located in the Eastern Townships region, 53 km north of Sherbrooke and 58 km southeast of Drummondville. Originally called Asbestos, the town was named after the mineral mined there from 1881 to 2011. During that time, Asbestos produced much of the world’s supply of the asbestos mineral, which is now banned in many countries because of its negative health effects. Asbestos was renamed Val-des-Sources in December 2020. Val-des-Sources is located on ancestral Abenaki lands. The land is unceded and is considered Indigenous territory.
The strike that began on 14 February 1949 in Asbestos, Quebec, is one of those events that resonate beyond the immediate and define history. It was, as Pierre Trudeau later wrote, “a violent announcement that a new era had begun.”
