Main Feature
Help Needed with New Video on Canadian Spanish Civil War Vets
Pamela Vivian, Victoria
Volume 32 Issue 10, 11 & 12 | Posted: December 19, 2018
"You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic examples of democracy, solidarity and universality.” ~ Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria
“Canada didn’t understand at first what you were doing, but understands now, and as time goes on, you will have more friends, more honour, because you have done one of the most gallant things done in history”. ~Reverend Salem Bland Toronto Union station greeting returning International Brigades.
When Standing By and Doing Nothing is Not an Option:
An Inspiring Story of Taking
a Stand
"You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic examples of democracy, solidarity and universality.” ~ Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria
“Canada didn’t understand at first what you were doing, but understands now, and as time goes on, you will have more friends, more honour, because you have done one of the most gallant things done in history”. ~Reverend Salem Bland Toronto Union station greeting returning International Brigades.
When Standing By and Doing Nothing is Not an Option:
An Inspiring Story of Taking
a Stand
Growing up, I knew that my great uncle Peter died in the Spanish Civil War. What I didn’t realize until much later was that he was part of something bigger – the International Brigades. The Brigades were a 40,000-strong volunteer army from 73 countries. The ideologically minded volunteers went to Spain to help the democratically elected government resist a military coup led by General Franco and supported by Hitler and Mussolini.
Over seventeen hundred volunteers from Canada, collectively known as the Mackenzie – Papineau Battalion or MacPaps, joined the fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The realization that my great uncle was part of this group came a few years ago when I saw a small plaque honouring the Mackenzie – Papineau Battalion on the wall of the Victoria Legislature building.
Who were these men and women who gave up everything to go to Spain? This curiosity led me to find out more about the British Columbians who went to Spain and start production on a documentary film about these volunteers. I wanted to find out why my great uncle would leave a great job working on CP ships, a wonderful family and life in North Vancouver to travel to a country so far away. What sparked his decision to go to Spain? How did he die and where is he buried?
Four hundred of the Canadian volunteers came from British Columbia, including at least thirty men who lived on Vancouver Island. The group included loggers, miners, transport workers, electricians, teachers, pilots, printers and a former Victoria Daily Times journalist, Charles (Lionel) Backler.
Most of the volunteers defied their own government in order to go to Spain. Canada, along with many other countries worldwide, joined a non-intervention pact preventing aid and military intervention. Canada’s Foreign Enlistment Act made it illegal to volunteer to fight in the war. Nevertheless, these volunteers went because of their early opposition to fascism. After Spain, many of the Canadian volunteers went on to fight in World War II, which started only months after the Spanish Civil War ended.
After the death of the last Canadian member of the International Brigades, Author Michael Petrou wrote “It severs Canada's last living link to a group of idealists who looked at the suffering of citizens of a faraway country, and then didn't look away and mutter that their pain is none of our business, but chose instead to stand, fight, and die with them.”
The documentary film is about forty percent completed. Through the filming process, I have learned a great deal about my great uncle, his possible motives for going to Spain, how he died and remarkably where he is buried. It was a very surreal and emotional moment to be the first of my family to visit his grave in Colmenar de Oreja, Spain. The ground of the mass grave where he is buried, along with International Brigades members from more than a dozen countries, appears untouched since the day they were buried more than 80 years ago.
What started as a quest to find out more about my great uncle Peter has brought me closer to the 400 British Columbia volunteers of the International Brigades. This documentary will shine a light on them, and by doing so educate and inspire audiences about a time in history when BC men and women came together for a cause bigger than them. At a time when some feel powerless to make positive change, this story will inspire us all.
Pamela Vivian is a documentary film maker living in Victoria, BC. If you would like to see a clip or find out more about the film, Taking a Stand: The Story of the BC MacPaps please visit https://www.themacpaps.com. If you are family member of a MacPap volunteer or know of any family members, Pamela would love to speak with you. Please e-mail themacpaps@gmail.com
Pamela Vivian, Victoria