Although not quite the scale of combat injuries and death, the historical scale of mortality and injury among mine workers in Canada is stark and sobering. Across the province of Alberta, 773 miners died between 1906 and 1930; in Nova Scotia 2,548 died in coal mines between 1838 and 1992 (Archives of Nova Scotia; Buckley 2004). There have been (and are) innumerable ways miners could die, including rock bursts, collapsing tunnels, a fall down a shaft, premature explosions, and rock falls from the roof of a tunnel or chamber.

Our research will examine competing discourses about who was responsible (management or workers) for fatalities and injuries in the mines, and conflicting ideas (between unions and companies) about how to mitigate the death and injury toll in the mining landscape. One major question for this sub-project is how miners actively shaped the underground environment to reduce the danger of working in such an inherently risky environment.

We will also trace provincial government actions (and inactions) in response to mining accidents, highlighting the role of mine inspectors and the gradual development of occupational health and safety legislation in the provinces. Finally, we will examine the influence of race on the delegation of risk in the mines and the gendered impacts of injury and death in terms of women’s labour and economic status.