Vancouver Centennial Plaque #74 – Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion

Address:           700 Hamilton Street

Status:             Missing

“MACKENZIE-PAPINEAU BATTALION

During the Spanish Civil War some 1,200 Canadians joined the International Brigade to support the Spanish government. In 1937 the Brigade recognized the MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion from Canada. John C. Chivers recruited about 600 men from a room at 717 Hamilton and an office at 615 West Hastings.”

Credit: Vancouver Centennial Commission, Historic Plaque Program – list and documentation plaques 50-100 (June 18, 1986). Courtesy of Vancouver Archives

Photo credit: Group of MacKenzie-Papineau with banner, December 1937. Harry Randall: Fifteenth International Brigade Films and Photographs, Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, C252. https://specialcollections.library.nyu.edu/search/tamiment [Thanks to the BC Labour Heritage Centre!]