114m

Director: Donald Brittain

Synopsis (NFB): Harold Chamberlain Banks, a convicted felon and union strongarm, was recruited in 1949 to break up the communist-controlled unions that were blocking the country’s shipping industry and to replace them with a Canadian chapter of the Seafarers’ International Union (SIU). This gripping docudrama, based on eyewitness accounts and courtroom testimony, recalls thirteen turbulent years of violence and corruption during which the careers of 6 000 seamen were destroyed by the power of one man, Banks. Canada’s Sweetheart recounts the events leading up to 1962, when a small group summoned the courage to stand up to Banks and his organization. This challenge resulted in the government-appointed Norris Commission hearings–a landmark in Canadian labor history.

Wesbite: http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=16132