What does hard rock mining have to do with comedy?

What does hard rock mining have to do with comedy? 

Let me tell you. 

Before I became a comedian… 

I was born in the northern Canadian mining town of Sudbury, Ontario. My father worked at the nickel mine there as an industrial mechanic. At one point they sent him down the mine and after he worked there one day he got a doctor’s note to say that if he were to continue working underground he would go crazy. Thank you pops for refusing to go down the mine. Exercising your right to choose the conditions under which you would work, even in one of the most brutal and harshest workplaces on earth.

I’ve been 3,000 feet underground at that mine. Picture it. A twenty-minute ride down a tunnel in an open cage that’s been blasted horizontally into the earth’s crust. You enter a room called a blasthole stope, carved into the hard rock, where drillers work alongside the ore face. The only light source is from the lamp mounted on the miner’s cap. The drills they operate are so massive, they’re braced against the floor, and angled upwards so the bit can strike the rock ceiling. It’s wet and damp and dark as hell. Dubbed the “widow maker”, this job is as brutal as they come. 

I didn’t go down 3000 feet as a tourist, I went down while I was doing research into the women who worked at International Nickel Company (INCO) during World War II - to fulfill the requirements for a Masters Degree in History. It was surreal. Growing up, we’d always feel the blasts late at night, rockin’ the earth to and fro. But I had no idea what was really going on underneath me… never mind what was happening on the surface. I visited the Smelter. A massive room with huge cauldrons that melt the nickel where the workers appeared like stickmen churning the molten rock. The noise, the dust, the extreme heat and gas assault you the second you enter. My father would always remind us of the sacrifice he made to work there -  that everyday he had to breathe in this poisonous air. His work clothes were the evidence of it. Black, with holes burned into them that my mother dutifully mended at the end of the week. It’s brutal and unrelenting work. The fruits of which transform hard rock into planes, trains and automobiles in peacetime and bombs, tanks, jeeps, guns and armament in wartime. But let’s be real. It’s always been wartime since that time.

The Sudbury Basin is among the oldest and largest impact structures on Earth. Also known as the Sudbury Nickel Irruptive, it was formed by an asteroid some 1.849 billion years ago. Rich in ores primarily of nickel and copper, with gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium and ruthenium deposits this region would become invaluable to the business of war. Perhaps there was nowhere else on earth more integral to the staging and execution of total war than Sudbury, “where under the slag heaps and the Canadian Shield, lies the world’s richest supply of nickel.” (Standing up to Big Nickel, Elizabeth Quinlan, p. 3)

The refining of such metals produces sulfur dioxide. You knew the day when it was released from the Smoke Stack. It attaches to your lungs and constricts. I would sometimes be biking to the university when that happened and when I had to put the pedal to the metal to bike up the Paris Street Bridge it became hard to breathe. Imagine the labourers who’ve been toiling there for over a century. Men initially, then boys and eventually women. Men like my father, my uncles, my cousins… my godfather, Lorenzo. He worked in the Sinter plant where the nickel was refined into a dust-like powder. It was one of the most noxious environments in the entire operation. Six months after he and his brother Quintin retired they were both dead. Lung and nasal cancers were two and a half to 25 times higher there.

All this so we can cruise in our cars, carry our guns and invade by sheer metal force. We live in the hard rock age! 

It hasn’t always been this way. As Elizabeth Quinlan describes in her latest book, Standing up to Big Nickel: “The settlement of Northern Ontario associated with the mining industry was founded on the flawed justification that Indigenous land could be taken over because the original people were not making advantageous use of it. In fact, for thousands of years, the Ojibwa in the northern Great Lakes region were mining copper and there was a complex silver mining trade by the Algonquin and Ojibwa in Cobalt-Temiskaming area.” (Standing up to Big Nickel, p. 3-4)

It was from these environments and work conditions that pushed the workers in Sudbury and their families to unionize. They had no choice. It was either that or death. When you work down the mine, you risk your life to provide for your family because there are few alternatives. For the company, it’s another business altogether. “Falls of ground”, the term used by Ontario Ministry of Mines were among the leading causes of death among hard rock miners. Fires that consumed all the oxygen in the stope, failures in the ventilation system, and arsenic, cadmium, lead and other carcinogens were other life-threatening hazards.” (Standing up to Big Nickel, p.7) 

Inco had a pathological determination to keep workers in their place and quash any union organizing at all costs. They used spies, intimidation and violence. On one such occasion, “INCO sent a goon squad of 12 men - shift bosses - to storm the… [Mine Mill] union office in broad daylight where they found Jack Whelehan and Forrest Emerson signing up union members. By the time the… squad left the office, Jack was bleeding copiously from deep gashes to his face and Forrest lay crumpled on the floor with a disabling injury from the heavy office typewriter slammed down over his head.”  (Standing up to Big Nickel, p.7)

Such savagery is what fortifies empires. “From the early days, American capital interest dominated the metals industry…As a creature of the Morgan-Rockefeller financial empires, Inco’s control of the world’s supply of nickel enabled the company to set prices, block the growth of competitors and withstand the perpetual boom and bust cycles of the mining industry. Made possible of course by the Canadian government that promoted Canada as a supplier of raw materials in response to the economic, political, strategic demands of the US.” (Standing up to Big Nickel, p. 8) 

Inco’s biggest customer was the Department of State (DOS). Sounds all too familiar doesn’t it? Canada… The land of extraction set up to feed the appetite of industrialists and profiteers. Perhaps the most grotesque discovery I made during my research was when I was at the National Archives in Ottawa.  As I was leafing through the ledger books of Inco’s output of nickel during the war much of it went to Germany. So you see the Morgan Rockefeller titans financed both sides of the war. You could say Sudbury was the town Hitler made rich. 

At the time when Inco hired women to meet the demand of wartime production and to replace the men who’d gone off to war, I met and interviewed women who were secretly organizing for the Mine Mill Union. I was blown away by their courage and certainty that it was right and just to unionize. Under the slogan, “A union without women is only half organized”, they defied their bosses and laid the groundwork for workers’ rights everywhere.

They got a taste for the conditions their fathers, brothers and husbands endured during the war and this would only strengthen their resolve. Don’t Go Down the Mine Mamma was the rallying cry at the time. The women never went underground for fear they would take away jobs from returning soldiers and contemporary conceptions of women’s proper place forbade it. 

It wasn’t until 1941 that workers at Inco were granted the legal right to unionize and Sudbury would become the scene of one of the most radical and militant labour movements on the planet. Mine Mill Local 598 would go down in history as a notorious union, fighting blood, sweat and tears against a vicious and unyielding corporate giant. Its workers would go on to become some of the best-paid in the world. 

Fast forward 30 years and I somehow find myself lobbying for comedians. I’d heard enough about how we couldn’t access arts funding and faced so many obstacles working in the United States. Why was this so? Why were we still operating within a decades old paradigm where comedians are warned against performing at other clubs when they’re not receiving a living wage? What about copyright protections and industry standards? Why at the world’s largest comedy festival, funded by the Canadian government, were Canadian comedians at the side-lines and the coveted spots went mainly to Americans? Was leaving Canadians behind just for laughs?

When The Canadian Association of Stand-up, Sketch and Improv Comedians (CASC) formed in 2017, we couldn’t predict what was to unfold or the inroads we’d make. At least now, there would be a group that could formally challenge these entities. Like the CBC over its failure to follow rules it established with ACTRA to pay comedians for Laugh out Loud - CBC Radio’s hit stand-up comedy show. Many comedians haven’t been paid at all. We’re in reparations territory baby.

When Just for Laughs offers famous American acts 250k to appear - not perform -  at the festival in Montreal and then turns around and pays a Canadian comedian $50 for their performance, we got a problem. And while this may seem trivial, why did the American comedians get All Star Chuck Converse shoes and iPods in their swag bags and Canadian comedians got Ron Funches CD’s and iPod cases? CASC asked JFL that question. Because sometimes the little things tell you exactly where you stand.

As uncomfortable and painful as it was to confront these institutions, it was necessary and urgent. In a third attempt to CBC producers in 2020, over the failure to issue contracts and compensate comedians for their live performances for Laugh our Loud, I decided to cc then-president Catherine Tait. I almost fainted. Who was I to challenge them? But it worked. The very next day, a cheque was issued to a comedian this had happened to with the demand their recording not be aired because a contract was never issued. Their position was simple: no terms, no deal. 

When Just for Laughs made a play to take over the comedy channel at Sirius XM, what would have happened if CASC wasn’t around. We quickly organized and in an incredible act of collective action, comedians stood up… finally. The irony. Their decision to play foreign content was overturned. At least for the foreseeable future, Canadian comedians could still count on the channel as a source of residual income. 

We proved we could mobilize and defend our labour rights and economic survival. This was historic!  

Shortly thereafter we start taking meetings with other unions. Namely ACTRA and Unifor. They reached out to us cause when a union finds out there’s a new group in town agitating they want you to join them. ACTRA reps showed up in a Cadillac SUV and the Unifor rep came by TTC. For me it was an easy choice. I mean after all, when I learned Mine Mill Local 598 was a part of Unifor, my head exploded. We were onto something.

CASC joined Unifor in 2024 at their National Conference in Montreal and officially became part of the labour movement - a move unprecedented in the world. While at the conference, I witnessed trade unionists rage to a room of a thousand people. Workers crying, standing ovation after standing ovation. It was like a revival. For the first time I realized what comedians’ do is work and for the first I understood what it meant to stand with your brothers and sisters in solidarity. To hold the line and not back down. This is our livelihood we’re talking about.

Too often, Canadian comedians donate, barter and even perform their work for free. Without industry standards, negotiating for fair and equitable pay and safe working conditions becomes a precarious endeavour. The value assigned to us remains largely at the whim of clubs, producers, agents and peers. 

This is the Problem with Being Funny in Canada - the title of a white paper I wrote for Unifor on the current state of comedy in Canada.

It’s been a decade that CASC has been lobbying for comedian’s rights. The right to be recognized, the right for legitimacy, the right to determine the terms of our work and the conditions of our labour. It’s been a decade that CASC has been asking the Canada Council for the Arts to include comedy as a ‘field of practice’. In our most recent correspondence with them as part of the research for the white paper, a representative stated: 

They support comedy through the artistic disciplines of storytelling and theatre. The council does not fund commercial projects in cultural industries such as comedy, music, film, television and video games. Although the Council acknowledges the creativity inherent in many activities, it is strongly recommended that applicants demonstrate their artistic intent first and foremost when applying for funding and ensure that projects provide professional working conditions for artists and cultural workers. 

So unfortunately it appears, the Council supports comedy but not when it’s performed by comedians. 

Pardon me? 

It’s been a decade since our founding, and our broadcasters and festivals still give preferential treatment to American acts and shows, while Canadian stories—like those of the miners of Sudbury—remain largely absent from our collective narrative. Our public broadcasters were created with a mandate to reflect and strengthen Canadian culture, yet American programming continues to dominate our media landscape. While this is changing somewhat with the multiple hit shows on Crave, we have a lot of catching up to do. 

And now, with the Just for Laughs Festival opening in Toronto this week, the top billings once again go to American acts. This is a festival that went bankrupt and was then miraculously resurrected thanks to the more than $10 million from the Canadian government and the Department of Heritage. CASC sat down with them. We made the case for Canadian comedians. And still, here we are.

At what point do we stop subsidizing Canadian soil for American hegemony?

When you border an empire, it can weaken your resolve. But like the miners of Sudbury, it’s time for Canadian comedians to stand up and claim our ground.

We can’t wait around for Just for Laughs to suddenly have a change of heart or for the CBC to act with integrity. We must forge it ourselves. Demand it as a right of being. 

You may be of the opinion that unions are bad. That there’s no place for them in comedy. And unions certainly aren’t perfect. But when you exist in an ecosystem like Canada, where so many of the protections and standards that other industries take for granted have been built through organized labour, it makes sense for us to stand alongside those people. People who fought battles before us, often at enormous personal cost. Now, comedians have the opportunity to join them and carry that fight forward.

We now have the backing of hardcore trade unionists, labour lawyers and people who understand how to build standards, negotiate contracts and fight for workers’ rights. We don’t have to go it alone. We finally have people in our corner who know how to navigate the system and, more importantly, how to change it. At least it’s a start. It can’t certainly continue the way it is. 

As it stands, Canadian comedians occupy a paradoxical position within Canada’s cultural landscape. Comedy is one of the country’s most recognizable cultural exports and a powerful vehicle for expressing Canadian identity, yet we remain largely excluded from the institutional frameworks designed to support Canadian culture. This means we cannot access public funding to develop work, tour nationally, record albums or specials, build digital audiences or participate in professional training and mentorship programs. This exclusion creates a structural gap in Canada’s cultural policy that undermines the sustainability of the comedy sector and leaves comedians among the most precarious cultural workers in the country.

This is further compounded by the rapid transformation of the digital economy, especially most recently where content creation is centre stage. Comedians are now expected to function as content creators first, comedians second. The normalization of unpaid labour has heightened pressure on artists to sustain visibility, effectively turning discoverability into its own fulltime job. This is no laughing matter. Meanwhile global platforms, such as Tik Tok exclude Canadian creators from monetization programs like the Creator Rewards Program, further limiting their ability to generate income from their work. Currently the program is available only to creators in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Mexico and Brazil.  

There is an apartheid going on, so let’s drop the illusion that creators who have accumulated the most views have done so with their own blood, sweat and tears. Yo, we all have the same blood, the same sweat and the same tears. It’s just, some blood is more valuable than others.

And when the systems that determine whose work is valued, whose stories are amplified and who gets to make a living from their own labour are controlled by someone else, this becomes about more than individual success. It becomes about who controls the means, who controls the markets, and ultimately, who gets to decide what our culture is worth. 

What is our Canadian culture then? Is it what Mark Carney recently declared at the EU?

We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary we are pursuing resilience so no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.

We may not seek to dominate but we supply the raw materials to those who do. 

While Carney’s speeches continue to ignite a fervour with Canadians, it’s more performative than anything else. The day before big tech companies were supposed to pay the digital services tax, he walked it back.

He speaks of sovereignty, then compromises it in practice. Like in Davos. 

When we only negotiate bilaterally with a  hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We  accept what’s offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating. This is not sovereignty. It’s the performance of  sovereignty while accepting subordination. 

Copy that Chief Country Officer!

Now as we stand on the precipice of our sovereignty being challenged yet again. Our resources being bandied around by financiers, royal delegates and grand stand manipulators. Our intellectual properties being commodified and our digital assets copied by AI. I’ll no longer be the artist known as Sandra Battaglini, unless I subscribe to myself for $15.99/month.

This is not the time to let someone else figure this out. We need to assert our sovereignty through community, not these colonizer constructs. They don’t have our best interest at heart.  

In an urgent letter to Carney, Canadians for Digital Sovereignty, an ad hoc coalition of organizations and citizens stated: 

Canadian democracy cannot be free if our digital public sphere is overrun by foreign influence and made toxic for profit. Nor will we prosper as a zone of extraction - whether of oil, timber, minerals or of data, intellectual property or talent. 

So as we anxiously watch the ticker tape of likes and views and witness the boom and bust of viral discovery we must remember that our jobs as comedians is to expose the injustice of the world, not perpetuate it. That we remain steadfast to our humanity and one another and not let ourselves be available solely for extraction.