Annie Buller, one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Canada and an ardent promoter of radical trade unionism, addressing a crowd in Bienfait two days before the Estevan Riot. Buller was asked to go to Bienfait to offer support and encouragement to the miners after mine owners refused to recognize their union and enter into negotiations. Buller spoke of the terrible living and working conditions of the miners and their inadequate wages. Two days later, the miners and their families marched into Estevan in protest. Following the ensuing melee, Buller was arrested, tried and convicted of participating in an unlawful assembly and inciting a riot. She was fined $500 and sentenced to a year of hard labour and solitary confinement at the Battleford Jail. Saskatchewan Archives Board R-A32584.

Used with Permission from: David McLennan, “Our Towns: Saskatchewan Communities from Abbey to Zenon Park.”