The Badger Riot
by J. A. Ricketts
In 1959, the small town of Badger was the centre of a labour confrontation that forever changed the social and political landscape of Newfoundland. Led by the International Woodworkers of America (IWA), the strike reached its climax when national and provincial police forces stormed the town in an attempt to break the impasse. The Badger Riot tells the story of the deadly melee that followed. Judy (Day) Ricketts was fourteen years old at the time of the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) Strike of 1959. A native of Badger, she, along with other schoolchildren, watched from the roadside as loggers and local authorities came together in a famous melee that effectively ended the strike. Canadian author, Newfoundland and Labrador, Badger, IWA Strike, Joey Smallwood.