A.H. MacKinnon: The Miners’ Lawyer

Pictured: A.H. MacKinnon

Alexander Hugh was a product of Inverness and fought for the miners' rights during a very volatile period during the conflict between the One Big Union and the United Mine Workers of America. Married to Annie Ryan, the daughter of Irish immigrants, James and Rose Anne Ryan from River Street, A.H. became a very strong voice for the UMW. 

Born in 1904, the year of incorporation for Inverness, he attended Holy Family Convent School and St. Francis Xavier University and graduated from Dalhousie University with an LL.B. in 1929. His parents were Hugh Patrick Mac Kinnon and his mother, Margaret Campbell Mac Kinnon. H.P., as he was known, was mayor of Inverness from 1934-1935 and was very active in community affairs. Not much has been written about A.H. and his contribution to Nova Scotia and the community of Inverness due to the union conflict during his tenure. I will summarize the Liberal MLA for Inverness from 1940 to 1953. 

From 1930-1940 he served as legal counsel for the UMW as well as all the coal miners employed due to a .10c deduction from each paycheck if they should need his services, from bootlegging charges to rowdy behaviour at one of the many bars to stealing from the hoppers at night and caught by the Coal Company police down by the station drunken and brawling in the streets after payday. He defended them all and became a favourite of the miners. He was well-versed in the hazards of the mine and the hard-working conditions the miners were subjected to. 

As legal counsel for the UMW, he directly conflicted with Fr. Ronald L. MacDonald, who proposed a cooperative solution with a Board of Directors for the Inverness Mines. The miners had fought long and hard for strong union representation and did not want a rubber stamp that the OBU stood for, so the dye was cast for confrontation in the Inverness Coal Fields. The fight came to a conclusion in 1919 when the United Mine Workers Union became the official union representative of the miners. There was relative peace for 3 years between the unions until the UMW was accused of a closed shop policy whereby some of the districts were passing resolutions contrary to the by-laws of the UMW, so there was a strong reaction to this. Hence you see the union in front of the pay office with communist flags fighting for their comrades. There became a rift between the union members, and on January 1, 1925, some of the UMW miners formed a branch of the OBU. 

Many meetings took place for a solution for the betterment of the town and miners, but Fr. Ranald put a great deal of pressure on the miners to come around to his way of thinking. Many miners, like Mike McVeigh and Neil Allan MacLean, with counsel from A.H. Mac Kinnon, the OBU members, showed how impractical this cooperative ownership of the mines and union would be. Fr. Ranald preached fire and brimstone sermons against those who opposed him. At one point, the Eucharist was denied to organizers against the meddling prelate, and at one instance, A.H. transcribed a sermon against him, calling him the son of the devil. A character actor re-enacts the exact sermon on The Broken Ground, directed by Liam MacDonald for the Inverness Miners Museum.

Pictured: Father Ronald L. MacDonald

Ronald L. had fallen from grace by the congregation and had to leave. He reached retirement age in 1936, and on November 11, 1936, he resigned as pastor of Stella Maris and moved to Antigonish, where he took up residence on St. Mary’s Street. The argument presented was the losses of the mines over the last 17 years and the deplorable state of the mines. New compressors had to be purchased, and expensive equipment to make the mines viable but Fr. Ranald and his board would hear nothing of this. 

In 1933 the provincial government took over the mines and operated as the Inverness Imperial Coal Company. The government became heavily involved, but during the 1930’s it was a hit or miss leading to the strike of 1942. The UMW had won the right to represent the miners of Inverness and A.H. was their lawyer. In a by-election on 28 Nov. 1940, A.H. Mac Kinnon was elected as Liberal MLA for Inverness. He held the portfolios of Minister of Public Health and Welfare, Minister of Labor and Mines, and Minister of Public Welfare. He was reportedly the best premier we ever had. The Liberal Convention of 1965 saw some very prominent Liberals courting Judge Mac Kinnon to run for the leadership of the Liberal Party, and he accepted their invitation.

However, his good friend from Antigonish and former cabinet colleague Colin Chisholm were also interested in the position and talked Judge Alex into withdrawing and supporting his candidacy. Judge Alex did so since Colin Chisholm was considered an easy win. However, on the eve of the convention, Chisholm fell very ill, his camp failed to contact the convention organizers, and he missed the delegate vote. A young Gerald Regan carried the convention and was returned to the premiership of N.S. on more than one election. Alex H.P. spent his final days on Oxford Street, Halifax and died on June 6, 1973, at 69. He was buried in Stella Maris Cemetery a few feet from Allan J. MacEachen and alongside his wife, Annie, daughter Barbara, and husband, Bob. 

Many events have taken place in the village of Inverness since the miner’s strikes and the fights in the streets over the unions. Inverness is now undergoing a transformation. Homes are being repaired, properties landscaped, and a new bounce is in the step of the residents. Compared to the dull atmosphere dictated by the grime of the mines, a new age for the community is on the cusp. As James St. Clair would say, ”a pride of place” is emerging from the bones of the coal mines; Alex H.P. would be proud.