Interview Transcript:
Sebastien: For this video interview I’m here with Jim Dufresne, who is a former worker of the GE Peterborough plant. So Jim, tell me a bit about your relationship with John.
Jim Dufresne: We worked together in the same department, and I was there for a few years. Then I ended up going over to nuclear, but you never lost track of each other, eh? Towards the end there I could see he was failing a lot, and he, like he, the man fought most of his life in there. It was disappointing because he not only fought the GE, he had problems with the union, and everybody had problems and, I used to get really frustrated and a lot of times I’d want to quit. He wouldn’t let you quit. He was quite a man outside of there, I used to tease him all the time about his motorcycle. And he says “Jim you drive a canoe, at least my bike’s faster than your canoe”. I’se “Why don’t you get a real bike?”. He had a little wee small little, I think it was a 250 or something, and he rode it back and forth to work all the time, and even in the winter right up to snow he’s still on that stupid little motorcycle.
Sebastien: *chuckles*
Jim: And then twenty years later I buy a Honda Shadow 1100, so I had to give him a shot, eh? So I drove right over to where he worked and I says “There John, that’s a real bike”.
Sebastien: *laughs*
Jim: I said “Too bad you’re too old, you couldn’t handle something like this”, and he’s “Get off it”. And I get off the bike. He got on. And I’ll tell you, did I ever learn to keep my mouth shut after that, he took off, first gear and second gear, the front wheel was three feet off ground, he could handle anything you stuck underneath him. He was, he was quite a man. I really miss him. I done a lot of eulogies over the years. We both retired around the same time. If I really cared about a person and I was close to them I done a eulogy for them, and of all the eulogies I done, John was the only one that I couldn’t finish. I broke right down, it was tough. Even now, just thinking about it it’s… But he wasn’t a quitter. I don’t know whether the time in the Navy taught him that or, and like he just didn’t quite. And even some of the people that bad mouthed him, he’d stand up for them. Like, you don’t see many people like that.
Sebastien: Mhmm. That’s quite admirable. So, in the time that you got to know John, what was the quality in him that impressed you the most?
Jim: His loyalty, and he didn’t really judge people, but if you ticked him off he didn’t forget. And the thing I really liked about him, I went to him three or four times for advice on stuff, and he’d always give you the right advice. He’d always tell you, and even when you didn’t agree with him, he ended up being proved that he was right and you were wrong. But he didn’t judge people, he’s, he says “Jim you’re not a quitter,” he says, “you’re gonna fight this as hard as I am”. I said “No, John,” I says, “If I’m fighting for somebody and I find out their making a deal in the office while I’m out at personnel fighting for them”, I said, I don’t, he said “You can’t be like that”. It was, I learned a lot of life lessons from him. Yeah he’s, it’s sad the way he went out, I got it wrote down here that I visited him once, he wasn’t in good shape. He’s lost his wife, and his kids were grown up and gone, and had to get away from there… I heard he was in the hospital in Port Hope, I went down there, or Cobourg I went down there and seen him, and had a good visit. But even down there when I was visiting him, when I walked into the room, the nurse told me what room it was, I walked in, he’s on the phone. There he is in bed, sick in the hospital, and he’s still fighting somebody’s claim for them, like. You know, you don’t forget stuff like that. And then, a little while later I heard that he got transferred out of there and, I’se “Well is he back at home?”. “No, he’s over in Campbellford in a, like an old folks home”. So I went down there to see him. And Bill Drain come down with me ’cause Bill really liked him. And Bill had went up to Toronto with him three times for Eddie Condon’s case, and the last time they went was a blistering snowstorm, they shouldn’t have even went up there, but they went up. And you know what the compensation board people said? “You’ve got too much information”. But that’s the way John was, he got everything, he got the facts. But if one thing I learned off John not to quit. I retired in 2004, and I still belong to two different groups, advisory group, and there’s a … group fighting the GE now about the pelleting plant coming to Peterborough. So I know if I quit, John will come down off a cloud and kick me somewhere.
Sebastien: *chuckles*
Jim: As the years went on, I really, I really got a lot of respect for the man. Like he’s, I don’t know, he’s the kind of guy you wouldn’t forget him if you knew him.
Sebastien: Mhmm. So, it’s clear that John never stopped, and I can see that that’s something you picked up from him. What impact do you believe that his tireless had on achieving justice for workers that had been injured?
Jim: He made some enemies on the floor. He made more enemies in the office, but after he got out of there and I got out of there, there was hundreds of people still in there that didn;t even know him, and they didn;t realize that if it wasn’t for him they’d still be working in worse conditions than they’re already in. Because John wouldn’t let nothing go, he was like a little pit bull. If he seen something wrong, he’d jump on them. And, he’d put a tag on it, they’d take a tag off, he’d put another one on, but he wouldn’t leave there ’till whoever was working on that job knew they were safe. And the sad part is most of the people that, in the last ten, fifteen years in there didn’t even know who he was, like. But there’s a lot of us that never forgot him. Yeah, he was quite a character.
Sebastien: Jim, it was absolutely a pleasure to speak with you and hear your responses. Thank you for putting so much effort into them and…
Jim: Thank you, Sebastien, for doing this. It’s about time and I’m really glad you took this on and, I know there’s gonna be a lot of people who really appreciate it.
End of Interview