[1993]
Parole e musica di James Keelaghan
Nel suo album intitolato “My Skies”
Testo trovato su MySongBook.de

Una canzone sui cittadini americani di origine giapponese che durante la Seconda guerra mondiale furono trattati come potenziali traditori, privati di ogni diritto e di ogni bene e raccolti in campi di detenzione.

“Kiri is the grandmother of the husband of a friend of my sister's. She still plays the piano beautifully, and she's almost a hundred years old. Before the war she used to have a white upright. During the Second World War many Canadians of Japanese descent living on the west coast were interned in labour camps in places like my home, South Alberta. Most of them were fishermen, and very good fishermen. They were dispossessed of everything they owned, and made to do things like weed sweet beet. Many of them never went back to the west coast.”

[1988]
Lyrics and Music by James Keelaghan
Album: Small Rebellions [1990]

The Hillcrest mine disaster, the worst coal mining disaster in Canadian history, occurred at Hillcrest, Alberta, in the Crowsnest Pass region of western Canada, on Friday June 19, 1914.
At the time it was the world's third worst mine disaster. The accident had a profound effect on the town of Hillcrest Mines, which in 1914 had a population of about 1,000. A total of 189 men died, about half of the mine’s total workforce, which left 130 women widowed and about 400 children fatherless. Many of the victims were buried in a mass grave at the Hillcrest Cemetery. Condolences came from across the country, including a brief message from King George V, but the commencement of World War I soon overshadowed this event.

Another explosion occurred in the Hillcrest Mine on September 19, 1926 when the mine was idle, killing... (continuer)