Chapter T/Il‘(‘(’ 49

of time for talk and discussion after the boats were unloaded. Most had heard of labour unions, since many Tignish men worked during the winter at the harbour in Saint John, New Brunswick. They may also have known of something similar to such a union which had been tried by a number of Newfoundland fishermen - and with some success. Nearer to home, there had briefly been a fishermen’s union of a kind in Rustico, seventy-five miles away on the Island’s north shore.

Perhaps the most important sources for the concept which was eventually to become the Tignish Fishermen’s Union (TFU) were the mutual insurance societies, several of which had branches in Tignish. These associations had sprung up all over Eastern North America in the later years of the nineteenth century, and reached Prince Edward Island soon after the turn of the century.

The one that seems to have left the greatest mark on the area was the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association (CMBA). Only ’practising’ Catholic men in good health and between certain ages could become members. After paying a small entrance fee, members contributed weekly to a fund which would provide them and their families with benefits in case of sickness, injury or death. This early form of health insurance was more or less co— operative in theory and quite so in actual fact, at least around Tignish. Members would get together to cut firewood for a sick member or help him in other practical ways. The mutuals also provided a form of social life for their members at their weekly meetings and had. several of the characteristics of a secret society, including guards, secret passwords, a book setting out rituals - for example, for admitting a new member - and so forth. Another mutual which deserves mentioning, the Assumption, had its roots in New England and was designed to help the