Colonel Charles Edgar Edgett (25 September 1881 - 9 January 1947) was the warden of the

British Columbia Penitentiary The British Columbia Penitentiary (BC Penitentiary, commonly referred to as the BC Pen and the Pen) was a federal maximum security prison located in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. The BC Penitentiary operated for 102 years, from 1878 ...

(1929–1931), the Chief Constable of the

Vancouver Police Department The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) () is the police force in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Greater Vancouver, Metro Vancouver Area and is the second largest police force in the provinc ...

(1931–1933), an active anti-communist and opponent of organized labour in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. Colonel Edgett was born in

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. Th ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

, and briefly served in the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...

before receiving training as a

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...

(giving him the nickname "Doc"). He enlisted in 1914 and served in the First World War as part of the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps, winning a DSO for distinguished service at Vimy Ridge in 1917. He was also

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

twice. He lived in the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also called the Okanagan Valley and sometimes the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of ...

Valley as a fruit grower and ran as a candidate in provincial elections before moving to the

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 ...

. Edgett was lured from his position as warden to become the new police chief in 1931 by a comparatively lucrative salary offer. During his tenure as chief, he oversaw a degree of modernization of the police force, including the introduction of radio-equipped patrol cars. In February 1933, Edgett was fired by Mayor L. D. Taylor for inefficiency. Edgett unsuccessfully challenged this move in court before becoming the spokesman for the Shipping Federation of British Columbia's new "Citizens League" in 1935. The Citizens' League was established as a propaganda vehicle to combat

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

organizing that was leading a movement of militancy in BC, particularly amongst the

unemployed Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (hu ...

and

longshoremen A dockworker (also called a longshoreman, stevedore, docker, wharfman, lumper or wharfie) is a waterfront manual laborer who loads and unloads ships. As a result of the intermodal shipping container revolution, the required number of dockworke ...

. Edgett soon established himself as one of the pre-eminent anticommunist polemicist in Vancouver. Although he did not explicitly identify himself as a fascist, he made it clear in his fierce opposition to

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

that the extreme of fascism was preferable to the extreme of Communism. He viewed the latter as an international

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

conspiracy and despised the

internationalism Internationalism may refer to: * Cosmopolitanism, the view that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality as opposed to communitarianism, patriotism and nationalism * International Style, a major architectura ...

promoted by Communist ideologues. His views were most widely disseminated in a speech he gave that was published in a local newspaper and in the ''

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

Gazette'' in 1936. The Citizens' League was short-lived, and was dismantled after problems with the Communists dissipated in Vancouver following the

On-to-Ottawa Trek The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a mass protest movement in Canada in 1935 sparked by unrest among unemployed single men in federal relief camps principally in Western Canada. The trek started in Vancouver and, picking up reinforcements along the way, ...

. Edgett continued on however in the Shipping Federation's successor anti-labour organization, the Industrial Association. Edgett also served as the president of the Terminal City "gentlemen's club" in the 1940s.

References

External links

Biography from boothill.ca
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Edgett, Charles Edgar 1881 births 1947 deaths Antisemitism in Canada People from Moncton Canadian fascists Vancouver police chiefs Legion of Frontiersmen members Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Vancouver)