Journalist, community activist.
Born in Saskatchewan in 1903, his childhood was spent on his father’s farm north of Qu’Appelle. After coming to Winnipeg in 1923 to further his education, as a young adult he moved to the United States and spent several years in New York City and other cities.
He returned to Canada in the early 1930s and became editor of the Commonwealth Co-operative Federation (CCF) paper, the Manitoba Commonwealth. He later became employed at the Transcona shops of the Canadian National Railway and worked there until retirement, while working as an editor and columnist for various left-wing periodicals. During the Second World War, he spent over two years with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, from April 1943 to June 1945.
An active member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation since its inception, he ran for a seat on the Winnipeg city council in 1946, in the 1946 war services election, at a 1951 federal by-election, and the 1957 federal general election. He served on the Historic Sites Advisory Board of Manitoba (1982-1983) and was Executive Director of the Manitoba Film Classification Board.
He died unmarried at Winnipeg on 24 November 1983.
“Charles Biesick,” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 November 1946, page 7.
[Election advertisement], Winnipeg Free Press, 23 June 1951, page 12.
“Dauphin teacher on historic sites board,” Dauphin Herald, 26 October 1982, page 30.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 26 November 1983, page 70.
We thank Oliver Bernuetz (Legislative Library of Manitoba) for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 21 November 2024
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