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ABSTRACT
This article considers the history of global supply chains in relation to Canadian sugar marketing. Now a dietary staple, refined sugar in Canada today is plentiful and affordable. Ninety percent of this sugar is made from imported cane. Yet within Canada little public awareness exists regarding cane sugars’ countries of origin. Inquiring into how Canadian refiners have portrayed their cane sugars’ provenance, this article sketches out the histories of land and labor disavowal within Canadian cane sugar marketing. Looking at advertising produced by the company Rogers Sugar between 1890 and 1931, it finds that during this time a tension existed between portraying Rogers’ sugars as sourced from within the British Empire and as emanating from Canada. As well, in most of its advertising, Rogers’ white Canadian refinery workers are highlighted. Due to these workers’ ubiquity, the omission of international contributors to Rogers’ sugars is especially noticeable.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to Brandi Adams, Kiera Mitchell, Eric Schiffmann, and Varun Singh for their superb research assistance. Thank you to the staff at the City of Vancouver Archives, including Chak Yung Hi, Kira Baker, and Bronywn Smith. This article is indebted to the attendees at the “Celebrating Girmitiya Lives” conference in Suva in 2023 including Ganesh Chand, Farzana Gounder, Jasmine Ali, Shwetanshu Bhushan, Praneil Chandra, Pravind Kumar, and Ravindra Prajapati; and to the attendees at the “Imperial Foodways” Conference in Santa Barbara (virtual) in 2021 including Erika Rappaport and Elizabeth Schmidt. For their interest and support, I am grateful to Philip Charrier, Jonathan Crago, Marie-France Duhamel, Nicolas Halter, Dallas Harrison, Arif Khan, Margaret Mishra, Bryan Palmer, Jeffrey Pilcher, Shobha Rae, Nikhat Shameem, Susan Witte, the anonymous reviewers of this piece, and many others. This article could not have been written without the support of my family, especially David Taylor. All errors are my own.
Notes
1. Lantic Incorporated, which now owns the Rogers brand, sells both cane and beet sugars as Rogers Sugar. Sugars manufactured in its Vancouver plant are made from imported cane sugars. Sugars manufactured in its Taber plant are made from domestic sugar beets. As far as I am aware, both the Vancouver and the Taber plants package their refined white sugars in identical packages. This may be a further reason causing Rogers to downplay its sugars’ origins. See Lantic Inc., “History” On the history of Alberta beet sugar production, see Komori, “The Canadian ‘War of the Two Sugars.’” On country-of-origin labeling in Canada, see Government of Canada, “Country of Origin Labeling.”
2. Importantly, this slogan also disavows agricultural labor in Alberta’s beet fields. As Komori points out, Lantic also processes beet sugars under the Rogers’ label. These beet sugars are currently grown in highly exploitative conditions in southern Alberta by migrant workers from Mexico and the Caribbean. See Komori, “The Canadian ‘War of the Two Sugars,’” 17.
3. Morrison, That Beet, 11. Beet sugars have never come close to competing with cane’s dominance in this country. Their peak of total Canadian market share was in the 1950s, when they reached almost 25 percent of sugars refined nation-wide. See Morrison, That Beet, 7; Canadian Sugar Beet Producers Association, “Sugar Beet,” 2.
4. Cruikshank, “Taking the Bitter with the Sweet,” 370.
5. For starting points please consult Berlin, Many Thousands Gone; Williams, Capitalism and Slavery; Lal, Chalo Jahaji; Mintz, Sweetness and Power, 32–73; and Manjapra, “Plantation Dispossessions.”
6. Schreiner, The Refiners, 36–43, 92–96, 147–157; Moynagh, Brown or White? 80–1; Masih, “The Operations;” LeGrand, “Informal Resistance.”
7. In 1931, Rogers purchased the first of what eventually became four beet sugar factories in the Canadian prairies. See Schreiner, The Refiners, 36–43.
8. Komori, “The Canadian ‘War of the Two Sugars,’” 2.
9. Ibid.
10. Also ibid.
11. Ibid., 20.
12. Ibid., 1, 11.
13. Ibid., 4.
14. Cooper, The Enslavement of Africans in Canada, 7.
15. Ibid., 6.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid., 7. Also Tillotson, “Importing the Plantation”
18. Masih, “The Operations;” Schreiner, The Refiners, 36–43; Abbas, “Indo-Fijians: Our long journey Home,” 138–46; Ali, From Plantation to Politics; Lal, Chalo Jahaji; Gounder, Indentured Identities; Mishra, “Between Women;” Shameem, “Migration, Labour and Plantation Women;” Naidu, The Violence of Indenture.
19. Lal, Chalo Jahaji, 149.
20. Insiders within Rogers Sugar were well aware of indentured people’s presence on the Vancouver-Fiji Sugar Company’s plantations. Moreover, in her history of B.C. Sugar, published in 1958, B.T. Rogers’ wife Isabella includes numerous references to the Fiji operation’s indentured community. See Rogers, B.C. Sugar, 24–5.
21. Fossen and Briemberg, “The riches to riches story of the Rogers sugar empire.”
22. Beginning in 1931, after Rogers moved into beet sugar refining, the company also failed to depict agricultural beet workers workers in Alberta within its campaigns. This failure was the result of the “stratification” of sugar’s labor force “along the lines of citizenship,” as Komori argues. Within this stratification, Rogers saw white refinery workers as “Canadian” and as therefore adding value to its company’s sugars. In contrast, it viewed beet workers through a racialized lens, one that saw them as non-citizens. See Komori, “The Canadian ‘War of the Two Sugars’” 1–24, quote 1.
23. Schreiner, The Refiners, 92–96.
24. Specific databases under review were Newspapers.com, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, the Internet Archive, the University of Victoria Libraries, and the University of Manitoba Libraries.
25. Milligan, “Illusionary Order.”
26. Francis, Becoming Vancouver, 49.
27. Barman, “Erasing Indigenous Indigeneity;” Kilian, Go Do Some Great Thing; Yu, “Conceiving a Pacific Canada.” People of Japanese and South Asian background began arriving early in the twentieth century. See Francis, Becoming Vancouver, 105; and Price, Orienting Canada, 7.
28. Schreiner, The Refiners, 15.
29. Schreiner, The Refiners, 17.
30. Krasowski, No Surrender, kindle loc 208–1191.
31. Statistics Canada, “Estimated Population of Canada, 1867–1977.”
32. Walker, “Immigration Policy.”
33. Cruikshank, “Taking,” 367, 370.
34. Cruikshank, “Taking the Bitter with the Sweet,” Table 3, 374. In 1921, Ontario and Quebec had a combined population of 4,533,068 people. In contrast, the four western provinces had 1,720,601 people. See Statistics Canada, “Estimated Population of Canada.”
35. Cruikshank, “Taking the Bitter with the Sweet,” 369.
36. Bosma, The World of Sugar, 311.
37. Cruikshank, “Taking the Bitter with the Sweet,” 369. US statistics are drawn from Bosma, who calculates US sugar consumption per capita in 1920 at just under 40 kilograms per capita: Bosma, The World of Sugar, 311.
38. As a starting point for these topics, please see Williams, Capitalism and Slavery; Cooper, The Enslavement, 4–8; Berlin, Many Thousands Gone; Kimball, “‘What have we to do with Slavery?;’” Scanlan, Slave Empire.
39. Bosma, The World of Sugar, 56; also Deerr, The History of Sugar, 2:284.
40. Lal, Chalo Jahaji, 74. Also see, for example, Kumar, Coolies of the Empire; Bahadur, Coolie Woman; Ali, From Plantation to Politics; Tinker, A New System of Slavery.
41. Northrup, Indentured Labour, 44.
42. Manjapra, “Plantation Dispossessions,” 372–4.
43. Masih, “The Operations”
44. “Annual Reports to 28 February 1915,” BC Sugar fonds, AM 1592-S17-F04, City of Vancouver Archives.
45. Lal and Munro, “Non-Resistance in Fiji;” Nicole, Disturbing History, 159–86; Gillion, Fiji’s Indian Migrants, 176–8, 181; Lal, “Kunti’s Cry,” 207–8; Singh, “Indentured Women and Resistance.”
46. W.F. Johnson, President, to the Right Honourable W.L. Mackenzie King, MP, Premier of Canada, 13 February 1923, in “Letter Book 1915–1925,” CVA, AM 1592-S27-G-03, folder 02.
47. “List of Sugar Cargoes,” 1890–1953, BC Sugar fonds, AM 1592–1-S1-F2, City of Vancouver Archives.
48. Bosma, The World of Sugar, 149.
49. Ibid.
50. “List of Sugar Cargoes,” 1890–1953, BC Sugar fonds, AM 1592–1-S1-F2, City of Vancouver Archives.
51. See Buckner, “The Long Goodbye.”
52. “Sugar Diamonds” Advertisement. From: Vancouver Daily World (28 December 1905), 4.
53. Due to copyright restrictions, an image of this ad is not included here. Readers might note, however, that in portraying a white woman as a consumer of Empire, the ad was similar to other imperialist themed ads that similarly promoted Empire products, such as Ceylon tea, to female European purchasers. See Ramamurthy, Imperial Persuaders, 119–123.
54. “Item: 2011–092.0935—PNE [Pacific National Exhibition] Exhibit Booth,” City of Vancouver Archives; “Item: 2011–092.0172—PNE [Pacific National Exhibition] Exhibit Booth,” City of Vancouver Archives.
55. “From Sugar Cane to Crystal Cube,” Vancouver Province, September 13, 1931, 3; “From Sugar Cane to Crystal Cube,” Vancouver Sun, September 17, 1931, 3; “Cutting Sugar Cane in Tropical Fields,” Vancouver Sun, October 22, 1931, 9; “Cutting Sugar Cane in Tropical Fields,” Vancouver Province, October 11, 1931, 7; “Hauling Sugar Cane to Plantation Mill,” Vancouver Province, November 8, 1931, 16; “Hauling Sugar Cane to Plantation Mill,” Vancouver Sun, November 19, 1931, 3; “Raw Cane Sugar Cargo Unloading at Vancouver,” Vancouver Province, December 6, 1931, 5; “Raw Cane Sugar Cargo Unloading at Vancouver,” Vancouver Sun, December 17, 1931, 11; “Storing, Crushing, and Washing Raw Sugar,” Vancouver Sun, January 21, 1932, 3; “Storing, Crushing, and Washing Raw Sugar,” Vancouver Province, January 10, 1932, 3; “Dissolving – Purifying[,] Clarifying – Crystallizing,” Vancouver Province, February 7, 1932, 10; “Dissolving – Purifying[,] Clarifying – Crystallizing,” Vancouver Sun, February 18, 1932, 11; “Laboratory Tests Guarantee Purity,” Vancouver Province, March 6, 1932, 3; “Laboratory Tests Guarantee Purity,” Vancouver Sun, March 18, 1932, 3; “Filling, Capping and Packing Rogers’ Golden Syrup,” Vancouver Province, April 3, 1932, 20; “Filling, Capping and Packing Rogers’ Golden Syrup,” Vancouver Sun, April 16, 1932, 3; “Accurate Weighing and Packing of Refined Pure Cane Sugar,” Vancouver Sun, May 14, 1932, 3; “Sugar Industry Renders an Unfailing Service!,” Vancouver Province, June 5, 1932, 10; “Sugar Industry Renders an Unfailing Service!,” Vancouver Sun, June 11, 1932, 3; “Make the Meal Complete with BC Products,” Vancouver Province, August 7, 1932, 2; “Make the Meal Complete with BC Products,” Vancouver Province, August 13, 1932, 12.
56. “From Sugar Cane to Crystal Cube,” Vancouver Province, September 13, 1931, 3; “From Sugar Cane to Crystal Cube,” Vancouver Sun, September 17, 1931, 3.
57. “Raw Cane Sugar Cargo Unloading at Vancouver,” Vancouver Province, December 6, 1931, 5; “Raw Cane Sugar Cargo Unloading at Vancouver,” Vancouver Sun, December 17, 1931, 11.
58. Also Komori, “The Canadian ‘War of the Two Sugars,’” 1–9.
59. “BUY BC PRODUCTS – IT PAYS YOU,” Vancouver Sun, March 10, 1928, 11; “PLANT OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA SUGAR REFINING COMPANY LIMITED,” Vancouver Province, March 26, 1928, 36; “BUY BC PRODUCTS – IT PAYS,” Vancouver Sun, April 11, 1931, 20; “Established in 1890,” Vancouver Province, June 1, 1931, 23.
60. For example, “Established in 1890,” Vancouver Province, June 1, 1931, 23.
61. Western Canadian consumers saw cane sugar as superior to beet sugar well into the 1950s. See Schreiner, The Refiners, 114.
62. “BUY BC PRODUCTS – IT PAYS YOU,” Vancouver Sun, March 10, 1928, 11; “PLANT OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA SUGAR REFINING COMPANY LIMITED,” Vancouver Province, March 26, 1928, 36; “BUY BC PRODUCTS – IT PAYS,” Vancouver Sun, April 11, 1931, 20; “Established in 1890,” Vancouver Province, June 1, 1931, 23.
63. “Cutting Sugar Cane in Tropical Fields,” Vancouver Sun, October 22, 1931, 9; “Cutting Sugar Cane in Tropical Fields,” Vancouver Province, October 11, 1931, 7.
64. Also Komori, “The Canadian ‘War of the Two Sugars,’” 1–9. On purity and whiteness in English Canadian culture, also see Valverde, The Age of Light, Soap, and Water. For a broader discussion of whiteness, please see Richard Dyer, White.
65. Schreiner, The Refiners, 32.
66. Ibid.
67. See also Komori, “The Canadian ‘War of the Two Sugars,’” 1–9. For example, see “Chinese Sugars – What It Is We May Be Eating!,” Vancouver Daily World, September 18, 1891, 2; “Chinese Sugars – What It Is We May Be Eating!,” Victoria Daily Times, September 21, 1891, 6; “Chinese Sugars – What It Is We May Be Eating!,” Nanaimo Daily News, September 25, 1891, 2.
68. This advertisement ran on July 9, 12, 13, 14, and 15: see “Chinese Sugar,” Vancouver Province, July 9, 1910, 15; “Chinese Sugar,” Vancouver Daily World, July 12, 1910, 17; “Chinese Sugar,” Vancouver Province, July 12, 1910, 15; “Chinese Sugar,” Vancouver Daily World, July 13, 1910, 26; “Chinese Sugar,” Vancouver Province, July 13, 1910, 13; “Chinese Sugar,” Vancouver Daily World, July 14, 1910, 16; “Chinese Sugar,” Vancouver Province, July 15, 1910, 24.
69. See “Chinese Sugar,” Vancouver Province, July 15, 1910, 24.
70. Komori, “The Canadian ‘War of the Two Sugars,’” 4–9.
71. “Why Chinese Sugar?,” Vancouver Province, May 29, 1914, 20.
72. Ibid.
73. “[Expletive] or Clean Sugar?,” Vancouver Province, May 28, 1914, 5.
74. “Don’t Let Your Dealer Substitute,” Vancouver World, July 18, 1914, 21.
75. “White Labor British Columbia Refined Sugar,” Vancouver World, May 27, 1914, 4.
76. “A Local Product – Safe to Use,” Vancouver Province, July 4, 1914, 21.
77. “A Local Product – Safe to Use,” Vancouver Province, July 4, 1914, 21.
78. “THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS,” Western Call, July 14, 1917, 5.
79. “Some Dealers Are Shortsighted,” Vancouver Province, June 6, 1914, 14.
80. Also Komori, “The Canadian ‘War of the Two Sugars,’” 4–9.
81. Evidence of foreign sugars appears in the ads themselves. For example, a September 1930 ad that appeared in the Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province instructed shoppers to “Be Certain to Ask for British Columbia Sugar by Name.” It also included the following: “To enable you to identify British Columbia granulated sugar, and as a special inducement for you to purchase packages bearing our trade mark, we are supplying our convenient 10-pound cotton bag at the same price as sugar sold in bulk.” Such statements indicate that BC Sugar had to lower prices so as to compete with bulk granulated sugar in the marketplace. See “Her Buying Decisions Keep Them Employed,” Vancouver Sun, September 11, 1930, 2; “Her Buying Decisions Keep Them Employed,” Vancouver Province, September 14, 1930, 24.
82. Thank you to one of this article’s anonymous reviewers for pointing this out. Movements against anti-Chinese racism existed on the Canadian west coast throughout the period under inquiry, including for example the movement against Chinese Canadian exclusion from Victoria’s public schools. See Stanley, Contesting White Supremacy, 145–224. For wider discussions of movements against anti-Chinese and anti-Asian racism in British Columbia, please see Yu, “A Provocation” and Nicholas XEMŦOLTW̱ Claxton et. al., Challenging Racist “British Columbia,” 43–54, among other works.
83. “Be Certain It’s ‘Made in BC’ Sugar,” Vancouver Province, September 28, 1930, 13.
84. Ibid.
85. Ibid.
86. See, for example, ibid.
87. Ibid.
88. “Your Market Basket Plays an Important Part in British Columbia Prosperity,” Vancouver Province, October 19, 1930, 32.
89. “Your Market Basket Plays an Important Part in British Columbia Prosperity,” Vancouver Sun, October 30, 1930, 32.
90. “Be Certain It’s ‘Made in BC’ Sugar,” Vancouver Province, September 28, 1930, 13.
91. “There Is Work in Your Market Basket for British Columbia Men and Women,” Vancouver Province, March 1, 1931, 9.
92. “Your Boy’s Future,” Vancouver Province, September 21, 1930, 7.
93. “Her Buying Decisions Keep Them Employed,” Vancouver Sun, September 11, 1930, 2.
94. “Be Certain It’s ‘Made in BC’ Sugar,” Vancouver Province, September 28, 1930, 13. See also “Her Buying Decisions Keep Them Employed,” Vancouver Sun, September 11, 1930, 2.
95. “BROWN SUGAR Gives Extra Flavor to Cereals,” Vancouver Province, December 7, 1930, 20.
96. Komori, “The Canadian ‘War of the Two Sugars,’” 7.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Donica Belisle
Donica Belisle is Professor of History at the University of Regina in Treaty 4 Territory, Saskatchewan, Canada. She is a settler Canadian of Belgian, French, German, and Scottish descent. She is the author of two books and several articles in labor and consumer history. She is currently revising a book about the Vancouver-Fiji Sugar Company, which operated plantations in Fiji from 1905 to 1922.