George Hewison

Who is George Hewison?

George Hewison is a folk singer, trade unionist, and formerly a long-time member of the Communist Party of Canada and was briefly its general secretary from 1988 until 1992.

His father, "Jack" Hewison, immigrated to Canada from Scotland and settled in Campbell River, British Columbia where he worked as a fisherman and became secretary of his union local. He had been a founding member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation but was disillusioned by the CCF during the Cold War and joined the Labour-Progressive Party when CCF leaders supported a raid by Hal Banks and the Seafarers International Union against Hewison's union, the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union in 1953 after it was expelled from the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada because of its Communist leadership.

Hewison grew up in Campbell River, British Columbia selling the party press and joined the Communist Party and the fishermen's union at the age of 17. He grew up in a musical family before television and made his first public performance when his voice changed from soprano to bass in 1960. In addition to his labour and political activism, Hewison has always seen music as an essential part of his life.