Irene Baird
Irene Baird was a notable British-Canadian author and journalist, born in 1901 in Carlisle, England, and later immigrating to Canada at the age of eighteen. After marrying Robert Baird in Vancouver, she became a prominent voice during her time, particularly recognized for her powerful writings on social issues. Her most significant literary work, *Waste Heritage*, published in 1939, explores the impacts of the Great Depression in Canada, specifically reflecting on the 1938 occupation of the Vancouver Post Office by unemployed individuals. Baird's career spanned various roles, including columnist positions at the *Vancouver Sun* and the *Vancouver Province*, and she contributed to significant publications such as *Saturday Night* and *Canadian Geographical Journal*. Notably, she was a pioneer for women in the Canadian government, becoming the first female head of a federal information division in 1962. In addition to her fiction, she authored several nonfiction works about Canada and its Indigenous peoples. After retiring to London and writing her last novel in 1971, Baird returned to Victoria, British Columbia, where she passed away in 1981. Her legacy continues to resonate in Canadian literature and journalism.
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Subject Terms
Irene Baird
Fiction and Nonfiction Writer
- Born: April 9, 1901
- Birthplace: Carlisle, Cumberland County, England
- Died: April 19, 1981
- Place of death: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Biography
Irene Baird was born Irene Todd in Carlisle, Cumberland County, England, in 1901, the daughter of Robert and Eva Todd. At age eighteen, she immigrated to Canada, where she married Robert Baird in Vancouver, British Columbia. The marriage produced two children, Robert and June. After moving to Victoria in 1937, Irene Baird produced a series of radio addresses on war in 1940 and 1941. In 1942, she became a columnist for the Vancouver Sun, joining the Vancouver Province in the same year.
The novel Waste Heritage was finished in 1939, and is widely regarded as her most important work. This novel has been described as the definitive novel of the Depression in Canada. It describes the volatile aftermath of the June, 1938, occupation of the main Vancouver Post Office by unemployed “sit- downers” who were evicted after nineteen days by police with tear gas. Over two thousand men trekked to Victoria to confront the government directly, housed in abandoned hotels during the conflict. Baird, a newspaper reporter, toured the hotels disguised as a nurse in order to gather information for this work.
Baird then moved to Ottawa to work for the National Film Board, serving as a field representative for the agency in Washington, D. C., and Mexico City. In 1947, she joined the Federal Department of Mines and Resources and the Department of Northern Affairs, working as a senior information officer. In 1962, Irene Baird became the first woman to head a federal information division when she became the Chief of Information Services.
Her freelance articles and poetry appeared in publications such as Saturday Night, Canadian Geographical Journal, Unesco Courier and Beaver. She wrote several nonfiction books about Canada and Canadian Eskimos. She returned to London upon her retirement in 1967, settling into a flat in South Kensington, London. There she wrote her final novel The Climate of Power in 1971. Returning to Victoria, British Columbia, in 1973, Irene Baird died in 1981 at the age of eighty.