Irene Baird was born on April 4, 1901, in Carlisle, and she died on April 19, 1981, in Coquitlam. She was an English-Canadian novelist, journalist, and civil servant. She is most famous for her 1939 novel Waste Heritage, which describes worker conflicts. She wrote four novels and also created journalism, stories, and poetry. In the early 1940s, she began working for the National Film Board and later for the government of Canada. She became the first woman to lead a federal information division.

Early life and first novel

Irene Violet Elise Todd was born on April 9, 1901, in Carlisle, England. She was the only daughter of Robert and Eva Todd, who owned a wool mill. Irene received her education from a private teacher and later attended boarding schools. In 1919, after her father went on a fly fishing trip to British Columbia, the family moved to Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island. In 1923, Irene married Robert Baird, an engineer, and the couple settled in Vancouver. They had two children: Robert, born in 1924, and June, born in 1928. In the early 1930s, Baird became the first female teacher at St. George's Boys' Anglican Private School in Vancouver.

In 1937, Baird moved to Victoria. That same year, she published her first novel, John, which is a story about a person's life and emotions. The main character is John Dorey, a 62-year-old English war veteran who leaves his family's wool trade business. He moves to a coastal farm in Lisk, a fictional place based on a real area on Vancouver Island. The book became a best-seller and was often compared to James Hilton's novella, Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

Waste Heritage

In 1939, Baird published Waste Heritage, her second novel. The story follows the events after a real event in June 1938, called Bloody Sunday, when police forced unemployed men to leave the Vancouver Post Office after they had occupied it for nineteen days. After being driven away with tear gas and clubs, about two thousand unemployed men traveled to Victoria to protest the government. The main character is Matt Striker, a twenty-two-year-old man without a permanent home, who arrives after the sit-down occupation ends. He befriends Eddy, who has mental difficulties caused by being beaten by police. Matt sometimes experiences "rage blindness," which makes him lose control. He wants to join the labor movement but is not accepted because of his unpredictable behavior. Near the end of the novel, Eddy searches for shoes and fights with a police officer. Matt tries to stop the fight but loses control and kills the officer. In a moment of guilt, Eddy sacrifices his life by standing in front of a moving train.

The novel was well received when it was first published. In 1939, Bruce Hutchison praised it as "one of the best books to come out of Canada in our time." Some critics compared the characters Matt and Eddy to George and Lennie from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. However, this similarity is only on the surface. Other reviews compared Waste Heritage to Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, but Waste Heritage was already sent to its Canadian publisher, Macmillan, before Steinbeck’s book was published. The Canadian and American editions of the book are different because some parts of the Canadian edition were censored under the War Measures Act. The novel sold poorly and was out of print by 1942. It was not reprinted until 1973, but it became unavailable again after thirty years. In 2007, the University of Ottawa Press released a new edition.

Although Baird was politically moderate, her novel effectively shows the struggles of workers during a time of unrest. Once overlooked, Waste Heritage is now seen as an important piece of literature. It has been called the best naturalistic Canadian novel from the 1930s and one of the most important social records of that period.

War years

In 1940 and 1941, Baird gave radio speeches about the war. These speeches were later printed in a pamphlet called The North American Tradition. In the pamphlet, she encouraged Canadians to show bravery like the pioneers and to help connect England and the United States.

In 1941, Baird published her third novel, He Rides The Sky. The book was partly based on real letters written during the war. The main character is Pilot Sergeant Pete O'Halloran, from Victoria, British Columbia. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1938. His letters to friends and family describe his training and battles until the final letter, sent the day before his death in April 1940. The book received praise from readers and the military, but it did not sell well and was later out of print.

In 1941, Baird started writing a newspaper column for the Vancouver Sun. The next year, she joined the staff of the Daily Province. Soon after, the National Film Board offered her a job, and she moved to Ottawa. Her work involved distributing films in the United States. She worked under the guidance of the Canadian ambassador and Lester Pearson, who was part of the Canadian team at the United Nations. By the end of the war, Baird and her husband had separated, though they never officially divorced. In 1945, she became a representative and information officer for the National Film Board at the Canadian consulate in Mexico City. Baird was fluent in French and quickly learned Spanish.

Civil Servant

In 1947, Baird lost her job on the film board after being accused of being a communist by James McCann, the Minister of National Revenue. She was later hired as the first information officer in the Department of Mines and Resources. In 1962, she became the first woman to lead an information division in the federal government. Her office, part of the renamed Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources, was responsible for Canada's Arctic region. She frequently traveled to the Arctic and wrote lectures, articles, and pamphlets about the area. She also gave talks on radio and television. Her writing about the Inuit and the north was designed to promote understanding of the region. Baird supported Inuit efforts to protect their culture from influences by people from southern Canada. During this time, she wrote travel stories, poetry, and short stories. Her poetry often focused on themes of sadness and feeling disconnected. Her work appeared in publications such as Saturday Night, Beaver, North, Canadian Geographical Journal, and the Unesco Courier. She retired from government service in 1967 and moved to London after a few months.

The Climate of Powerand last years

In 1971, Baird published her final novel, The Climate of Power. The story explores conflicts among high-ranking officials in Canada’s government. George McKenna, a long-time government worker, is preparing for his retirement but faces challenges in his personal life, including a difficult relationship with his younger wife. McKenna has spent many years in the Arctic and views the Inuit people with a sense of superiority. He feels threatened by a younger, more progressive colleague named Roy Wragge. During a boat trip in the Arctic Ocean, McKenna causes the boat to rock violently, causing Wragge to fall into the icy water, where he likely dies from the cold. Later, during a journey to the north, McKenna suffers severe frostbite and loses both feet after refusing to turn back during a snowstorm. Baird skillfully portrayed the conflicts and changing relationships within the government. The book also highlights how government actions affected Inuit communities, showing how policies led to the breaking down of these groups. Some readers found this view outdated by modern standards. Reviews of the book were mixed, with some being slightly positive and others negative. The book was not well promoted and quickly faded from public attention.

Due to poor health, Baird returned to Victoria in 1974. She remained there until her death on April 17, 1981, in Coquitlam, British Columbia.