Vicky Beauchamp was born in 1940, in a farmhouse in Spring Creek, Alberta, near Willingdon, the second of seven children. Her father was a Ukrainian immigrant, her mother Canadian-born. Both were active members of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). Vicky had worked at Canada Packers for three summers before completing high school. She then went to work full-time at Swift’s, where she was elected shop steward of Local 280P, recording secretary, and trustee. She is a lifetime member of the local. Next, she went to Gainers, where she became a union activist and married fellow activist Gerry Beauchamp. She became vice-president of Local 319 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) of the Gainers local on the south side (now Local 401).
During the Gainers strike, Vicky was a strike captain and a tireless fighter for the workers’ cause. She remained active in the UFCW after the strike and in her retirement. She was also on the Alberta Federation of Labour executive for two years. Active in the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada, she is a long-time executive of the Friends of St. Michael, and was recognized with the 2019 Minister’s Seniors’ Service Award.
The Art Gallery of Alberta respectfully acknowledges that we are located in Treaty 6 Territory and Region 4 of the Metis Nation of Alberta. We respect this as the traditional and contemporary land of diverse Indigenous Peoples including the Plains Cree, Woodland Cree, Beaver Cree, Nitsitapi/Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Anishinaabe/Saulteaux/Ojibwe and Dene Peoples. We also acknowledge the many Indigenous, Inuit and Métis people who make Alberta their home today.