were arrested. Some of the incidents included: On March 14, a dynamite explosion destroyed part of a railroad track that led into the Johns-Manville Corporation Canadian subsidiary property. On March 16, strikers overturned a company jeep, injuring a passenger. Strikers had the support of Canadian unions and some of the Catholic Church in Quebec. The Catholic Church, which had until that time been largely supportive of the Union Nationale government of Duplessis, profoundly affected the strike. Some priests backed the companies, but most sided with the strikers. On March 5, Archbishop Joseph Charbonneau delivered a fiercely pro-union speech asking all Catholics to donate to help the strikers. Premier Duplessis asked the church to transfer the archbishop to Vancouver because of his encouragement of the strike. The church refused, signaling a dramatic change in Quebec society. Charbonneau did resign and became the chaplain at a hospital in Victoria, British Columbia. On May 5, the strikers launched an effort to shut down the mine in Asbestos by barricading the mine and every road into and out of town. Police attempts to force their way through the barricades failed. The strikers backed down when the police pledged to open fire on the strikers. The next day, the riot act was read and mass arrests of the strikers had begun, including a raid on the church. The arrested strikers were beaten and their leaders severely battered. After the arrests, the unions decided that they must compromise, and began negotiations with the company. Archbishop Maurice Roy, of Quebec City, served as mediator. In June, the workers agreed to return to work with few gains. When the dispute ended, miners received a small pay increase, but many never regained their jobs. Significance One of the most violent and bitter labour disputes in Quebec and Canadian history, the strike led to great upheaval in Quebec society. The strike was in large part led by Jean Marchand, a labour unionist. Journalist Gérard Pelletier and future Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, then a journalist, also played significant roles. Marchand, Pelletier and Trudeau would eventually become prominent Canadian politicians and were known later in their political careers as Les Trois Colombes (the Three Wise Men). They would largely establish the direction of Quebec federalism for a generation. Trudeau edited a book, The Asbestos Strike, that presented the strike as the origin of modern Quebec, portraying it as "a violent