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The objectives of the National Round Table on Aboriginal Economic Development and Resources were to stimulate discussion of the economic development challenges facing Aboriginal peoples and to elicit suggestions on how these challenges can best be met. The results of the Round Table were to contribute to the formulation of the Royal Commission’s final recommendations. To bring a broad range of perspectives to the discussion, participants included those knowledgeable in economic development and resources issues and those with expertise in the creation and implementation of economic development initiatives benefitting Aboriginal communities — with a balance in terms of gender, age and Aboriginal identification. Economic development issues are very broad-ranging. To help focus discussion, five issue groups or themes were selected, and participants were asked to consider particular questions relating to each of the themes. Discussion papers were commissioned on each of the themes, and a series of examples or models of individual and community enterprise in economic development were presented. --Objectives, p. 1.

The article reviews the book, "Plaisir d'amour et crainte de Dieu : sexualité et confession au Bas-Canada," by Serge Gagnon.

The article reviews the book, "The union and its members," by Julian Barling, Clive Fullagar, and E. Kevin Kelloway.

The article reviews the book, "L'avènement de la linotype: les cas de Montréal à la fin du XIXe siècle," by Bernard Dansereau.

The work of Boivin (1992) and Meltz (1992) on the issue of industrial relations as a discipline is expanded by exploring the implications of this debate for graduate curricula. The debate over whether industrial relations constitutes a discipline is presented, and then some of the implications of the outcome of this debate for the development of industrial relations teaching units and curriculum content are discussed. The alternative organizational approaches to graduate-level study of industrial relations in Canada and the US are broadly characterized. Some of the factors giving rise to the wide variety of programs observed in both countries are presented. Like Boivin, undergraduate labor studies programs are not considered. Some of the factors influencing changes in program content are considered, and the implications of these for the future study of and instruction in industrial relations are discussed.

A labor shortage in 1922, the promise of a bumper yield in 1923, and increased imperialist sentiment resulted in the recruitment of nearly 12,000 British workers to assist Canadian harvesters with the 1923 prairie wheat crop. Since most of them came from the cities they found the transition to western agriculture difficult and their complaints about the treatment they endured caused considerable damage to Canada's image abroad. Nevertheless, many persevered and returned home after the harvest satisfied. Those who remained to make a new life for themselves had a harder time since they were forced to take farm work at subsistence wages for the winter. Others chose to seek work in their own trades in Canada's cities. Like many, those in Toronto faced unemployment but, with the help of area radicals, the militants among them decided to lead a long march to demand work at reasonable wages from the Mackenzie King government. Despite unrelenting harassment from public officials they remained united and, with the assistance of citizens in the communities along the way, they reached the capital bedraggled but defiant a fortnight later. While their march proved futile in the short term, it was an early example of escalating militancy among the unemployed, both domestic and immigrant, which helped to focus attention on both the plight of unskilled labor in a national economy and on the short-sighted, employer-driven immigration policies.

The article reviews the book, "Corporate Canada: An Historical Outline," by Gerry van Houten.

The article reviews the book, "Gender Conflicts: New Essays in Women's History," edited by Franca Iacovetta and Mariana Valverde.

The results of research on the determinants of unemployment spell durations of individuals experiencing job separations in each year from 1978 to 1980 and from 1982 to 1985 are presented. Accelerated failure time models that incorporate explicit assumptions concerning the functional form of the baseline hazard are estimated for each year, and for a variety of functional forms. Cox's (1972) proportional hazards procedure is also employed. The results obtained are robust to the functional form assumed, but not necessarily to the year of data used. It is found that the average duration of an unemployment spell increased significantly as the economy moved into recession during the early 1980s, and that, for the most part, it decreased during the subsequent recovery. However, even though the aggregate unemployment rate fell between 1984 and 1985, the average duration of an unemployment spell increased. For some demographic groups, economic recovery does little to reduce unemployment spell durations. Most notable in this regard is the change in the relationship between age and spell duration.

This is a local study of steelworkers employed at, or aid off from, Stelco’s Hilton Works in Hamilton, Ontario. This local study has been situated in the context of the global restructuring of capitalism. The authors content that more than ever before the dynamics of the whole world economy limit and shape the actions of its past - a process referred to as “globalizing the local.” Restructuring is taking place in response to global demands. As the global net tighten, local regions and industry have less and less autonomy for independent development. Stelco is best conceived as a sit of the worldwide process of capital accumulation. How has this restructuring impacted on local regions and local worked? This question is the focus of this book, often answered in workers’ and management’s own words. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book "Solidarité inc: Un nouveau syndicalisme créateur d'emplois," by Louis Fournier.

Examines the struggle for equal pay for women in a large office union composed of female clerical and male technical and manual workers. The Office and Technical Employees' Union pursued "equal pay for equal job evaluation" for over thirty years from 1949 to 1981, while the employer, B.C. Electric/Hydro, systematically restructured unequal pay. At the same time, union negotiating practices and priorities also reinforced the gendered hierarchy in the workplace, and equal pay for women remained a sectoral "women's issue" rather than a core general union issue.

During the five decades of the transformation of the policies which regulated the importation and placement of immigrant women into household service work, the policy was variously regulated by internal procedures, policy statement, and operational guidelines. This book examines these changes with a focus on understanding how bureaucracy such as Employment and Immigration Canada contributes, through its mandate, to shaping social relationships in the Canadian labour force and society. --Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Working Class Experience: Rethinking the History of Canadian Labor, 1800-1991," by Bryan D. Palmer.

The article reviews the book, "Le traité du recours à l'encontre d'un congédiement sans cause juste et suffisante," by Pierre Laporte.

Analyzes through the use of tables the principle characteristics of the 181 strikes that took place in the resource-based economy of northern Ontario between 1900 and 1945. Concludes that the strike frequency reflected the pattern of others in the country during the period, that the strikes nvolved mostly workers in the mining, metal, forestry, and pulp and paper industries, that the core issues were union representation and compensation, and that the employer generally won, especially in mining.

The article reviews the book, "Chronologie du Québec," by Jean Provencher.

Against the background of growing demands in Britain for anti-discrimination legislation covering disabled persons, the study examines the case for reform, and the shape which such legislation might take, in the employment field. Using the socio-legal tradition, the meaning of disability is explored and the demography, nature and experience of disability is described. The evidence of employment discrimination against disabled persons is evaluated and their position in the labour market is plotted. Existing law on disabled employment rights in Britain is set out and its strengths and weaknesses weighed. The employment rights of disabled workers in the European Community, the United States, Canada and Australia are narrated. Then, using comparative legal methodology, a number of problems and issues in the regulation of disability-related employment discrimination (and the promotion of equal opportunities) are recounted and critically analysed. These problems and issues include the definition of disability discrimination, identification of the protected class, fitness for work and employment qualification, use of reasonable accommodation and positive action, preferential treatment and the role of quotas, and enforcement strategies and remedial action. The experience of the United States is recruited as the primary basis of comparison and lessons for suggested legal reforms in Britain are pointed out. Some general conclusions on the efficacy of disability discrimination laws are drawn. The study surveys a wide variety of primary and secondary legal materials, including legislation and case law, and reviews the pertinent literature drawn from legal scholarship and other relevant disciplines. It does so in the context of a theoretical perspective that borrows from the body of legal theory and concepts developed in race and gender discrimination law.

Why do men rape women? This is a question for which there are many political, psychological, and sociological answers, but few historical ones. Improper Advances is one of the first books to explore the history of sexual violence in any country. A study of women, men, and sexual crime in rural and northern Ontario, it expands the terms of current debates about sexuality and sexual violence. --Publisher's description

The author reflects on her teaching experiences while a part-time instructor in McMaster University's labour studies program. Focuses on the classroom behaviour of some male students who were hostile toward labour unions and political correctness. Also describes a related incident where a student wrote an exam under false pretenses, for which there was no significant sanction from the administration.