Search

The radical immigrant in the title of this book, Edo Jardas, was a young Croatian who arrived in Canada in May 1926 and worked for several years as a lumberjack in the hinterland of British Columbia. He was a loyal member of the Communist Party of Canada, a newspaper editor, and a militant trade union activist in the Canadian Croatian community. He fought in the Spanish Civil War in 1937 and returned to Canada as a war veteran. Jardas left Canada for Yugoslavia in 1948 where he assumed several prominent political functions, including the post of mayor of the largest harbour in the country-his hometown of Rijeka-from 1952 to 1955. Rather than being a simple biography, this book describes the circumstances that shaped the Croatian immigrant community in the hostile social and natural environment of Canada. The community was deeply engaged in the political debates concerning the Croatian status in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later renamed as Yugoslavia) since its foundation in 1919. The question of national identity and its affirmation at home and in the diaspora therefore figured pre-eminently in the Croatian immigrant press.The book is also very much a study in Canadian history. It is an account of the political radicalization of the Canadian working class, inspired by the international communist movement at a time of major economic and political upheaval in the post-WWI decades. --Publisher's description

What does a cash-strapped government do when the collective agreements for almost a quarter million of its unionized employees expire simultaneously while wishing to maintain a respectful relationship with its labour supporters? In 1997, the Premier of British Columbia (BC), Canada, Glen Clark, thought of an imaginative solution. It was to offer unions an opportunity to participate with the government in developing policies on issues affecting their members and the services they provide. This was BC’s public sector policy Accord process. The goal was to establish a different, more collaborative relationship with unions, one in which they had a voice in shaping policy solutions. This parallel process – entirely separate from collective bargaining - would also avoid the adversarial relationship that so often characterizes a government’s relations with its unions, by recognizing the positive role unions and their members could play in contributing to improving BC’s public programs and services. The authors, who worked on the Accord process with Premier Clark, provide an insider’s story of the intensive three-year period, during which the parties negotiated 35 policy accords across the entire provincial public sector. The Accords covered a wide range of issues, including pension trusteeship and portability, early retirement, provincial school class size, benefits trusts, government procurement policy, hospital laboratory services, workforce training, pay equity, creation of a health and safety agency and numerous smaller policy fixes. The accord process demonstrated that it was possible for a government to initiate a new and more collaborative relationship with its unions by inviting them into the policy process. The accords definitely improved relations with the government and contributed to collective bargaining settlements within the government’s money mandate. --Publisher's description

This paper employs a four-fold ideological schema – business liberalism, welfare liberalism, social democracy, and hard-left socialism or communism – to examine the dynamics of the history of labour disruptions at York University. It sets the strikes in the context of a long-term decline of funding for postsecondary education in the social sciences and humanities, with the current rounds of restructuring at York representing a new local point of crisis. The problem of blame as a mode of explaining and resolving conflicts is discussed, along with a view of how contrasting and overlapping pragmatic or principled, individualistic or group-oriented ideas account for the prevalence of labour action.

As Canada sought to protect its borders and aid its allies during the Cold War, many people were recruited to build the emerging security state: as construction and maintenance workers, engineers, members of the armed forces, medical researchers, and research subjects. Security work transformed the lives of individuals, families, and communities in ways that were both predictable and surprising, and both beneficial and harmful; the militarization and colonization of Indigenous lives and lands was especially disruptive. The opening essays of Cold War Workers intimately portray the complicated effects of Cold War labour upon Indigenous lives. Elmer Sinclair, a residential school survivor and member of the Canadian armed forces, achieved equality with white men through his militarized masculinity. His more positive professional experience contrasts with those of Indigenous workers on northern radar lines, many of whom lost languages, connections to the land, and other elements of traditional cultures as they sought new skills and better employment. Diverse Indigenous experiences of Cold War security work set the scene for the second set of essays, which explore the impact of security preoccupations on marginalized groups – the study of extreme isolation through scientific experimentation on human subjects; the targeting of gay men with psychiatric labelling to enforce an idealized masculinity; and the restriction of gender mobility in the Canadian military, and the pushback from servicewomen. Cold War Workers raises questions about the influence of settler-colonial masculine institutional values on those who laboured for the Cold War state and society. By comparing the experiences of different types of workers, families, and communities, this volume reveals how race, gender, and privilege affected people in varied and sometimes unexpected ways. -- Publisher's description

The article reviews the book, "Workers of the Earth: Labour, Ecology and Reproduction in the Age of Climate Change," by Stefania Barca.

This thesis explores the concept of culinary placemaking through the lens of Global Political Economy (GPE), focusing on how foodwork functions as a relational practice that shapes social, cultural, and economic spaces. It examines the relationships among food, labour, and place, emphasizing the ways in which workers transform culinary environments into meaningful places through their physical, emotional, and creative contributions. Drawing on existing literature, the research highlights how neoliberal policies have commodified food and labour, leading to increased precarity and alienation for food workers. Despite these challenges, culinary workers actively resist the pressures of globalization by fostering localized food systems, emphasizing cultural and social engagement, and envisioning alternative economic models such as cooperatives and farm-to-table initiatives. This thesis finds that culinary placemaking not only resists commodification but also offers opportunities for social cohesion, cultural expression, and economic resilience. Furthermore, the research touches upon the gendered dimensions of culinary labour, demonstrating how workers navigate power dynamics within professional kitchens and community food spaces. Future research directions include exploring the evolving role of consumers in culinary placemaking, addressing labour precarity through policy interventions, and investigating how Indigenous economies contribute to decolonial approaches to food sovereignty. By situating foodwork within the broader political and economic context, this thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of the transformative potential of culinary labour in fostering inclusive, sustainable, and culturally resonant food spaces.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted the Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention on June 16, 2011, an act deemed in the literature to be an innovation in regulatory measures. This chapter discusses the ILO’s production of a newly visibilized and highly idealized domestic worker, specifically the Asian migrant/immigrant woman domestic worker in the context of Canada’s gendered, racialized, and capitalist management of multiculturalism and citizenship. This chapter asks, how does this paradoxical embodiment of the domestic worker continue to leave her estranged, or in other words, to leave her persistently needed, but not welcomed? And it further asks, in what ways is the woman domestic worker both a ‘useful’ body and a body that refuses its own usefulness?

The Canadian economy has been suffering from the damaging impact of COVID-19. The adverse impact of COVID-19 on employment and income has been unevenly affecting different socio-economic and demographic groups in Canada. Labour market impact of COVID-19 disproportionately affected immigrants, particularly women as they are overrepresented in low paid and precarious work in Canada. Although federal emergency benefits were provided such as Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), marginalized workers were excluded from these benefits as they were not able to meet the eligibility criteria. Based on the interviews of 20 women from the Bangladeshi community in the Greater Toronto Area my research finds that neoliberalism contributes to the rise of  precarious employment and labour market insecurity and the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the stark contrast in divisions in the labour market between workers with relatively secure jobs and the ability to work from home, those without the ability to work from home (especially in precarious jobs) and those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic.  My findings show that a majority of immigrant Bangladeshi women in the Greater Toronto Area who were employed were working in precarious jobs that were low-paying, temporary or contractual in nature. I find a high level of job loss, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, disproportionately experienced by immigrant Bangladeshi women as they are more vulnerable and marginalized in Canada.

Despite widespread concerns that gig work is becoming a dominant part of our economy, most studies find it is not an important part of Canada’s labour market and its growth is embraced by most workers. While there is no consensus on its precise definition, most research shows gig work involves less than 10 percent of the labour force. Moreover, most definitions of the gig economy—as with related concepts such as nonstandard and precarious work—include well-off people, such as self-employed professionals as well as people who prefer flexible work, such as truckers, dockworkers, and students and older people looking to supplement their incomes. Many participants in the gig economy are attracted by its flexibility and freedom, rather than being forced into such jobs by a weak labour market. This contradicts the narrative that these jobs are inherently inferior. Most data point to a much different assessment of the state of Canada’s labour market. Job tenure has risen steadily, quit rates remain near historic lows, and surveys show most Canadians are content with their working conditions. This implies little need for governments to legislate and regulate the labour market to help vulnerable workers, and such initiatives may limit the opportunities for people to earn extra income and stay active in the labour force. The disconnect between the relatively benign reality of Canada’s labour market and advocates who insist work is becoming more precarious reflects fundamental problems in the agenda for labour economics, with much of this narrative reflecting Europe’s experience with regulations that end up marginalizing youths and immigrants trying to find their footing in a sclerotic economy. --Executive Summary

This article highlights the relationships between the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and the Party of Labour of Albania in an ambivalent context, where the process of establishing bilateral relations between Ottawa and Tirana is sluggish, while the façades of socialist Albania and the regime’s rhetoric circulate widely thanks to a highly dynamic network of Marxist proselytizers and propaganda instruments. Focusing on the period from the founding of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) in 1970 to the collapse of the regime in Albania in 1991, the analysis is primarily based on unpublished archives from the Party of Labour and the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as articles from the Canadian press. It seeks to answer the following questions: How do relations between Ottawa and Tirana unfold? How and why does Albania become a beacon of socialism in Canada? Why is the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) recognized by Tirana? How do these relations manifest themselves?

In this inspiring memoir, Judy Darcy recounts the remarkable turns that brought her from library worker to president of Canada’s largest labour union, and from there to groundbreaking legislator focused on many of our most pressing issues, including health care, the rights of immigrant workers and the toxic-drug crisis. As this rich memoir shows, the life of activist, union leader and legislator Judy Darcy mirrors many of the great social and political currents of the modern era. Opening in the charged atmosphere of the feminist movement in the late 1960s, when the twenty-year-old Darcy—swept up by the promise of historic, liberating change—infiltrates a beauty pageant and later disrupts Parliament over reproductive rights, the story then reaches back to her earliest years as the daughter of immigrants deeply scarred by World War II. In this tale of personal trauma and desire for justice, Darcy recounts the remarkable turns that brought her from library clerical worker to leading public figure. Her rise through the ranks of the country’s largest union—the Canadian Union of Public Employees, with several hundred thousand members—culminates in her 1991 election as national president, a traditionally male-dominated role. Years later, after moving from Ontario to British Columbia, she is elected to public office, becoming an NDP MLA. Here, as the only North American minister of mental health and addictions, she confronted the ravages of the toxic-drug crisis, working to help some of society’s most vulnerable. Throughout the tumultuous events of her career and personal life, Darcy is forever working for those on the margins, fighting to protect workers’ rights, water rights, health care, childcare and reproductive choice, and helping secure a landmark Supreme Court decision in favour of same-sex partner pensions. Powered by intense conviction and intimately personal experience, her candid story offers a vision of a new kind of leadership, steeped in compassion and able to negotiate the most urgent and complex challenges of our fractured era. -- Publisher's description

This paper examines one possible, but understudied, institution that might have an impact on health: unionization. We outline four distinct, although complementary, pathways through which unions might influence population health outcomes based on two axes: the levers that unions can potentially pull to influence any policy environment (collective bargaining and political action) and the manner in which health can be influenced in a society (the Social Determinants of Health and health care). We test whether unionization rates have an impact on total, preventable, and treatable mortality using panel data on Canadian provinces between 2000 and 2020. We find that unionization rates are negatively associated with all three measures of mortality.

Life in Canada is shaped by the seasons – marked, celebrated, enjoyed, and sometimes dreaded in ways that respond directly to the changing cycles in nature. Sociological thinking encourages us to question the aspects of everyday life that we may otherwise take for granted. Seasonal Sociology takes a sociological approach to thinking about the seasons, providing a unique perspective for understanding social life. Each chapter in this collection explores key issues of sociological interest through the passage of time and seasonal change. The authors wield seasonality as a powerful tool that can bridge small-scale interpersonal interactions with large-scale institutional structures. This collection of contemporary Canadian case studies is wide-ranging and analyses topics such as pumpkin spice lattes, policing in schools, law and colonialism, summer cottages, seasonal affective disorder, Vaisakhi celebrations, and more. The second edition introduces new chapters on Labour Day and organized labour, disability and online dating, maple sugar shacks, seasonal agricultural work, wildfires, and social movements like Pride and Black Lives Matter. Seasonal Sociology ultimately offers fresh, provocative ways of thinking about the nature of our collective lives. -- Publisher's description

In the American and Canadian warehouses of the e-commerce giant Amazon, electronic workplace surveillance (“EWS”) technologies permit the unprecedented quantification and datafication of worker activity, enabling the setting and enforcing of unsafe productivity ‘quotas’ that lead to serious occupational injuries for warehouse workers. In this paper, I consider the role of Canadian law – namely, the employment, privacy, and occupational health and safety legal regimes in the province of Ontario – in enabling, and in potentially constraining, this phenomenon in Ontario’s Amazon warehouses. In doing so, I identify the ‘legal silence’ that shapes the lived experiences of Amazon warehouse workers in Ontario; contribute to the emerging theorization, particularly from a legal perspective, of EWS as a factor impacting workers’ physical health; and propose legal reforms that would improve the safety and well-being of Amazon warehouse workers – and other similarly-situated workers – across the province.

This thesis undertook an interpretivist historical analysis of the publicly available Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) meeting minutes from 1936 to 1952. A Foucauldian lens of disciplinary power was used to answer the research question: how was the National Hockey League (NHL) able to develop a professional sponsorship system within the CAHA following World War II, and what effects did this have on Canadian minor hockey. The results found that following the signing of the CAHA/NHL agreement, the NHL exercised its disciplinary power over the CAHA members to instill in them what Foucault termed ‘docility.’ The birth of the professional sponsorship system following WWII was a result of this disciplining and docility. Through this system, the NHL brought its disciplinary technologies directly to bear on Canadian minor hockey and gained the ability to control players' rights from ages as young as twelve years old.

À son apogée entre 1945 et 1975, le Moulin-à-Fleur ou la paroisse Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf se vantait d'être le quartier francophone de Sudbury et de l'Ontario. Il représentait en effet la pierre angulaire pour les autres communautés francophones ainsi que le fondement de la vie culturelle, économique et politique des Franco-Ontariens. Mais l'histoire n'a jamais été racontée de façon détaillée. Des années de recherches approfondies ont incité les auteurs à se plonger dans de nombreux écrits, articles scientifiques, archives personnelles, articles de journaux et témoignages afin de livrer cette première étude globale. Divisé en deux volets qui se complètent, ce récit retrace à la fois l'héritage des familles qui se sont battues pour offrir un quotidien et un avenir brillants à leur descendance et la lutte féroce menée par des pionniers, notamment Omer Thériault, Gaétan Gervais et Hélène Gravel, pour la défense culturelle et patrimoniale. Mais tous ces souvenirs dorment dans les rues de l'ancien quartier ou comme Mme Tregonning-Whissell le disait, "à l'ombre des silos". Ce livre témoigne des origines d'une communauté marquée par le dur labeur des mineurs de l'International Nickel, tout en évoquant le rôle des enseignants qui éveillaient les jeunes générations à un monde de possibilités. Le Moulin-à-Fleur de Sudbury rend hommage aux valeurs de charité et d'entraide qu'incarnait ce quartier qui célèbre au-delà de 120 ans de vie communautaire et culturelle. -- Résumé de l'éditeur

This article tells the story of the Groupe Action-Alimentation, a workshop created by the Carrefour d’éducation populaire of Pointe-Saint-Charles in the 1970s. It describes how, in a neoliberal context, the participants and their main facilitator advocate for the right to food. They expose the experience of hunger, they affirm the skills of low-income women in matters of dietetics, cooking, and consumption, they use the language of law, they denounce the use of charity, and they criticize the state and private companies. This research illustrates how the participants in this workshop perceive, qualify, and interpret their reality, how they manifest their class consciousness and their convictions about their right to health, dignity, and well-being. We observe that this local resistance to social and economic marginalization had an impact on the positions taken by nutrition professionals and, ultimately, on certain Quebec policies aimed at achieving food security, adopted in the early 2000s. This contribution to the history of economic, social, and cultural rights analyzes the words of women who refused to individualize the problem of food among the most deprived and who instead denounced the commodification of essential goods.

Modern slavery literature has thus far mostly adopted a downstream perspective, in the sense that researchers investigated corporate actors' responses after the enactment of transparency legislation. The common finding is that corporate disclosure is poor and ineffective, contributing to a failure to eradicate modern slavery. Our contribution is to adopt an upstream perspective in which we examine debates before regulation is crafted. We conceive of modern slavery as a public policy issue where multiple actors—NGOs, institutional investors, corporations and policymakers—hold various views about modern slavery and how to act upon it. Drawing on framing theory as used in public policy research, our aim is to uncover how stakeholders comparatively frame the issue of modern slavery, enabling a better understanding of why transparency legislation fails. Focussing on the Canadian context, where regulatory requirements on modern slavery were recently enacted, we examine an extensive set of communications, including testimony before parliamentary committees by four stakeholder groups. We explore stakeholders' rhetorical frames, uncovering how they conceive of modern slavery and their action frames, highlighting how they believe it should be acted upon. We show that stakeholders' rhetorical and action frames are embedded within overarching opposing metacultural frames, namely a community frame held by NGOs and a market frame held by institutional investors, corporations and policymakers. NGOs' community metacultural frame paves the way for approaches focused on eradication because harm to a community implies removing the harm. In opposition, other stakeholders' market metacultural frames pave the way for approaches focused on risk assessment, management and reporting, since the appearance of information on modern slavery and associated risks implies being able to manage it. Although stakeholders talk past each other about the issue of modern slavery, we identify possibilities for reframing, where holders of a market frame could move closer to a community frame.

Québec enacted major solidaristic family and housing policy reforms toward the end of the 1990s, precisely when other countries were moving toward more individualized policies. Against what existing theories would predict, these reforms took place at a moment when labour's power had weakened, the ruling left party had scaled back its progressive commitments, and employers opposed the proposed reforms. Why did Québec expand its social policies in a broader context of retrenchment? We argue that this resulted from a shift in the context of contention that sparked a process of institutional conversion. First, labour-allied progressive movements in the province were able, through their own cycle of mobilization, to fill the gap left by unions' retreat from direct action and mass mobilization from the 1980s onwards. Second, employers remained relatively weak and state-dependent, leading them to accept the government's agenda as long as it did not differ significantly from their priorities of deficit and tax reduction. Third, the idea of the "social economy" served as a floating signifier in the province's public policy debates of the 1990s, providing a framework within which unions, community groups, employers, and the government could operate while assigning it different definitions and aims. The ambiguity of the idea of the social economy helped to forge a disparate coalition of Québec social actors, resulting in solidaristic policy reforms. Our analysis aligns with recent literature calling for a renewed attention to the role played by contention in the development of social policies in Québec.