This chapter traces the emergence of new forces within the Canadian labour movement aimed at revitalizing it: nationalists upset with the close connection to US labour, Quebec workers determined to establish more autonomy, women who wanted their issues on labour’s agenda, racialized minorities and the LGBTQ+ community, health and safety activists who wanted a safer workplace and cultural activists keen to develop a labour-positive culture. The chapter also considers the new coalitions with other social movements that labour leaders pursued in the 1980s and 1990s.
CRAIG HERON is a professor emeritus of History at York University in Toronto and the author of several works in Canadian social history, including Working in Steel: The Early Years in Canada, 1883–1935; The Workers’ Revolt in Canada, The Workers’ Festival: A History of Labour Day in Canada, Lunch-Bucket Lives: Remaking the Workers’ City and Working Lives: Essays in Canadian Working-Class History.
Charles Smith
CHARLES SMITH is an associate professor and department head of Political Studies at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan. He is co-author of Unions in Court: Organized Labour and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and co-editor of the journal Labour/Le Travail.
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This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada. Ce projet est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada.