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Create AccountIn the late 1940s, Marc Lalonde was a young university student in Montreal, trying to plan his life. For advice, he went to Gérard Pelletier, then a reporter with the newspaper Le Devoir and a man known as a socially concerned intellectual.
The presidential suite of the downtown Toronto hotel is not looking terribly presidential. Glossy mahogany surfaces are littered with papers and empty pop cans. There is a constant flow of denim-clad people and a perpetual hum of fax machines. This is the "war room" of the Canadian Auto Workers.
Daniel John O'Donoghue, printer, trade union leader, politician (b at Lakes of Killarney, Ire 1844; d at Toronto 16 Jan 1907). "The father of the Canadian labor movement" began his apprenticeship as a printer in Ottawa
Joe Davidson, labour leader (b at Shotts, Scot 1915; d at Motherwell, Scot 23 Sept 1985). Always political, he described himself as an evolutionary socialist "with the proviso that evolution needed a shove at every opportunity.
Gérald Larose, trade union official (b at Ham Nord Qc 24 Oct 1945). He was a dominant personality in Québécois society during the 80s and 90s.
Alphonsus Gregory Duggan, labour leader (b at Holyrood, Nfld 21 Sept 1884; d at Grand Falls, Nfld 26 July 1970). In 1913 Duggan helped organize Local 63 of the International Pulp, Sulphite and Papermill Workers Union and became its first president.
Allan Studholme, stovemounter, labour leader and politician (b at Drake's Cross, Worcestershire, Eng 8 Dec 1846; d at Hamilton, Ont 20 July 1919).
Harold Andrew Horwood, columnist, union organizer, politician, editor, novelist (b at St John's 2 Nov 1923; d at Annapolis Royal 16 April 2006). A union organizer and politician during the late 1940s and early 1950s, Horwood supported J.R.
John Hewitt, cooper, labour leader, editor (flourished 1860s-90s). After extensive experience in American labour reform, Hewitt became a major Toronto labour leader. He helped found the Toronto Trades Assembly, led the NINE-HOUR
Annie Buller (married name Guralnick), political activist, union organizer (born 9 December 1895 in Ukraine; died 19 January 1973 in Toronto, ON).
Alexander Fraser Laidlaw, co-operative leader, educator, writer (b at Port Hood, NS 12 Jun 1908; d at Ottawa 30 Nov 1980).
Donald MacDonald, trade unionist (b at Halifax 12 Sept 1909; d at Ottawa 25 Sept 1986). At age 17 MacDonald became a coal heaver on the Sydney docks. He joined the United Mine Workers and at age 21 became president of Local 4560.
Humphrey Mitchell, electrician, trade unionist, politician (b at Old Shoreham, Eng 9 Sept 1894; d at Ottawa 1 Aug 1950). After serving in the Royal Navy in WWI, Mitchell settled in Hamilton, Ontario, to work as an electrician.
Gérard Pelletier, journalist, labour and social activist, politician, diplomat (born at Victoriaville, Quebec 21 June 1919; died at Montreal 22 June 1997). Pelletier is well known for his reporting of Quebec’s Asbestos Strike for Le Devoir. In English, Pelletier is often referred to as one of the "Three Wise Men" of Quebec who entered federal politics in 1965, along with labor leader Jean Marchand and law professor Pierre Trudeau, to counter the rise of Quebec separatism.
James Ryan, railway machinist, labour leader (born 1840 in County Clare, Ireland; died 17 December 1896 in Hamilton, ON). James Ryan was a machinist and railway engineer for the Great Western Railway and later the Grand Trunk Railway. He was a powerful voice in the Canadian Nine Hour Movement, which fought for a shorter workday. Ryan also helped establish the Canadian Labor Protective and Mutual Improvement Association in 1872, the forerunner of the Canadian Labor Union.
Abraham Albert Heaps, labour politician (b at Leeds, England 24 Dec 1885; d at Bournemouth, England 4 Apr 1954). An impoverished English Jew who immigrated to Canada in 1911, Heaps, an upholsterer, became a distinguished parliamentarian as member for Winnipeg North from 1925-40.
Helena Rose Gutteridge, feminist, trade unionist, socialist politician (b at London, Eng 1879 or 1880; d at Vancouver 3 Oct 1960). Gutteridge immigrated to BC in 1911 and organized the BC Women's Suffrage League.
Harold Chamberlain Banks, "Hal," trade-union leader (b at Waterloo, Iowa 28 Feb 1909; d at San Francisco, Calif 24 Sept 1985).
Jacob Laurence Cohen, lawyer (b at Manchester, Eng 1898; d at Toronto 24 May 1950). Immigrating with his family to Canada in 1908, Cohen supported his mother and 5 younger children after his father's death in 1911.
