This year – 2021 – marks the 150th anniversary of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council. For a century and a half working people have organized collectively here around a vision of economic and social justice. That epic journey will be celebrated over the coming year as we share the stories of those who came before us, and the lessons of solidarity and struggle that guide our movement today.
From personal accounts and letters to video documentaries, from songs to photo exhibits, from statues and wall murals to podcasts… we will explore partnerships with a variety of public institutions and media formats across the region to bring labour’s rich history to the widest possible audience.
We are in the “Dish with One Spoon Territory,” a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee. Our story began on the land of Indigenous communities, and it has been forged by those who have come from around the world as immigrants or refugees to build Canada’s largest urban centre. Each generation learns that in order to have a fair share of the prosperity they create, people need collective representation. From the beginning our Council defined itself as a movement of social unionism, embracing broader goals than just workplace contracts. Our founders believed in the principle that “What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all”.
Dignity and respect for all is at the core of our work. In the early decades the Labour Council built campaigns for employment standards, sanitary conditions, shorter working hours and prohibiting child labour. The Council also called for equal pay for women, one of the first advocates for equality in Canada. There was a sweeping program for municipal ownership of the street railway system, telephone services, power, gas and the fire brigade. It lobbied for better public health measures, and a quality education system. Women were part of the labour movement from the earliest years and in dramatic events such as the 1907 Bell telephone strike.
Political power is essential to winning social gains. Labour has always worked to elect candidates to school boards and city council, including Jimmy Simpson who eventually became the first labour Mayor of Toronto. The creation of the Toronto Hydro Electric System was championed by William Hubbard, the first African-Canadian City Councillor. Labour led a plebiscite to create the publicly owned Toronto Transit Commission. In 1961 Toronto unions helped found the New Democratic Party.
