Under the Red Star Film Showing in Ottawa

Film Showing: Under the Red Star

Thursday, March 8, 7:00 PM

Avant Garde Bar and Gift Shop

135 ½ Besserer St. Ottawa

The Workers History Museum is pleased to co-sponsor, with Socialist Project, this feature length docu-drama chronicling the fascinating cultural and political ferment associated with the Finnish Labour Temple of Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay).

Opened in March 1910, it was the largest of Canadian labour centres and served as the heart of the activities of Finnish immigrants in the Lakehead area. This radical immigrant community is largely forgotten as part of the story of Canadian labour movement history. Yet these courageous women and men, often facing brutal repression from government, police and anti-union bosses, were critical in shaping events in the union, women’s suffrage and socialist movements in the early decades of the 20^th Century.

Under the Red Star combines fictionalized scenes with archival footage to vividly paint the moving personal lives and the struggles of these early activists.

Ian MacKay, one of Canada’s leading historians, describes Under the Red Star as “a beautifully crafted and utterly absorbing recreation of one of North America’s most extraordinary working class movements”.

The film’s producers and the director (Kelly Saxberg) will be in attendance to take questions from the audience.

WHM begins its second year!

Last Monday marked the WHM’s Second Annual General Meeting and we are pleased to have had 37 members in attendance.

Some highlights from the evening included a stirring speech from our guest speaker Jean-Claude Parrot; an early viewing of the Family Leave Exhibit which was completed in February and will soon be touring around the City of Ottawa and later to Hamilton, ON and Alberta; and a preview of the up-coming documentary created from the Family Leave Project.

Bob Hatfield was re-elected as President of the Board of Directors; Naomi Gadbois was re-elected at Vice President; Dave Bennett was re-elected as Secretary and Barb Stewart was elected as our new Treasurer. In addition to our executive we also elected six Directors-at-Large and four Institutional Board Members.

Some other exciting news from the evening included the announcement from our President that the Workers History Museum has been invited to join CHOO/COPO in 2012; we have officially received our charitable status; and our Exhibits committee was awarded a $1500 grant from the City of Ottawa for the Brittannia Beach Exhibit!

Our Fundraising and Membership Committee also announced that they exceeded last year’s member recruitment goal and we now have over 100 members for the museum!

We would like to thank everyone who was in attendance at the meeting last night and we look forward to what promises to be an exciting second year!

Jean-Claude Parrot announced as guest speaker

Come to hear our guest speaker, Jean-Claude Parrot, at the Workers History Museum’s annual general meeting, 27 February 2012.

Join us!

Workers History Museum

Annual General Meeting

7:00 pm

Monday, 27 February 2012

PSAC national office

233, Gilmour Street, Ottawa

Join Us! Annual General Meeting

It has been one year since the Workers History Museum’s founding membership meeting and we have made enormous advances. Our first exhibit, The Struggle for Family Leave, is almost complete, we participated at Heritage Day and Col. By Day, sponsored film evenings and a story-telling session, worked on oral history and video projects, advocated on behalf of workers history and heritage and boosted our membership to more than a hundred, twice our original target.

To hear more details about the museum’s successes and achievements and to help steer us on the right course for our second year, attend our next Annual General Meeting.

Workers History Museum
Annual General Meeting
7:00 pm
Monday February 27, 2012
PSAC National Office
233 Gilmour Street, Ottawa

For more information please contact info@workershistorymuseum.ca

100 years and 1 year: A week of Anniversaries

This week marked the 100th Anniversary of the Bread & Roses Strike, also known as the Singing Strike, which began on January 12, 1912 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. On this day thousands of textile workers began a walkout after a new law reduced the maximum working hours per week for women and children, significantly reducing the household incomes for those families.

The strike gained national media attention after the Lawrence City police and militia forcibly prevented striking textile workers from sending their children to cities offering safe shelter and care. Dozens of mothers and their children were arrested, and some injured, while boarding trains heading out of town. This garnered national sympathy for the strikers and resulted in a federal investigation.

The strike also built strong multicultural support networks in the labour community. Striking workers represented 24 nationalities speaking 20 different languages worked together on the strike committees and marched side-by-side on the picket lines.

The Zinn Education Project has put together a fabulous virtual exhibit on the Bread & Roses Strike at http://exhibit.breadandrosescentennial.org/

This past week also marked the 1 year Anniversary of the founding of the Workers History Museum.

On January 10th, 2011 the Workers History Museum held its first Annual General Meeting, electing 11 members to the Board of Directors, establishing 3 working committees, and adopting its mandate and by-laws. As we enter our second year, the WHM continues to dedicate its efforts to bringing you stories like the Bread & Roses Strike and developing exhibits and preservation initiatives on labour and workers history in the National Capital Region.

Happy New Year from the Workers History Museum!!!

If you are still looking for your 2012 calendar then why not start each day this year by celebrating labour's rich history. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 2012 Calendar: An Agenda for Social Change is a calendar project championed by Erika Shaker for the past few years. The result is a wonderful educational tool that informs daily through key dates, stories and facts on the history of the struggle for social justice in Canada. For more information click here:

This year also marks the centenary of the founding of the Alberta Federation of Labour. To find out more about the yearlong celebrations and commemoration projects and initiatives in Alberta check out www.project2012.ca.