Chance or Commitment: Canada's Family Leave Campaign

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22688596

Source: https://twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield, 7 July 2013

On the one hand, Commander Hadfield's observation is bang on. The availability of guaranteed benefits such as paid leave for parents is a crucial indicator of how we choose to treat each other. In Canada, family leave has had a major, positive effect on children's welfare and the career options for workers, especially women.

But with all due respect to Commander Hadfield, "chance" - apart from the accident of birthplace - has had little to do with the establishment of family leave. 

Read more...

Call for Volunteers

Dear Members,

The Workers History Museum is very excited about a promising new partnership with the Ottawa City Archives.

The Museum will be provided with office space in the new Archives building on Woodroffe Avenue, and in exchange we are required to provide volunteers to provide 30 hours of staffing as part of the agreement with our two groups.

The volunteers would need to be able to make a weekly commitment to this staffing. After receiving an orientation to the Archives, their tasks would include staffing the Museum's desk and providing a voice for labour history in the Archives. The idea is to create a body of knowledge regarding Ottawa labour and working class history.

We require eight volunteers who can commit to working a four-hour block, as well as a list of names of individuals who would be interested in becoming substitute volunteers if it were required. The Archive is located at 100 Tallwood Drive (at the corner of Woodroffe) and is accessible by car and by the Transitway. The hours are Tuesday to Friday, 9-4, and during the winter months, are open Saturdays 10-5. More details about the Ottawa City Archives can be found here:

For more information or to volunteer, please email Sanna at workersheritage@gmail.com, or call at 613-421-8677.

I hope to hear from many of you!

Sincerely,

Sanna Guérin

WHM Archives Coordinator