January (2012)

• The Labour History in New Brunswick project completed formal activities in 2011. This website remains available as a resource for public information as well as for teaching and research. Members of the research team and our partner groups continue to be active in the field and are completing additional projects.

  UPDATE: Make sure you order a copy of the latest book by our project director, David Frank, Provincial Solidarities: A History of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour (Edmonton, Athabasca University Press, 2013), 260 p.

  
  

June (2011)

• The New Brunswick Labour History Awards were presented for the second year this spring at the Heritage Fairs held in school districts throughout the province. A total of 24 students received awards for projects “recognizing the place of workers in New Brunswick history” . In the English school districts, eight students received awards.
  • In District 2 Josh Knowlton, Dorchester Consolidated School, won the award for his project on river logging.
  • Katie Moore, Loch Lomond School, won the award in District 8 for a project on a lumber camp.
  • The award in District 10 was won by Cody Barry, St. George Elementary School.
  • Taylor Rossignol, Andover Elementary School, won the award in District 14.
  • Jenni Scott, Campbellton Middle School, was the winner in District 15.
  • Avery Watt, Nelson Rural School, was the winner in District 16.
  • Jayce Cleghorn, Ridgeview Middle School, was the winner in District 17.
  • Layton McCabe, Moncton Christian Home Educators, Rothesay, received the award for the Independent schools.

  In the French school districts, sixteen students received awards, in several cases for participation in group projects.

  • Benoit Bujold and Camie Pitre, École Saint-Henri, Moncton, received the award in District 1 for their project on the sawmill.
  • A group of students from the École Mgr-Martin, Saint-Quentin, won the award in District 3 for their project on the Groupe Savoie: Raphaël Thériault, Maxim Cayouette, David Chouinard, Stéphanie Coulombe, Myriam Valcourt, Chloé Caron, Pascal Valcourt and Catherine Bujold.
  • In District 5, the winner was Marie-Ève Carrière, Domaine des Copains, Balmoral.
  • In District 6 the winner was Elizabeth Trecartin, Quispamsis Middle School.
  • In District 9 the winner was Mireille Savoie, Centre scolaire-communautaire la Fontaine, Néguac.
  • In District 18 the award was won by Maggan MacBean, Taylor McCarty and Lauren Colter, Nashwaaksis Middle School.

  At the district fairs the students were presented with plaques recognizing their achievement in winning this award. In addition, their schools are receiving magazine subscriptions, and each student is receiving a letter of congratulations from the New Brunswick Federation of Labour and a certificate of recognition from the New Brunswick Labour History Project.

  
  [ See Photograph 1 | Photograph 2 | Photograph 3 ]
• Linda Kealey has published a new study based on her research on New Brunswick nurses. This work is included as a chapter in a book on the history of nursing in rural communities in northern Europe and North America published for the Society for the Social History of Medicine. Her chapter, “Delivering Health Care in Rural New Brunswick: Outpost Nursing in the Twentieth Century” , appears in J. T. H. O'Connor and Stephan Curtis, eds., Medicine in the Remote and Rural North, 1800-2000 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), pp. 183-198.
  [ See website ]
• On 9 June David Frank spoke to members of the Fredericton branch of the Canadian Federation of University Women. He discussed the representation of women's history in the work of the New Brunswick Labour History project and the examples of women included in the “labour landmarks” theme. He also drew attention to the new Women's History Map produced by the Advisory Council on the Status of Women, which includes several additional examples of sites related to the history of women's work in New Brunswick.
• The New Brunswick Provincial Heritage Fairs Showcase was launched at Government House on Tuesday 7 June. Welcomes were delivered by His Honour Graydon Nicholas, Lieutenant-Governor, and by Jody Carr, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. On behalf of the New Brunswick Labour History Project, David Frank addressed the importance of history education in exploring the New Brunswick identity and building the provincial community. The showcase features one prizewinning exhibit from each of the school districts participating in the heritage fairs this year. These will be on display at Government House for members of the public and school visits for the next month.
  [ Read the News ]
• A joint session on Labour Struggles in New Brunswick was sponsored on Saturday 4 June by the Atlantic Canadian Research Initiative and the Society for Socialist Studies as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences meetings in Fredericton. The session, chaired by team member Raymond Léger, included presentations by Tom Mann, New Brunswick Union, on the coalition against the sale of NB Power to Quebec, and by David Frank, on the casual workers' court challenge that led to the reform of the Public Service Labour Relations Act in 2010.
  
• In their Saturday 4 June issue, the weekly newspaper Le Madawaska has published a column by Université de Moncton student and research assistant Philippe Volpé on the importance of commemorative symbols for workers. He discusses the presentation by David Frank and Nicole Lang on the labour landmarks project at the labour history workshop in Fredericton on 29 May. He stresses “the importance of the study of memorials related to workers in various New Brunswick communities” and gives several examples of sites in Madawaska, such as the Day of Mourning monument in Edmundston and the sculpture of blacksmith Jos-B. Michaud in Saint-François-de-Madawaska. In addition, his article encourages people to support the New Brunswick Women's History Map, a project developed by the now defunct New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women. See Le Madawaska, 4 June 2011, p. A-5.

May (2011)

• On Sunday evening 29 May, the opening session of this year's New Brunswick Federation of Labour convention featured a presentation by David Frank on the history of the Federation. In his address, entitled “The New Brunswick Federation of Labour at 50 (or almost 100)” , he noted that although this year's meeting is numbered as the 50th convention, this is based on numbering from 1957 and that the early history of the Federation dates back to 1913. He also reported that a list of officers elected at the Federation meetings since the beginnings is now available on the project website. The 300 delegates attending this year's convention at the Delta Beauséjour Hotel in Moncton were presented with copies of two recent project publications, Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick and The Early Presidents of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, 1913-1964.
  
• The annual workshop of the Canadian Committee on Labour History met this year at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre on Sunday 29 May. The morning session included presentations by our former project officer Carol Ferguson on the workers of the Chestnut canoe factory in Fredericton, by Université de Moncton student and research assistant Philippe Volpé on the river drive and river drivers of Madawaska, and by team members David Frank and Nicole Lang on the labour landmarks project. The afternoon session included presentations by Jean-Claude Basque, former education representative for the Canadian Labour Congress, on resistance to unemployment policies in Acadian New Brunswick in the 1980s and 1990s, by project member Raymond Léger and Joan McFarland, professor of economics and women's studies at Saint Thomas University, on the casual workers court challenge, 2004-10, and by George Vair of the W. Franklin Hatheway Labour Exhibit Centre on the work of the Hatheway Trust, including the story of the new workers' monument unveiled last month. The workshop was organized by the Labour History in New Brunswick Project, with assistance from the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the New Brunswick Federation of Labour. The Canadian Committee on Labour History includes members from across Canada and holds a local workshop every year in connection with the annual meetings of the Canadian Historical Association and the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
  [ See website ]

April (2011)

• On 28 April in Saint John this year, more than 400 people attended the Day of Mourning ceremonies, which featured the unveiling of a new monument to honour workers killed or injured on the job. Bob Blakely, Director of Canadian Affairs for the Building Trades Unions, gave the keynote address. Other speakers included George Vair, chair of the April 28th Monument Committee, and Pat Riley, chair of the Hatheway Trust, who presented the sculpture to the City of Saint John, represented by Mayor Ivan Court. Following the unveiling and a minute of silence, more than 30 wreaths were laid by family members and union representatives. Worksafe NB sponsored a reception, which also included displays on other provincial labour landmarks and a short video on the making of the monument, which was created by New Brunswick artists Darren Byers and Fred Harrison. The Labour History in New Brunswick Project was represented by David Frank and Raymond Léger, whose assistance was acknowledged in the souvenir programme. Located in front of the W. Franklin Hatheway Labour Exhibit Centre at Lily Lake in Rockwood Park, the monument features four larger-than-life bronze figures raising a beam that is inscribed with many detailed images. See video on YouTube.
  [ See Photograph 1 | Photograph 2 | Photograph 3 ] [ Read the News ]
• On 28 April in Fredericton this year, project member Linda Kealey was among the speakers at Day of Mourning ceremonies organized by the Fredericton and District Labour Council. She stated that the number of workplace deaths and injuries in the province is unacceptably high and that “the fight for workplace safety is a part of our history that we do not stress often enough” . Other speakers at the event, which was held at the Firefighters Memorial on the Green, included labour council president Debbie Lacelle and Marie Mahar, whose husband lost his life in a workplace accident in Fredericton four years ago.
  [ Read the News ]
• The Day of Mourning was marked this year in several communities in northern New Brunswick. On 28 April the Musée historique du Madawaska and the Edmundston Campus of the Université de Moncton, in collaboration with the Labour History in New Brunswick project, each sponsored a small exhibit on the Day of Mourning monuments in New Brunswick, including the one situated in the Place de l'Hotel de Ville park in Edmundston. On Monday 25 April the Restigouche and District Labour Council and the Village of Atholville organized a solidarity march followed by ceremonies at the Day of Mourning monument in front of the municipal hall. Labour council president Rose Pitre underlined the importance of health and safety measures in the workplace and lamented the fact that nine New Brunswickers had died on the job in 2010. See “Marche du Jour de deuil” , L'Acadie Nouvelle, 30 April 2011, p. 7.
  
• A review of our book Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick was published in the pages of Here: New Brunswick's Urban Alternative Weekly (31 March – 6 April 2011). Under the title “Honouring the Workers” , editor Charles Mandel describes the book as “an important piece of local history” that contains “fascinating stories of old-fashioned heroism and hard labour” . He also notes that a new monument will be unveiled on 28 April this year at the W. Franklin Hatheway Labour Exhibit Centre in Saint John.
  [ Read the News ]

February (2011)

• Closing ceremonies for Heritage Week 2011 were held on Monday 21 February at the Musée historique du Madawaska in Edmundston. The event featured a round-table under the title “Coup de cœur pour ma forêt du Haut-Saint-Jean” , chaired by Nicole Lang, who gave a review of the forest history of Madawaska since the early 19th century. Sébastien Duguay, the environmental specialist for the City of Edmundston, gave a presentation on the cultural and environmental value of trees; Manuel Lamontagne, a forestry professor at the Université de Moncton in Edmundston, gave examples of research projects undertaken in collaboration with the community; Robbie Ritchie, general director of the Coopérative forestière du Nord-Ouest, discussed the mission, mandate and services of the cooperative; Joseph Dubé, a retired teacher, gave a presentation on genealogical research. Following a question period, there were final remarks by representatives of the Zone des musées Madawaska-Victoria and the Association culturelle du Haut-Saint-Jean.
  
• To mark Heritage Week 2011, on Friday 18 February David Frank gave an illustrated noon-hour talk at the University of New Brunswick on “The Labour Landmark and Provincial Heritage in New Brunswick” . He reviewed the findings of the project's “labour landmarks” theme and underlined the collaboration between research historians, community activists and labour organizations in developing an informed public memory of the history of work and workers in the province.
  
• At a public event to launch Heritage Week 2011, Nicole Lang gave a presentation entitled “Le Madawaska: l'Acadie des terres et forêts” at the Édifice Maillet in Saint-Basile on Wednesday evening 16 February. Her presentation, based on an article that she recently published in the on-line encyclopedia l'Encyclopédie du patrimoine culturel de l'Amérique française, traced the history of the forest industry in Madawaska and demonstrated that the forest is at the heart of the cultural heritage of the region. This event was organized by the network of local museums, the Zone des musées Madawaska-Victoria.
  [ See website ]
• Participants in our well-attended September 2009 project conference, “Informing Public Policy: Socio-Economic and Historical Perspectives on Labour in New Brunswick” , have received an 84-page bilingual booklet summarizing the sessions at the conference. The text was prepared by Linda Kealey and Yolande House based on recordings and transcripts of the conference. The presentations are summarized under several themes: “Why Unions?” , “Public Policy and Labour” , “Educating Labour” , “Development in Acadie” , “Forestry in New Brunswick” and “Nursing in New Brunswick” . The booklet also includes photographs by Oliver Flecknell. While the supply lasts, additional copies of the conference summary booklet, entitled Informing Public Policy: Socio-Economic and Historical Perspectives on Labour in New Brunswick, are available on request. Contact the Labour History in New Brunswick Project, c/o Department of History, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, N.B. E3B 5A3.
  
• Heritage Week in New Brunswick this year, 14 to 21 February, focuses on the theme of the forest, in recognition of the International Year of Forests declared by the United Nations for 2011. Several of the resources on our website are currently featured on the Heritage Week 2011 website, including teaching modules for “Forest Landmarks” and “Work in the Forests” . The resources on our site also include a feature on “Women's Work in the New Brunswick Lumber Camps” . Students participating in the Heritage Fairs this year are also eligible for the New Brunswick Labour History Awards, which were presented for the first time in 2010.
  

January (2011)

• On 20 January the CBC Radio programme Information Morning in Fredericton interviewed David Frank about the history of workplace safety in New Brunswick. He discussed the tradition of commemorating provincial labour history as documented in the book Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick. He also pointed out that although there continue to be an unacceptable number of workplace fatalities, New Brunswick workers, and their unions, have worked hard over the past century to establish laws and regulations to protect the safety of New Brunswick workers on the job.
  
• On 11 January Bill Parenteau gave a presentation to the new Atlantic Canada Studies Seminar Series at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. His discussion paper, entitled “Flickers of Discontent: Incendiarism and the Transformation of the New Brunswick Forest Industries, 1918-1939” , examined several controversial episodes when fires appeared in the woods in the context of conflicts over the use of the Crown lands and the underemployment of local workers. This was the second presentation by a member of our research team to the series, an interdisciplinary seminar organized by the Faculty of Arts to promote research and discussion on Atlantic Canada.
  

December (2010)

• On Wednesday 1 December the Dean of Studies for the Edmundston Campus of the Université de Moncton invited members of the university community to a book launch at the student pub, La Cheminée. Among the three professors who introduced their work to friends and colleagues was Nicole Lang, coauthor with David Frank of the book Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick. Nicole took the opportunity to underline the excellent cooperation of community partners in the collection of research for this project.
  [ See Photograph ] [ Read the News ]

November (2010)

• On 10 November Carol Ferguson gave a presentation entitled “The Chestnut Canoe Factory in Rabbit Town: A Fredericton Icon and Its Industrial Neighborhood” to an audience of more than 100 people at the Fredericton Public Library. Her presentation discussed the experience of the men who produced the famous line of canoes and explained the importance of the west-end working-class neighborhood in Fredericton which was the location for additional economic activities, including a railway station, brick and lumber yards and shoe factories. Local residents in attendance contributed observations and stories about the history of the canoe factory and the local community. The event was co-sponsored by the Fredericton Public Library and by Fredericton Heritage Trust, whose president Liz Burge noted the high level of public interest and congratulated the New Brunswick Labour History Project for undertaking research on this subject.
  
• Several research posters prepared by the New Brunswick Labour History Project were recently presented to the New Brunswick Museum, the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, the Centre d'études acadiennes Anselme Chiasson, the Central New Brunswick Woodmen's Museum, the Musée forestier de Kedgwick, the Musée historique du Madawaska, the W. Franklin Hatheway Labour Exhibit Centre, the Atlantic Region of the Canadian Labour Congress, the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, the New Brunswick Council of Hospital Unions, and the New Brunswick Nurses Union. The posters present information and illustrations about several themes in New Brunswick history, including the 28 April Day of Mourning monuments in the province, the story of women's work in the lumber camps, and the history of the hospital unions, the nurses union and the early Federation of Labour.
  [ See Photograph ]

October (2010)

• On 25 October Nicole Lang discussed the book Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick for the literary programme “Passion lecture” hosted by Marie-Claire Pitre and broadcast on the Fredericton community radio station CJPN. The programme is also made available for broadcast on other francophone community radio stations in New Brunswick.
  
• To mark the Mois de la culture 2010 (Month of Culture 2010), the Cultural Association of the Upper St. John is presenting a series of public lectures on the theme “History from Here: Towards the CMA [Congrès mondial acadien] 2014 “. These events are held at the Bistro of the Édifice Maillet at Saint-Basile. On Wednesday 6 October the invited speaker was Nicole Lang, who gave a presentation entitled “Le Madawaska: une région forestière “. She reviewed the history of the forest industry in the region from the beginning of the 19th century to the present and demonstrated how the forest is at the heart of the cultural heritage of Madawaska. Nicole will give a second presentation entitled “Commémoration et travail: les lieux historiques ouvriers au Madawaska “on Wednesday 13 October. See the article by journalist Nadine Bolduc, “L'industrie forestière comme patrimoine culturel “, Le Madawaska, 13 October 2010, p. B-1.
  
• On 5 October at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, David Frank presented the first session in a new Atlantic Canada Studies Seminar Series. His presentation was entitled “Public History and the Labour Landmark in New Brunswick: Nine Reflections on a Theme” . Another member of the Labour History in New Brunswick research team, Bill Parenteau, will give a presentation on 11 January 2011 under the title “Incendiarism and the Transformation of the New Brunswick Forest Industries, 1918-1939” . The series is an interdisciplinary seminar organized by the Faculty of Arts to promote research and discussion on Atlantic Canada.
  
• At the annual University of Maine-University of New Brunswick International Graduate Student Conference this month, two University of New Brunswick graduate students presented papers on aspects of the history of work in 20th-century New Brunswick. On 2 October M.A. candidate Céline Bastien gave a paper entitled “Nursing the Health of the Nation: Bertha L. Gregory, Immigrant Families, and Port Nursing in Saint John, 1920-1922” . On 3 October Ph.D. candidate Mark J. McLaughlin presented “Timber Front: The Industrial Mobilization of New Brunswick's Forestry Sector during the Second World War” . The conference was held this year on the campus of the University of Maine at Orono
  

September (2010)

• On Labour Day 6 September, Nicole Lang was interviewed by journalist Marie-Hélène Lange on Le réveil, the morning radio broadcast on the Radio-Canada network for the Atlantic Region. The discussion focused on the various sites presented in Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick and the importance of these memorials highlighting the place of workers in the history of the province. Excerpts from the interview were also included in news broadcasts throughout the day. Professor Lang also gave an interview on the same theme to journalist Bernard Lebel, which was broadcast on the evening television programme Téléjournal Acadie. Click here to listen to the radio interview.
  
• There are stories behind every monument and memorial described in the new book Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick, explained David Frank on Friday 3 September in a broadcast on Shift, the afternoon CBC radio show for New Brunswick. He gave the example of The Millworkers, the monument in St. Stephen that pays tribute to the cotton mill workers, and discussed episodes from the early history of the mill before the enactment of Labour Day or the establishment of unions in the mills.
  
• The publication of Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick was announced in the 2 September issue of the Madawaska weekly L'Étoile - La République. Journalist Marie-France Émond gives a brief summary of the book's contents and singles out labour landmarks in Madawaska, such as the Day of Mourning monument in Edmundston and the sculpture of the blacksmith Jos-B. Michaud in Saint-François-de-Madawaska. See Marie-France Émond, “Livre hommage au rôle des travailleurs dans notre histoire” , L'Étoile-La République, 2 September 2010, p. A-3.
  [ Read the News ]

August (2010)

• The weekly newspaper from Campbellton, The Tribune, published a full-page review of Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick in their issue of 20 August. News editor Tim Jaques gives a short summary of the book's contents, underlining the monuments to workers who died in the workplace. He then discusses the many workplace deaths that have taken place in the north of the province during the 20th century. Among others, he gives the example of the first fatality at the New Brunswick International Paper mill at Dalhousie, the 19-year-old Arthur Jardine, who lost his life on 6 March 1930 when he was crushed by paper machine No. 1. The article draws attention to several labour landmarks in the Restigouche region, such as the cross and plaque for railway workers near Upsalquitch, the memorial for the forest worker Raymond J. LeBlanc northwest of Kedgwick and the Day of Mourning monument in Atholville. See Tim Jaques, “Labour landmarks in New Brunswick” , The Tribune, 20 August 2010, p. D-1.
  
• The only time the word “labour” is mentioned in the Canadian government's new citizenship guide is in the list of statutory holidays. This is one of the observations in a Labour Day commentary by David Frank entitled “The mystery of the missing workers” , posted this week on the independent online newsmagazine straightgoods.ca. Although the guide points out that until 60 years ago most Canadians could not afford adequate food, shelter and clothing, there is no explanation of the role of unions in defending workers' rights and raising living standards. If Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship is going to be the “official version” of Canadian history, he concludes, “Labour Day is a good time to remember that the whole story has not been told” . Read the text in PDF format.
  [ Read the News ]
•  “Labour Landmarks in the Maritimes” was the theme on Wednesday 18 August on Maritime Noon, the CBC's popular English-language daily radio show for the region. Host Costas Halavrezos interviewed David Frank and Nicole Lang about their new book, Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick, and listeners from around the region called in with ideas, comments and questions about the commemoration of workers and labour in the Maritimes. Three callers are receiving copies of the book. To listen to the broadcast, visit the Maritime Noon home page or click here.
  
• The publication of Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick was noted this week in the Miramichi Leader. The story drew attention to local sites such as the firefighters memorial at Newcastle and the fishermen's monument at Escuminac. See “New book features labour landmarks around province” , Miramichi Leader, 18 August 2010, p. B8.
  
• A new book on labour landmarks in New Brunswick has been published this month by the Canadian Committee on Labour History. The book introduces readers to 50 sites in the province where families, workers, unions and communities have recognized the place of workers in the history of 20th-century New Brunswick. The book was prepared in collaboration with the Labour History in New Brunswick Project and includes the monuments and plaques already featured in the Labour Landmarks pages of our website as well as others identified in the project's research work. Authors David Frank and Nicole Lang point out that this survey encourages new ways of looking at the heritage landscape in the province: “By shedding light on a number of examples in this small book, we hope to reconnect with the history of workers in New Brunswick and to draw attention to their place within the provincial identity” . Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick / Lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick is a bilingual book of 112 pages featuring ten short chapters, explanatory notes, illustrations and a map, and was designed by Jaye Haworth, Goose Lane Editions. Copies are available from independent bookstores in the province or by ordering from the Canadian Committee on Labour History. A link to the order form is available from our Announcements page.
  

July (2010)

• A new book published this month by Acadiensis Press includes a chapter by Linda Kealey, “'A Bitter Pill to Swallow': New Brunswick Nurses, Professional Identity, and Collective Bargaining, 1991-92” . Our website includes a feature presentation, “The Nurses vs. McKenna, 1991-1992” , based on the research for this study. The book is a collection of original essays on women's history in Atlantic Canada edited by Janet Guildford and Suzanne Morton. Among the 14 chapters, Making Up the State: Women in 20th-Century Atlantic Canada also includes a study by Heidi MacDonald on the Dominion-Provincial Youth Training Program in the 1930s and a chapter by James L. Kenny on labour activism in northeast New Brunswick, 1964-72. For full information about the contents and for ordering information, visit the Acadiensis Press website.
  [ See website ]

June (2010)

• At the opening of the Provincial Heritage Fair Showcase on Sunday 27 June at the Village historique acadien in Caraquet, Raymond Léger spoke on behalf of the provincial partners participating in the Heritage Fairs. He explained the importance of labour history in the provincial heritage and also underlined the link that exists between heritage research and the community. He noted the excellence of the projects from all districts and encouraged organizers to continue this excellent initiative. Opening remarks were given by His Honour Graydon Nicholas, Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, and closing comments were given by Hédard Albert, the Minister of Wellness, Culture and Sport.
  

May (2010)

• For the first time this spring the New Brunswick Labour History Awards were presented at the Heritage Fairs held in school districts throughout the province. A total of 21 students from Grades 5 through 9 received awards for projects “recognizing the place of workers in New Brunswick history” . In the French school districts, nine students received awards. The District 1 winners were Alexandre Denis and Alyson Savard from École Arc-en-ciel in Oromocto. Joliane Martel, Audrey Ouellet, Danyssa Roy, and Lauréanne Thériault of École Mgr-Martin in Saint-Quentin received the award for District 3, and Phillip Doucet of École Carrefour Étudiant in Beresford won the District 5 award for his project on the forestry industries. The District 9 award went to Sébastien Boudreau, Shyann Caissie and Camille Noël from École La Passerelle in Pont-Landry for their project entitled “Work Tools of the Past.” In the English school districts, twelve students received awards. David Cormier of Shediac Cape School prepared the winning project in District 2 for his presentation on the Canadian National Railways Main Shop Closure. Hampton Middle School students Jordyn Saulnier and Emily Hanlon received the District 6 award, and the District 8 award went to Danielle Landry of Loch Lomond School for her project about Saint John Shipbuilding and Dry Dock. Maggie McPhee of Sir James Dunn Academy in District 10 won an award for her project on Ganongs. Southern Victoria High School student Colby McLean received the award for District 14, and Taylor Kennah of Superior Middle School in Bathurst received the District 15 award. The District 16 award went to Kayla Gallan and Melissa Hambrook of Nelson Rural School for their project on the Hotel Dieu Hospital, and the District 17 award went to Keelyn McGinn of Summerhill Street Elementary School in Oromocto. Tyler Morrison from Doaktown Consolidated High School was the winner of the District 18 award, and the award for independent schools went to David Law of Veritas Academy in Rothesay for a project on NB Power. Plaques were presented to the students by members of the research team as well as by representatives of our partner organizations, including the Canadian Labour Congress, the New Brunswick Federation of Labour and local labour councils. In addition, the schools are receiving magazine subscriptions, and each students is receiving a letter of congratulations from the New Brunswick Federation of Labour and a certificate of recognition from the New Brunswick Labour History Project.
  [ See Photograph 1, Photograph 2 ]
• The meetings of the Canadian Historical Association, held at Concordia University in Montreal this year, included a session on 30 May on “Working-Class Public History” , which was chaired by Project Director David Frank. The session featured a presentation by Nicole Lang entitled “Donner la parole aux travailleuses et aux travailleurs: le projet des lieux historiques ouvriers au Nouveau-Brunswick” . In addition, the forthcoming publication of the book Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick was announced at the meetings of the Canadian Committee on Labour History on 31 May.
  [ See website ]
• At the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton on 26 May, Patrick Marsh defended his M.A. thesis, “Machinists of Moncton: The Endeavours of Local 594, International Association of Machinists, 1916-1933” . The examining committee included the supervisor, Professor David Frank, and Professors Greg Kealey and Sean Kennedy of the Department of History and Professor Donald Wright of the Department of Political Science. The thesis demonstrates the importance of the railway machinists in Moncton during the period studied and is based on the records of the union local deposited at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Patrick Marsh held a graduate fellowship from the Labour History in New Brunswick Project and is currently working as a research assistant for the project.
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• On 14 May Nelson Ouellet attended the District 1 Heritage Fair held at Le Carrefour in Dieppe to present the New Brunswick Labour History Award. The winners of the award were Alexandre Denis and Alyson Savard from L'Arc-en-Ciel school (5th grade).
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• On 12 May David Frank attended the District 18 Heritage Fair held at Bliss Carman Middle School in Fredericton. He presented the New Brunswick Labour History Award to Tyler Morrison, Doaktown Consolidated High School.
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• On 11 May Raymond Léger attended the Heritage Fair for School District 9, which was held at the New Brunswick Community College in Caraquet (the School of Fisheries). He presented the New Brunswick Labour History Award to Sébastien Boudreau and Camille Noël from the École La Passerelle in Pont-Landry.
  [ See Photograph 1, Photograph 2 ]
• On 3 May Bill Parenteau and Mark McLaughlin attended the District14 Heritage Fair held at the Woodstock Campus of the New Brunswick Community College to present the New Brunswick Labour History Award. The winner of the award was Colby MacLean from Southern Victoria High School.
  
• On Saturday 1 May the New Brunswick Labour History Project participated in the Regional Heritage Fair for School District 3, which took place this year at the École Mgr-Matthieu-Mazerolle in Rivière-Verte. Project member Nicole Lang gave a keynote presentation on labour landmarks in New Brunswick, and during the awards ceremony she presented the New Brunswick Labour History Award. In addition, during the public inspection of projects and exhibits, research assistant Philippe Volpé, in collaboration with the Musée historique du Madawaska, displayed several works by the Madawaska artist Alfred Morneau.
  [ See Photograph 1, Photograph 2 ]

April (2010)

• On 29 April Project Director David Frank was the keynote speaker at the Third Annual May Day Dinner sponsored by Saint John Labour Community Services. His address, entitled “Discover Canada: Studying Canadian Citizenship, with an Assist from the New Brunswick Labour History Project” , pointed out the almost complete omission of workers and unions from the new citizenship study guide produced by the Canadian government. He discussed Saint John labour leaders James Sugrue, James Tighe and James Whitebone as historic local examples of the importance of the “citizen worker” . More than 100 people attended the annual dinner, which is held at the Lily Lake Pavilion in Rockwood Park and raises funds in support of worker advocacy programmes in Saint John.
  
• The launch of the most recent issue of the Revue de la Société historique du Madawaska took place at the Salon du livre at Edmundston on Saturday 17 April. This issue includes an article by Philippe Volpé, a research assistant with the New Brunswick Labour History Project. In his article entitled “Le sculpteur Albert Deveau et la commémoration du travail au Nouveau-Brunswick” , Philippe examines the creative efforts of the sculptor Albert Deveau and discusses several of his sculptures that are related to the history of work. See Revue de la Société historique du Madawaska, vol. XXXVIII, nos. 1-2 (janvier-juin 2010), pp. 48-59.
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March (2010)

• On Monday 22 March Bill Parenteau was interviewed on the CBC Frederictonmorning show with Terry Seguin. The subject of the interview was subsidies to the forestindustries. Bill emphasized the forty year history of a variety of forms ofsubsidy to the industry and the declining profitability and shrinking employment overthat period. He also suggested that even when mills are saved by government bailouts,there are social costs for workers and communities, as was the case recently inEdmundston, where the union was forced by the owners to reduce the pensions of retired brothers and sisters or face the closure of the mill.
  
• The 15 March e-newsletter of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women presents a summary of the newly released LHTNB website feature prepared by Bill Parenteau and Jazmine Belyea, “Women's Work in the New Brunswick Lumber Camps” . The Advisory Council on the Status of Women is an agency created by the provincial government with responsibilities for consultation and study on matters relating to the status of New Brunswick women. See “Women's Work in the New Brunswick Lumber Camps” , NB Women's News, 15 March 2010.
  
• On 13 March the Argentine Ambassador to Canada, Arturo Guillermo Bothamley, presented the Orden de Mayo (the Order of Merit) to a Saint John union leader in recognition of Canadian support for the release of political prisoners in Argentina in 1979. The Ambassador described the award, Argentina's highest honour for citizens of another country, as “an old debt from the heart to some people who put their security at risk for people thousands of miles away” . Patrick Riley of Local 273, International Longshoremen's Association accepted the award on behalf of all Canadians who supported the campaign for the defence of civil rights in Argentina, where thousands of unionists had been imprisoned or “disappeared” under a repressive military regime. He recalled the events of 1979, when Saint John longshoremen refused to load a cargo of heavy water for Argentina, as “a lifelong lesson of remembering that we all live in a global community” . The ceremony took place at the W. Franklin Hatheway Pavilion and was followed by an Argentina-Canada Friendship Night attended by more than 200 people, including New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham and Saint John Mayor Ivan Court. The keynote speaker was Paulina Maciulis, a union activist who was jailed for four years before she became the first prisoner released to Canadian authorities under a refugee programme that was one of the results of the protests. “In jail they try to break your hope and your spirit” , she said, “My freedom is the result of your solidarity” . The New Brunswick Labour History Project assisted in organizing this event and published a souvenir booklet, based on the “Hot Cargo, 1979” website feature, to mark the occasion of the award.A radio documentary, “No Hot Cargo” , was prepared by journalist Bob Carty of the CBC and was featured on The Sunday Edition on 21 March.
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February (2010)

• On 9 February, as one of the 2010 Heritage Week events, research team member Nicole Lang gave a presentation at the Musée historique du Madawaska in Edmundston. In her talk on “Labour Landmarks in New Brunswick” , Professor Lang discussed the project's work with workers, unions and community organizations in identifying and documenting commemorations of this kind and discussed several examples of labour landmarks in the province. After the presentation members of the audience were able to visit the exhibit “Madawaska in Miniature” by the Madawaska artist Alfred Morneault. The works of this artist, which are part of the collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, depict scenes of life and work in Madawaska County in the first half of the 20th century.
  [ See Photograph 1, Photograph 2 ] [ Read the News ]
• For Heritage Week 2010 the news releases issued by the Province of New Brunswick include two articles prepared by the New Brunswick Labour History Project,  “Day of Mourning: A New Brunswick tradition”  by Nicole Lang and  “Building the House of Labour”  by David Frank. These are also featured on the website of the Heritage Branch, Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport, who are one of the partners in the project. Teachers are invited to use the additional resources available on the LHTNB website. The theme of this year's Heritage Week is "Global Village - village planétaire” in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the global village concept. Canadian Marshall McLuhan was the first person to popularize the concept of a global village as social network.
  
• On 4 February Project Officer Carol Ferguson, research team member Nelson Ouellet and community partner CUPE New Brunswick President Danny Légère participated in a public roundtable discussion organized by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Held at the Empress Theatre, Moncton, this was the final event in series of public engagement sessions across Canada to invite insights on issues, themes, events, and individuals that should be represented in Canada's newest national museum scheduled to open in Winnipeg in 2012. The following day, Carol and Nelson met with members of the museum's Content Advisory Committee. Video and audio recordings of these sessions will be used by the museum for multimedia storytelling .
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January (2010)

• The current issue of Our Times: Canada's Independent Labour Magazine includes a feature article originally presented as a keynote address at the “Informing Public Policy” conference sponsored by the New Brunswick Labour History Project in September 2009. In sharing the results of his research on mill closures in northern Ontario, Steven High, the Canada Research Chair in Public History at Concordia University, observes: “When labour history informs public policy at the local, provincial or national levels, we complicate the work of futurist consultants who issue sweeping generalizations with little or no regard for people, place, or past” . See Steven High, “The Forestry Crisis: Public Policy & Richard Florida's Clock of History” , Our Times: Canada's Independent Labour Magazine (December 2009/January 2010), pp. 26-33.
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December (2009)

• The 28 December 2009 e-newsletter of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women presented an excerpt from the LHTNB website feature by Linda Kealey “The Nurses vs. McKenna, 1991-1992” . The Advisory Council on the Status of Women is the provincial agency responsible for consultation and study on matters relating to the status of New Brunswick women. See “The Nurses vs. McKenna, 1991-1992” , NB Women's News, 28 December 2009.
  
• On 18 December and again on 20 December project director David Frank was interviewed by Radio-Canada for radio and television reports on the closing of the coal mine operations at Minto this month. He noted the strengths of the local community and the challenge to reinvest in resource-based communities such as Minto. Listen to David's interview on the Radio-Canada television website below.
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October (2009)

• Plans for a public work of art to commemorate workers killed or injured on the job were unveiled at a ceremony at the Lily Lake Pavilion in Rockwood Park in Saint John on 21 October. More than 100 people attended the noon-hour event, which was presided over by George Vair, chair of the April 28th Monument Committee of the W. Franklin Hatheway Trust, which conducted the competition and have raised more than $250,000 for the project. The winning entry was designed by New Brunswick artists Darren Byers and Fred Harrison. They described their design as one that celebrates the achievements of people working together and honours those who have lost their lives or suffered workplace injuries, both physical and emotional. The maquette for the sculpture shows four figures, two ghostly and two living, both male and female, who are engaged in the strenuous work of raising a beam; on its sides the beam shows relief carvings of workers' faces and, in both English and French, the words “Fight for the Living, Mourn for the Dead” . The bronze monument, more than seven feet in height, will be situated at the entrance to the Hatheway Labour Exhibit Centre and will be surrounded by a brick patio and benches. The winning design was selected by the Monument Committee, with the assistance of a jury chaired by David Frank, Director of the New Brunswick Labour History Project. Completion of the monument will take more than a year, and the formal dedication is planned for the Day of Mourning ceremonies on 28 April 2011. There are six other Day of Mourning monuments in New Brunswick.
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• On 20 October 2009 Nelson Ouellet spoke to students in the seminar on labour and working-class history taught by Professor Kathleen Lord at Mount Allison University in Sackville. He gave a presentation on the LHTNB website and also discussed his research on the emigration of Acadians to the United States.
  
• The most recent issue of Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region features two articles by former graduate students who worked as research assistants for the New Brunswick Labour History Project. Patrick Webber examines a chapter in the history of the New Democratic Party in New Brunswick in “‘For a Socialist New Brunswick': The New Brunswick Waffle, 1967-1972” , and Lisa Pasolli analyzes changes in public sector employment in “Bureaucratizing the Atlantic Revolution: The ‘Saskatchewan Mafia' in the New Brunswick Civil Service, 1960-1970” . Both articles are based on M.A. theses completed at the University of New Brunswick. See Acadiensis, XXXVIII, 1 (Winter/Spring 2009), pp. 75-103, 126-50.
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September (2009)

• At the launch of a new book entitled Exploring the Dimensions of Self-Sufficiency for New Brunswick on 26 September, doctoral candidate Mark McLaughlin gave a reading from the chapter he co-authored with Bill Parenteau, “‘A Fundamental Cost that We Can't Deal With'? The Political Economy of Pulp and Paper in New Brunswick, 1960 - present” . Their chapter examines the economic record of the industry in the past 50 years and its contentious relationship with the woods workers and independent wood producers of the province. The collection, edited by Michael Boudreau, Peter G. Toner and Tony Tremblay, was launched at St. Thomas University and published by the New Brunswick and Atlantic Studies Research and Development Centre St. Thomas University.
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• University of New Brunswick M.A. candidate Patrick Marsh, a current holder of a New Brunswick Labour History Fellowship, presented a paper at the 11th Annual University of Maine/University of New Brunswick International Graduate Student History Conference, which was held at the University of New Brunswick on 25-27 September. His presentation, based on the introduction to his thesis on the railway machinists of Moncton, was entitled “The Historiography of Machinists: A Survey of Moncton as a Rail Town” . Patrick also served as co-organizer for the conference. In addition, Robert Hodges, a doctoral student from the University of Maine at Orono, presented a paper entitled “An Exploration into Historical Memory: Lumber, Roadside Attractions, and the World's Largest Axe” , which focused on one of the New Brunswick “labour landmarks” identified by the Labour History in New Brunswick Project.
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• At the Université de Moncton in Moncton on 21 September Carolynn McNally defended her M.A. thesis entitled “Menace pour la société. Les accidents au travail et les veuves au Nouveau-Brunswick (1903-1918)” . The examining committee included Professor Denyse Baillargeon of the Department of History at the Université de Montréal and members of the Department of History and Geography at the Université de Moncton, Joceline Chabot, Phyllis LeBlanc and Nelson Ouellet. Carolyn McNally was awarded a Canada Graduate Scholarship by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and also held a graduate fellowship from the Labour History in New Brunswick Project. The thesis was completed under the supervision of Nelson Ouellet.
  
• Labour Day this year featured the announcement of a New Brunswick Labour History Award with the objective of “recognizing the place of workers in New Brunswick history” . The award is sponsored by the New Brunswick Labour History Project and will be open to students participating in the New Brunswick Regional Heritage Fairs Program.. The creation of the award was announced on 4 September by Wellness, Culture and Sport Minister Hédard Albert and will be administered by the department's Heritage Branch in cooperation with the Department of Education and school districts and teachers throughout the province. The student projects will be presented at the district regional heritage fairs in May 2010. Projects may focus on people, events, organizations or places that shed light on the history of workers in the province. “This will be an excellent opportunity for students to explore the resources on our website and to use the Lesson Plans available for class activities” , said New Brunswick Labour History Project Director David Frank. More information about the award and the Heritage Fairs is available online. Announcement of the award was featured in an article in L'Acadie Nouvelle, 8 September 2009, entitled “Les jeunes étudieront l'histoire des travailleurs” and in an article entitled “Création du ‘Prix en histoire du travail' à compter de 2010” published in the weekly, Le Madawaska, 9 September 2009.
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• On 1-2 September more than 125 participants attended the conference on labour history and public policy sponsored by the Labour History in New Brunswick project at the Wu Centre on the University of New Brunswick campus in Fredericton. The conference, under the title “Informing Public Policy: Socio-Economic and Historical Perspectives on Labour in New Brunswick” , was opened by the conference convener, Professor Linda Kealey of the University of New Brunswick, the new president of the University of New Brunswick, Dr. Eddy Campbell and Minister of State Keith Ashfield, MP for Fredericton. Michel Boudreau, President of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, offered words of welcome. Keynote presentations were delivered by Steven High, Concordia University, who discussed the significance of place as a source of identity in working-class communities, and by Paul-André Lapointe, Université Laval, who examined old and new forms of response to the crisis in the forest industry in Québec. Professor Bill Parenteau, University of New Brunswick chaired the first session, and Professor Nicole Lang, Université de Moncton, Edmundston Campus, chaired the second session. The well-known labour educator, Elaine Bernard, Harvard University, gave an evening public address on the condition of organized labour and the challenges facing workers in Canada today; she was introduced by Tom Mann, executive director of the New Brunswick Union, and project director David Frank, University of New Brunswick chaired the discussion that followed. A session on the forest industry in New Brunswick, chaired by Raymond Léger, Canadian Union of Public Employees, included presentations by PhD candidate Mark McLaughlin, University of New Brunswick and Professor Stephen Wyatt, Université de Moncton, Edmundston Campus. The session on the history of nurses in New Brunswick included presentations by Professor Linda Kealey, University of New Brunswick, by Madeleine Gaudet, former president of the New Brunswick Nurses Union and another former president, Linda Silas, now president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions; the session was chaired by Marilyn Quinn, current president of the New Brunswick Nurses Union and included a commentary by Dean Emerita Penny Ericson of the Faculty of Nursing, University of New Brunswick. A session on labour education was chaired by Greg Kealey, Vice-President (Research), University of New Brunswick and included presentations and comments by Labour Studies professor Jeff Taylor, Athabasca University, and by retired activists Aurèle Ferlatte, Canadian Paperworkers Union, Louise Guerrette, Canadian Union of Public Employees, and George Vair, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. A session on work in Acadian New Brunswick was chaired by Jean-Claude Basque, Canadian Labour Congress, and included papers by Professor André Leclerc and by Professor Nicole Lang, Université de Moncton, Edmundston Campus, by Professor Joel Belliveau, Laurentian University and by Professor Omer Chouinard, Université de Moncton, Moncton Campus. A final session on labour and public policy was chaired by John Murphy, former executive secretary of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, and included presentations by Johanne Perron of the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity, by Professor David Frank and by Professors Rod Hill and Tony Myatt of the University of New Brunswick. Throughout the conference a selection of research posters by graduate students and team members was on display in the Chancellor's Room at the Wu Centre. A Multimedia Display, organized in conjunction with the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, was also available throughout the conference. A travelling exhibit on the history of nursing in New Brunswick, entitled “The Lamp and the Union,” was launched by the New Brunswick Museum, whose staff prepared the exhibit in collaboration with the Nurses Association of New Brunswick and the New Brunswick Nurses Union. Support for the conference was provided by the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, the New Brunswick Union, the New Brunswick Nurses Association, the New Brunswick Nurses Union, the University of New Brunswick and the Université de Moncton, as well as a Management, Business and Finance Public Outreach Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The conference ended with concluding remarks by Raymond Léger, Canadian Union of Public Employees, who thanked the individual participants and the partner organizations for their contributions to the success of the conference and singled out conference organizer Linda Kealey, project officer Carol Ferguson and conference assistant Dave Steele for their work.
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• Nelson Ouellet gave presentations on the teaching modules on the history of work to members of the l'Association des enseignantes et des enseignants francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick (AEFNB) at meetings on at the Louis-J.-Robichaud School, Shédiac on 1 September and the Mathieu-Martin School, Dieppe on 2 September. With the official launch of the modules anticipated this autumn, these sessions introduced the learning strategies and documentary resources for this ambitious project which were developed in close collaboration with the AEFNB.