Gathering the Memories – An Oral History Project
TWHP has launched a project to gather the memories of the old-timers in Toronto’s labour movement. So much of the history of the struggles of the city’s workers is available only in the stories that these women and men can tell.
Who should be on the list to be interviewed? Anyone who made an important contribution to the struggles of working people in this city. They don’t have to have been president of their union. We want to cast the net widely.
Send us names and contact information, with ages and health condition of these people, along with some information on what they contributed to labour’s cause. We’ll follow up and contact them.
Better yet, please fill out this online form with as much information as you have.
Nomination Form
Interviews
Frache, Pam
Goldblatt, Howard
Gindin, Sam
Interviewed by Jenny Carson and Duncan MacDonald, 17 April 2025 Sam grew up in the north end of Winnipeg, where socialism was still strong (00:49). He gives us an analysis of the history of the UAW becoming the CAW and its unique aspects (7:15). Sam reflects on the…
Freeman, Arlene
Arlene Freeman interview ~ Interviewed by Andy Hanson and Harry Smaller Arlene began her career as an elementary teacher in Toronto, eventually becoming a principal in the city. “Promotion for women was always a big issue,” she emphasizes (13:15). She was the…
Wilson, Roger
Roger Wilson Interview Interviewed by Harry Smaller and Andy Hanson Roger began teaching in England. He moved to Canada after marrying Margaret Wilson, a secondary teacher activist. Almost immediately upon arriving in this country, he was elected an executive member…
Wilson, Margaret & Roger
Margaret Wilson has had a rich career in the politics of education. She started teaching in 1958. Immediately upon being hired as a secondary teacher in Windsor, she was elected to the school representative position. On moving to Toronto, she again became the Parkdale…
Baumann, Ruth
Ruth Baumann Like many teachers, for Ruth being in the classroom was “somewhat accidental.” After graduation, she spent a year working with adolescent boys in a USA residential treatment centre – not always a “happy experience,” but the year did…
Kidd, David
David Kidd is a long-time labour and community activist who was interviewed on July 4, 2024. He was a member and elected steward with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 79 which represents inside workers with the City of Toronto. In the interview, he…
Lyons, Michael
Michael Lyons began his union involvement at Northern Electric in Bramalea, where he was active in the United Auto Workers (now part of Unifor). In the early 1970s, he was a staff member of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, and in 1977 was hired by the Labour…
Kuehnbaum, Bill
Bill Kuehnbaum, a longtime activist in the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, joined the union as faculty member at Cambrian College in Sudbury, and served as a vice-president of OPSEU and then secretary-treasurer in the 1990s. He discusses public service…
Rapaport, David
David Rapaport, an activist in the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, is the author of No Justice, No Peace: the 1996 OPSEU strike against the Harris Government in Ontario. Rapaport joined the Ontario government as an IT specialist in 1984, and served on the…
Stewart, Herman
Herman Stewart, hired as an organizer with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in 1980, shook up a sleepy union when he was chosen Ontario business manager in a contested election in 1986. The union had had a cozy relationship with employers,…
Blaser, Sol
Sol Blaser started in the garment industry at age 15, joining the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in 1952. He spent 47 years in the industry. ~ Interviewed by Beatrix Henry and Caren Weisbart.
Veecock, June
Guyana-born June Veecock served for 19 years as the director of human rights for the Ontario Federation of Labour. In this interview, she highlights some of her human rights and labour activism. Interviewed by Jennifer Carson and Elizabeth Abbott. Carmen Henry and…
Maclennan, John
Born in northeast England, John Maclennan started work at 15 and emigrated to Canada in 1965, where he became active in the United Auto Workers while working at the McDonnell Douglas aerospace plant in Malton. In 1973, he joined the Communist Party of Canada and later…
Cartwright, John
John Cartwright: Interview #1 (Feb 14, 2023) John Cartwright: Interview #2 (March 23, 2023)
Howes, Bill
Bill Howes began his career in the labour movement in 1966 with a strike against Northern Electric. In 1972 he was hired by the Canadian Labour Congress to organize in the finance industry. After five years of organizing, negotiating and servicing contracts, he was…
Johnson, Bev
Bev Johnson: Interview #1 Bev Johnson: Interview #2 Bev Johnson, an Ontario Public Service Employees Union staff member from 1990 to 2006, discusses her long history of activism on human rights and employment equity. Born in Jamaica, she came to Canada in 1959 as…
McClean, Yolanda
Heron, Craig
Craig Heron, a leading labour and working-class historian – and president of the Toronto Workers’ History Project – reflects on the change in the academic approach to labour history from a focus on institutions to a more multidisciplinary style. Heron discusses the…
Henry, Carmen
Carmen Henry and June Veecock
Long, Martin
For six years, Martin Long was president of the Toronto Teachers’ Federation, an early amalgamation of teachers from the FWTAO and the OPSTF. He discusses the 1987 strike over preparation time, the Social Contract, and the fight against the Harris government. ~…
McCaffrey, Vivian
Vivian McCaffrey began her career as the Government Relations staff member for the Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation (OPSTF), then men elementary teachers’ union, in 1981. She became a staff member of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) at…
Nair, Jayram (Jay)
Born in South Africa and with a career as a teacher in Durban, Jay Nair was forced to flee for political reasons and ended up in Canada, first as a security guard and then as a meat-cutter, where he became active in the United Food and Commercial Workers. In this…
Jarvis, Marshall
For Marshall Jarvis, union activism started when he filed a grievance while a teacher at the York Region Catholic school board and was not satisfied with how his union handled it. Sixteen years later, he was provincial president of the Ontario English…
Heffernan, Bill
Description – Bill Heffernan, a long-time teacher in the Catholic system in the Dufferin-Peel area, discusses his activism in the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, as the organization transformed itself into a union. He highlights issues in…
Sadem-Thompson, Maret
Maret Sädem-Thompson was the president of the Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario (FWTAO) during the 1997 two-week teachers’ strike. Her wide-ranging interview portrays the women teachers’ union as important to the feminist movement in Canada and…
Rebick, Judy
Judy Rebick, a leading Canadian feminist and founder of rabble.ca, discusses her involvement with the labour movement, particularly the push to put abortion rights on the agenda of the labour movement. ~ Interviewed by Sara Tatelan and Elizabeth Abbott.
Westcott, Joan
Joan Westcott was the executive director of the Federation of Women Teachers Associations of Ontario (FWTAO) when the two elementary unions amalgamated. She had held that position since 1987. She was the local president of the Waterloo women’s teachers during the…
Vorster, Menno
Menno Vorster was a Toronto inner-city teacher who rose to become the Toronto Teacher Federation (TTF) president in the mid-1970s. He explains the unique structure of the Toronto local, which originally included the Ontario Public School Men Teachers’ Federation…
Torney, Linda
Seymour, Ed
A Eulogy For Ed Seymour, by Bill Howes Eulogy for Ed Thanks, Don, for the wonderful job you’ve done in speaking on behalf of your family. And I also want to thank you for the kindness you’ve shown to Cynthia as she’s weathered this storm. It’s greatly appreciated by…
Benedict (Lennox), Phyllis
This interview follows Phyllis Benedict’s (Lennox) career as a teachers’ union leader. As a classroom teacher, she was a member of the Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario (FWTAO). She became a voluntary member of the Ontario Public School…
Lennox, Dave
Dave Lennox was President of the Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation (OPSTF), the men elementary teachers’ union, in the early 1980s. He became the union’s secretary-treasurer in 1987, a position he held during the 1997 two-week strike against Mike Harris and…
Manners, Earl
If there was one teachers’ union president who created controversy during the 1997 two-week strike against the Mike Harris government, it was Earl Manners, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF). Manners’ career path began as an early…
Humphrey, John
British-born John Humphrey was an activist in the United Steelworkers, and was president of the large local at Ontario Store Fixtures, which grew to 1,500 members before the company shut down with two hours’ notice in 2003. In this interview, he focuses on his work in…
Lennon, Eileen
Eileen Lennon was the president of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation (OTF) during the controversial 1997 two-week strike against the Conservative government of Mike Harris. She was the spokesperson for all five of the teachers’ unions. Her position as the president of…
Appleton, Norm
Norman Appleton, born in Trinidad in 1927, describes the various jobs he held before coming to Canada in 1957, where he eventually became a welder and union steward at Canada Packers in the Toronto stockyards area. He later worked at DeHavilland (now Bombardier) in…