What’s Happening
Volunteer Spotlight: Sanna Guerin
This month's Volunteer Spotlight shines on Sanna Guerin, who's been involved with the Workers' History Museum since its inception. Sanna's passions are museums and history - in the picture above, she's giving a presentation on medical care during the First World War - and she plays a key role in [...]
Come Join Us: WHM Volunteers at Col. By Day
Volunteers at the Workers' History Museum had a great time at Colonel By Day on August 5, 2013! Volunteering with the WHM is a great way to get involved in the local community, and we have a number of volunteer needs covering a wide range of interests. Whether your skills [...]
Taking Flight: Air Canada Uniforms Through the Years
The Workers’ History Museum is dedicated to finding new potential research interests to connect the Ottawa community in their shared labour history. Since the institution of Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), which took its first flight in 1937, Canadians have been employed by TCA. (TCA adopted its current bilingual name, Air [...]
Volunteer Spotlight: Wasim Baobaid
Wasim Baobaid is a freelance videographer and producer based in Ottawa. His documentary Yes, I Can, about a disabled girl who fought the provincial government for funding of her medical supplies, was screened at the Montreal International Film Festival and was used as a teaching aid by WorldKids in India. [...]
Colonel By Day 2013
The Workers’ History Museum’s was proud to take part in Colonel By Day 2013. This was our third year at this event, and our most successful yet. It was a beautiful day and lots of people were out at the Rideau Locks. At least 80 people stopped by our booth [...]
Getting a National Unemployment Insurance System was not an Easy Fight
With no unemployment insurance during the 1930s depression, workers only got support if they worked on public projects run by National Defence like this road construction in Rockcliffe. For those without a job and struggling to survive on Unemployment Insurance, it will come as no surprise that since the start [...]
Celebrate Colonel By Day with the Workers’ History Museum
The Workers’ History Museum will be at the Rideau Canal Locks for Colonel By Day (Monday, August 5th). Join us for a day of fun-filled family activities as we celebrate Ottawa’s past. • See our brand new exhibit about Britannia-on-the-Bay. • Try out a 1960s-style typewriter from the now-demolished Percy [...]
Sad News: Burnley Allan Jones Dies in Halifax
Burnley Allan "Rocky" Jones, labour/human rights lawyer and internationally acclaimed human and civil rights activist, suffered a heart attack and passed away in Halifax on Monday, July 29th.Project Coordinator and Workers' History Museum Board member Arthur Carkner said, “We have seen the passing of a great man, one who stood [...]
Worth Preserving: The Family Leave Exhibit Online
Buttons. Posters. News clippings and photographs. These items will help make the Workers' History Museum's online Family Leave exhibit every bit as compelling as our existing physical exhibit. And we need your help. "We have just a few different types of artifacts," says Geneviève Burley, who is heading the WHM's [...]
The Almonte Train Wreck: A Story of People (New DVD)
On a snowy December night in 1942, the town of Almonte, Ontario's Christmas celebrations were cut short when a train transporting Canadian troops rear-ended an Ottawa-bound passenger train that was waiting at the station platform. It is considered one of the worst train wrecks in Canadian history. At the Canadian [...]
Chance or Commitment: Canada’s Family Leave Campaign
Source: https://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 [...]
Workers’ history commemorated in Rideau Canal plaque
On Thursday, 20 June, 2013, President Bob Hatfield represented the Workers’ History Museum as Peter Kent, Minister of Environment and Parks Canada, unveiled a plaque commemorating the national historic significance of the contributions of the Rideau Canal workers. Hatfield remarked that it was a "moving ceremony," especially noting the speech [...]