Alberta Labour History Institute

https://www.readthemaple.com/on-april-28-we-mourn-killed-workers-tomorrow-we-fight/

On April 28, We Mourn Killed Workers. Tomorrow, We Fight According to the most-recent national data, 1,057 workers in Canada died from work-related causes in 2023.

Some of our members are involved with the Chinatown Transformation Collaborative Society (CTC), which is having a luncheon for International Women's Day with keynote speaker AUPE President Sandra Azocar on March 8, 12-3 p.m. at The Lingnan restaurant. Tickets are limited - you can purchase them here:

https://www.ctcyeg.ca/events/international-womens-day-luncheon

Booknotes: Revolution Songs
Class conflict and character depth in the Crowsnest

Carissa Halton’s new novel Revolution Songs brings to life the ways in which the Great Depression of the 1930s destabilized the lives of families and their communities. As capitalist crisis exposed the lack of guarantees by either employers or the state of survival for working people, communities saw a magnification of underlying class conflicts that were less intense when work was more available.

Halton’s focus is on the Jalmers, an extended Finnish-Canadian family in Blairmore, Alberta, a coal-mining town in the Crowsnest Pass. Blairmore is a dramatic choice of setting, as it was where a Communist town council was elected in 1933 during a period of heightened class conflict. It was the only town or city in North America where a majority of the electorate gave their votes to Communists.

Read the rest of Alvin Finkels review at our website:

Booknotes: Revolution Songs - Alberta Labour History Institute (ALHI): Workers' History / Workers' Stories Revolution Songs: Class conflict and character depth in the Crowsnest Carissa Halton’s new novel Revolution Songs brings to life the ways in which the Great Depression of the 1930s destabilized... Read more »

GIG WORK is slightly better than no work, but in the end HURTS EVERYONE! The multi-award-winning documentary about sessional lecturers' struggle for equality, IN SEARCH OF PROFESSOR PRECARIOUS, will be streamed for free the week of Feb 14 to Feb 23 as part of a free webinar on Feb. 23 from the Alberta Labour History Institute about neoliberal capitalism's massive exploitation of precarious workers and what we can do about it.
Filmmaker Gerry Potter will be be speaking at the webinar, as well as Jason Foster, Exec Director of Parkland Institute, professor and author of GIGS, HUSTLES AND TEMPS, Glynnis Lieb, professor and activist with COCAL and CUPE 3911, and Linda Mariani of UFCW, and there will be a dialogue with viewers. To sign up for the free webinar and get the link to the film, contact: [email protected].

Precarious Workers: Exploitation and Fightback

JOIN ALHI FOR A VIRTUAL DISCUSSION ON PRECARIOUS WORKERS: EXPLOITATION AND FIGHTBACK on February 23, 2026, 7 to 8:30 pm. How can we organize to ensure that all working people lead lives of dignity and security?

Speakers include Jason Foster, author of Gigs, Hustles and Temps; Linda Mancini of UFCW Local 401; Gerry Potter, filmmaker and long-time precarious professor; and Glynnis Lieb, CUPE 3911. RSVP to [email protected], and a webinar link will be sent to you closer to the event date.

Postmedia newspapers and the rest of the "bourgeois media" wouldn't commission a review of my latest book, Humans: The 300,000 Year Struggle for Equality. The Montreal Gazette turned down a review from one of their frequent reviewers, a long-time sports jock with a social justice outlook. But the major independent Pakistani newspaper, the Friday Times, provided a rave review this week.
https://x.com/TFT_/status/1993322178964865205/photo/1

Visit ALHI’s information table this weekend at the Parkland Conference!

From Left: Paula Kirman, Alvin Finkel, and Donna Coombs-Montrose presenting about their work with ALHI at the Canadian Committee on Labour History conference, November 14th in Montreal.

Congratulations to ALHI's Judy Lederer who received a Daughter of the Year Award at this year's Daughters Day celebration on September 20th. Judy was one of 10 remarkable women who were recognized for the impact they are having in their communities and beyond. More information: https://www.daughters-day.com

Book Launch:
The Art of Solidarity
Humanities Centre
Lecture Theatre L1-L2
University of Alberta
Wed. Sept. 24
6:30-8:30 p.m.

Featuring several of the book's contributors, including ALHI board members Alvin Finkel, Don Bouzek, and Donna Coombs-Montrose, as well as Maria Dunn.

New Blog Post: Immigrants in Alberta
ALHI’S 2026 ALHI Calendar Provides Monthly Lessons on a Timely Subject

By Winston Gereluk, ALHI Treasurer

My parents came to Canada in 1913, children of parents leaving Ukraine (Galicia) because of poverty and oppression under Austro-Hungarian administrators and Polish landlords. History books tell us they came to claim ‘free land’, but they were actually part of a massive labour recruitment project to turn the Canadian prairies into a profitable hinterland under a National Policy which served the interests of investors in Central Canada, England and the United States.

Read more at our website:

Immigrants in Alberta - Alberta Labour History Institute (ALHI): Workers' History / Workers' Stories ALHI’S 2026 ALHI Calendar Provides Monthly Lessons on a Timely Subject  My parents came to Canada in 1913, children of parents leaving Ukraine (Galicia) because of poverty and oppression under... Read more »

2026 ALHI Calendar: A History of Immigrant Workers in Alberta
Apart from Indigenous people, who have lived here for countless thousands of years, Alberta workers are immigrants from all over the world. The Alberta Labour History Institute 2026 Calendar has as its theme, “A History of Immigrant Workers in Alberta.” Its focus is on the contribution of various immigrant groups of immigrant workers, the racism and exploitation that workers have faced in different periods, and the resilience and militancy of immigrant workers throughout our history. This theme is particularly timely today because of a new explosion of anti-immigrant propaganda that needs to be understood in the context of past racist bouts of anti-immigrant hysteria. An encouraging development that we trace is the trade union movement’s conversion over time from racist stereotyping of non-white immigrants to becoming a leader in the human rights movement.

Download an order form for pricing and payment options here: https://albertalabourhistory.org/2026-alhi-calendar-a-history-of-immigrant-workers-in-alberta/