Browse Cases

Showing 26-50 of 59 results

Canadian workers strike against wage controls, 1976

Country
Canada
Time period
February, 1976 to October, 1976
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
7 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Jessica Seigel, 03/02/2013

The Canadian General strike of 1976 was a result of the Bill C-73 passed by Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and the House of Commons in Ottawa on 14 October 1975. This bill limited wage increases to 8% the first year, 6% the second year, and 4% the third year after its enactment. 

The majority of the provinces of Canada accepted the bill by spring of 1976, but within eighteen months they began to withdraw from the program. Despite its introduction in 1975, it was not until 1976 that the Anti-Inflation Board (AIB) began to roll back workers' wages.

Quebec students defeat tuition hikes and fight for free education, 2010-2012

Country
Canada
Time period
1 April, 2010 to 21 September, 2012
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Samantha Shain, 09/10/2012

In February of 2010, Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand called for what he deemed a "cultural revolution" to change the way the Quebecois populace used public services, including a tuition fee hike for post-secondary education.  

International groups boycott Nestle products to end indiscriminate advertising, 1977-1984

Country
Canada
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Sweden
Germany
France
Australia
United States
Finland
Norway
International
Time period
4 July, 1977 to 4 October, 1984
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Soul Han, 23/09/2012

Artificial baby milks—so called “infant formula”—became widespread commercial product during the early decades of the twentieth century. Among many companies involved, Nestlé’s was the biggest promoter, controlling more than 40% of the estimated $1.72 billion market. Nestle aggressively pursued the interest from infant formula with indiscriminate marketing. The marketing that evoked popular indictment was their promotion of infant formula in the Third World.

Peace Camps in Quebec and Manitoba to support the Mohawks in the “Oka Crisis”, Canada, 1990

Country
Canada
Time period
29 July, 1990 to 24 September, 1990
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Peace
Total points
7.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Karen Ridd, 17/08/2012

In the summer of 1990, Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Canadians gathered at a “Peace Camp” in Oka, Quebec, Canada and a “Peace Village” in Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada. Their goal was four-fold:

  1. To support the Mohawks of Kanehsatake and Kahnawake Quebec who were in a stand-off with the Canadian government and military

  2. To bring attention to issues of injustice towards Aboriginal people in Canada

Tamil diaspora protests in Toronto against Sri Lankan civil war, 2009

Country
Canada
Time period
30 January, 2009 to May, 2009
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
Peace
Total points
6 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Jessica Piec, 11/04/2012

For many years in Sri Lanka, tensions have existed between the Tamils, 12.6% of the total population, and the Sinhalese, representing 74% of the population. One of the main root causes of this conflict could be traced back to British colonization, which saw partiality displayed by the British toward the Tamils through concessions and the subsequent marginalization of the Sinhalese.

Newfoundland loggers strike, win better working conditions, 1958-59

Country
Canada
Time period
31 December, 1958 to March, 1959
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
6.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Ron Vadnais, 22/04/2012

In the mid 1950’s hundreds of loggers were employed by the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company (AND). Many of these workers were employed out of Grand Falls, near the town of Badger, Newfoundland, Canada. These particular workers soon felt that they were not being treated as they should be, and became increasingly frustrated with the low wages and uncomfortable living situations in the bush camps. These camps had cramped, cold, uncomfortable sleeping areas and lacked both showers and heaters for warmth.

British Columbia locals save ancient forest remnant from destruction, Canada, 2004-2006

Country
Canada
Time period
March, 2004 to April, 2006
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Environment
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Ruth Vanstone, 28/03/2012

Cathedral Grove is one of the last remaining remnants of an ancient Douglas fir ecosystem in MacMillan Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Many of the trees are over 800 years old, reaching up to 250 feet in height. 

Indigenous allies in Ontario defend Lubicon Cree land against logging, Canada, 1991-98

Country
Canada
International
Time period
Spring, 1991 to June, 1998
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Environment
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Ruth Vanstone, 28/03/2012

The right to Aboriginal reserve land has been a contested issue throughout Canadian history, but perhaps one of the most disturbing violations of Aboriginal land rights is illustrated through the Lubicon Cree, a First Nations band in northern Alberta.

Canadian First Nations people protect water from dumpsite, 2009

Country
Canada
Time period
8 May, 2009 to 22 September, 2009
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Environment
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Kelli Klotz, 06/03/2010

The First Nations people respect water and consider it a live giving force.

Toronto symphony musicians win strike, 1999

Country
Canada
Time period
25 September, 1999 to 15 December, 1999
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Jocelyn Legault, 05/03/2013

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra strike happened in 1999. It lasted for 11 weeks. This strike was developed due to prior pay cuts and minimal wages.

In 1991 the orchestra started developing financial problems. By 1992 pay cuts were made for both musicians and the management; otherwise, the orchestra would have had to file for bankruptcy. Musicians reluctantly accepted, hearing promises that the pay cuts would eventually be paid back in 1995 during the next labour discussions.

Manitoba women win right to vote, 1870-1916

Country
Canada
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Alison Besecker, 02/03/2012

In North America and Western Europe in the later half of the 19th century, women began to campaign in earnest for the right to vote. At this time women were second-class citizens. The 1870s were the start of the movement in Canada, but there were few Canadians that supported the women’s right to vote. Two of the groups that lead the way in Manitoba were the Icelandic feminists and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). The Icelandic women had settled near Gimli. These women established the first suffragette associations.

Vancouver activists campaign for national social housing strategy (Red Tent Campaign), 2010

Country
Canada
Time period
15 February, 2010 to 28 February, 2010
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
4 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Vanessa Driedger, 29/02/2012

During the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with the entire world watching, the Pivot Legal Society and the City Wide Housing Coalition held a nonviolent campaign. This campaign was an attempt to put pressure on the federal government to establish a National Social Housing Policy, to raise awareness of the magnitude of homelessness in Vancouver and to expose the government's failure to keep their promise of an Olympic housing legacy.

Winnipeg community members prevent overpass construction, 1979-1981

Country
Canada
Time period
Early, 1979 to January, 1981
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Ruth Vanstone, 28/02/2012

Canadian inner-city neighbourhoods are often a passing thought to political figures and city residents, especially when their demolition means new development and million dollar deals. One such case was that of the decision to build an overpass in Winnipeg’s inner-city. Winnipeg’s Executive Policy Committee (EPC), along with Mayor Robert Steen, made the decision to build the overpass in the summer of 1978 without any community consultation and took the proposal straight to a City Council meeting (in which it was approved within five days). 

Saskatchewan coal miners win strike for better working conditions, 1931

Country
Canada
Time period
8 September, 1931 to 6 October, 1931
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Janine Bjarnarson, 27/02/2012

In 1931, many people across Canada were struggling to survive through the Depression. In Bienfait, Saskatchewan, Canada, coal miners were facing the same struggles. The price of coal was lower than it had been in recent years, and mine workers were facing unsafe working conditions and steep wage cuts. Miners were often forced to work 10 hours a day in cramped mine shafts that made it difficult to maneuver around. Water would regularly build up in low lying areas in the mines, forcing miners to wade through water to complete their job.

Attawapiskat students win new school (Shannen's Dream), Ontario, 2007-2012

Country
Canada
Time period
2007 to 2012
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Felicity Forbister, 27/02/2012

Attawapiskat First Nation is a small community located on James Bay approximately 220 kilometers north of Moosonee, Ontario.  Attawapiskat was home to a courageous and passionate young woman named Shannen Koostachin.  Shannen led a campaign of school children to fight for the right to “safe and comfy” schools and quality, culturally based education for First Nations children all across Canada.

Canadian environmentalists campaign against seal hunting, 2009

Country
Canada
Time period
March, 2009 to May, 2009
Classification
Change
Cluster
Environment
Total points
6 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Megan Leskiw, 26/02/2012

Seal hunting, or the slaughter of seals (depending on with whom you are speaking) has become a very controversial topic over recent years. In the past, seals were just another resource used by those living in Northern and more remote communities. The meat was used for human consumption and the oil for lamps and cooking. These particular products, as well as the pelts themselves were exported to other countries for further use. The hunt of these animals was also beneficial to ensure the number of cod fish remained high.

Sons of Freedom Doukhobors of Saskatchewan win communal land-holding, Canada, 1900-1907

Country
Canada
Time period
June, 1900 to January, 1907
Classification
Defense
Cluster
National/Ethnic Identity
Human Rights
Total points
6 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Quincy Brandt, 24/02/2012

The Doukhobors are a group of Russian peasants who left the Orthodox Church following a schism and were named “douko-borets," meaning “spirit wrestlers.” Their Christian beliefs led them to adopt principles of pacifism, communal living and the sharing of the possessions, the rejection of church and state authorities, and vegetarianism.

Canadian Aboriginals stop a constitutional amendment (Meech Lake Accord), 1990

Country
Canada
Time period
12 June, 1990 to 22 June, 1990
Classification
Change
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
6 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Aaron Maciejko, 28/02/2012

The context for this campaign starts in the early 1980s with the repatriation of the legislation that founded Canada: the British North America Act of 1867. The idea of repatriation had been around since the 1920s and was finally brought to realization in 1982 by the then Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

Canadian workers strike malt plant to defend contract, Winnipeg, 2010-11

Country
Canada
Time period
9 December, 2010 to 1 March, 2011
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
7 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Tyler Buehler, 24/2/2012

On December 9, 2010, twenty-two employees represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada Local 832 walked off the job and began to strike against their employer Malteurop.  Malteurop is the exclusive producer of malt for the Moosehead Brewery along with micro-breweries such as Half-Pints in Winnipeg. Workers went on strike for the purpose of demonstrating to the company that they were serious about their demands for obtaining a fair contract and wanted the company to remove the unnecessary concessions they were demanding of the employees.

Nisichawayasihk Cree blockade Wuskwatim Hydroelectric dam for jobs, Canada, 2009

Country
Canada
Time period
13 August, 2009 to 16 August, 2009
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
1 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Brett Ducharme, 22/02/2012

In Canada, there are many First Nations groups with unique languages and cultures.  One of those is the Cree nation, who speak Cree and are accustomed to Cree social norms within Canada. Manitoba, a central Canadian province, has a large indigenous popular with high unemployment.

Christian Peacemaker Team protests war toys, United States and Canada, 1992-2008

Country
Canada
United States
Time period
November, 1992 to January, 2008
Classification
Change
Cluster
Peace
Total points
3 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Hannah Lehmann, 06/11/2011

Activism against militarism in the toy industry began in the 1920s with groups such as Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the New York-based Women’s Peace Society.  These groups aimed to induce the public and leaders of the toy industry to re-conceptualize their ideas of childhood and toys.  They believed that childhood is the most malleable time in a child’s life where their conceptions of violence and peacemaking are formed.  War toys normalize violence for children.

Greenpeace stops Kimberly-Clark's destruction of the Boreal forest in Canada (Kleercut), 2004-2009

Country
Canada
United States
Germany
United Kingdom
Italy
Time period
November, 2004 to August, 2009
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Environment
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Hannah Lehmann, 21/09/2011, Pauline Blount, 25/04/2013

Kimberley-Clark Corporation is the largest tissue-product manufacturer in the world, producer of well-known brands including Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle. It is no surprise that Kimberly-Clark is also arguably the leading consumer of wood-fiber.  However, before 2009, Kimberley-Clark continued to take 90% this wood-fiber from unsustainably managed forests, most notably the ancient Boreal Forest in Canada.

Canadian activists demand transparency in FTAA negotiations, 2000-2001

Country
Canada
Time period
November, 2000 to April 7, 2001
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Hannah Jones, 21/03/2010, and William Lawrence, 17/10/2010

On April 20-22, 2001, officials from 34 countries met in Québec, Canada for the third Summit of the Americas, intended to further negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).  While the proposed FTAA had received near-universal praise in the mainstream North American media, activists feared that the agreement would expand what they viewed as the worst aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—degradation of environmental regulations, weakened labor laws, and the subjugation of national laws to secretive, pro-corporate tribunals.  These fears were u

Nuxalk People obstruct logging of Itsa old-growth forest, 1995-1998

Country
Canada
Time period
September, 1995 to October, 1998
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Environment
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
4 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
William Lawrence, 08/05/2011

The Nuxalk people live mid-way up the British Columbian coast, in the region around the town Bella Coola. The Nuxalk have long refused to enter into any treaties with Canada or cede any of their ancestral territory to the national or provincial government. As such, they still claim sovereign rights to much land that the government claims belongs to it. One of those areas is King Island. On King Island is a valley called Itsa, which, according to the Nuxalk, is the sacred place of origin of their people.

Canadian refinery workers and labor unions boycott Petro-Canada, 2007

Country
Canada
Time period
September 25, 2008 to December 29, 2008
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Aly Passanante, 27/04/2011

On November 17, 2007, Petro-Canada locked refinery workers of the Communications, Energy, and Paperworks (CEP) Union Local 175 out of the refinery.  For several decades, Petro-Canada negotiated a pattern agreement with the CEP.  This agreement covered wages, shift premiums, holidays, and length of the agreement.  All remaining issues were left for the local union and company to determine individually.  At the Petro-Canada refinery in Montreal, management decided to break the pattern by demanding a six-year agreement rather than the typical three-year agreement.  Fur