This is a chronological list of labour strikes in Canada and other significant labour-related events in the country's history.
1700s 1799After establishing fur trading post Greenwich House at Lac la Biche, workers refuse to proceed to Lesser Slave River because of lack of provisions. First known strike action in Canada.
Early-mid 1800s 1803Seven men working for Peter Fidler at Lake Athabasca, Alberta refuse to stay on job unless wages are increased. ca. 1812Dock workers in St. John (NB) and Halifax organize a union. 1820Oxford House, Manitoba where Cree fur trade employees, without benefit of a formal union, go on strike demanding better pay.Graphic History Collective, Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada (2019) 1835–1845Shiners' War, Irish labour strife at Bytown (today's Ottawa). 1842In Quebec, T.M. Moore begins to publish People's Magazine and Workingman's Guardian, the first labour-oriented reform newspaper. 1842–1843Welland Canal Riot in which Irish immigrants fight each other for jobs. From 1842 to 1843, faction rioting occurs between Corkmen and Connaughtmen working on a canal in Broad Creek, Ontario. Small-scale strikes are common. When blacklisting and arrests under existing laws fail to halt labour unrest, the Board of Works secures passage by the government of the United Canadas of the 1845 Act for the Preservation of the Peace near Public Works, the first of Canada's regulatory acts that seeks to control Canadian canal and railway workers. 1843 Lachine Canal strike where canal workers went on strike over poor wages 1844Toronto Typographical Union is formed. It still exists today as a local of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. 1849Saint John Labourers Benevolent Association is founded. It is the precursor to the International Longshoremen's Association in the city. At the time, there is friction between the anti-Catholic Orange Order and a wave of poor unskilled Irish immigrants, resulting in a July 12, 1849 riot in which 12 are killed.Scott W. See, "The Orange Order and Social Violence in Mid-Nineteenth Century Saint John," Acadiensis 1983 13(1): 68-92See, Riots in New Brunswick - Orange Nativism and Social Violence in the 1840s. University of Toronto Press, 1993. Labourers' Benevolent Association erects the "Labourers' Bell" in 1849 on the Saint John waterfront to enforce the ten-hour day.
1870s 1871Toronto Trades Assembly is formed. First central union body in Canada. 1872Nine Hour Movement - labour activists call for nine-hour day and 54-hour workweek. 1872 March 25The Toronto Typographical Union goes on strike against their employer, the editor of The Globe. Liberal Party leader George Brown was vehemently against the 9-hour day. Union activity then being a criminal offence, 24 members of strike committee are jailed for conspiracy. John A. Macdonald's Conservative government passes Trade Unions Act on June 14, legalizing trade unions. 1872 April 15The Toronto Trades Assembly organizes the country's first significant workers demonstration. 1872 September 3Ottawa unionists hold a 10,000-person-strong parade through the city. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald joins and gives a speech where he promises to abolish the sorts of laws that had put the Toronto printers in jail. Canadian Parliament names Labour Day (first Monday in September) a holiday in 1894, and now it is a world-wide holiday. 1873An initial attempt at establishing a national trade union centre is made by the founding of the Canadian Labour Union. It is dissolved in 1878. 1873Drummond Mine explosion at Westville, Nova Scotia kills 60 or 70. Considered Canada's first mining disaster.
1880s 1880 November 12Foord Pit coal mine explosion at Stellarton, Nova Scotia kills at least 44. 1880–1900Knights of Labor, formed in 1869 in Philadelphia, becomes active in Ontario. 1882Toronto Women shoemakers went on strike in five factories. This was one of the earliest strikes by Canadian women and was supported by male unionists. 1883The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC), a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions, is formed. 1885 February 10Vale Colliery mine explosion near Thorburn, Nova Scotia kills 13. 1886Mutiny among North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) constables at Edmonton over poor food and overcrowding. Mutineers arrested, taken to NWMP headquarters at Regina, are punished and/or driven from the force. 1887Mine explosion at Nanaimo, British Columbia kills 148. 1889Royal Commission on the Relations of Labour and Capital The commission, chaired at first by James Sherrard Armstrong, notes the many workplace injuries and deaths, and condemns working conditions in many workplaces. The commission recommends several changes to improve working conditions (the federal government does not act on them). In a hearing before the commission, Olivier-David Benoît makes a strong case about the conditions faced by workers in the boot and shoe industry.
1890s 1890Trades and Labour Congress of Canada calls for eight-hour day."The New Canadian Ship Railway". Hardware. 10 January 1890. Accessed 14 May 2025 1891Nova Scotia - Springhill mining disaster. 125 miners die, some of them child laborers as young as 10 years of age. 1892 BC and prairies - CPR trainsmen's and conductors' strike. Fought specifically over the issue of union recognition, workers triumphed over the most powerful railway corporation in Canada and its president W.C. Van Horne. confirmed the status of international brotherhoods as bargaining agents for employees of CPR and other Canadian railways.Hugh Tuck "CPR trainsmen and conductors' strike of 1892" Labour Le Travail autumn 1980 1894Labour Day is made a federal public holiday. 1894Nationalist Party, BC's first labour party, founded. Its name arises from its pro-nationalization (public ownership) platform. It elects a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in 1894 and 1898 provincial elections - Robert Macpherson. Also elected MP George Ritchie Maxwell in 1896. 1898Canadian Socialist League (CSL) founded in Montreal. Garners strong support in BC. Its views published in Lardeau Eagle, whose publisher, 23-year-old Richard Parmater Pettipiece, goes on to be prominent BC socialist and labour official.
1900s 1900Parliament passes the Conciliation Act and establishes the federal Department of Labour 1900(by election) Arthur Puttee elected as the first Labour Member of Parliament (MP). Runs under the Winnipeg Labour Party label. Serves as MP 1900–1904. 1900Quebec shoe worker strike/lockout. Its resolution is said to be the first direct intervention in a labour conflict by Québec Catholic clergy. The strike/lockout was an important step toward the organization of unions for Catholics and of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (Confederation of National Trade Unions), founded in 1921. 1902 May 22Coal Creek (BC) mine disaster kills 128. 1903Consolidated Lake Superior riot due to layoffs and unpaid wages. 1903Frank Rogers shot to death at picket line during strike at Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), Vancouver. 1904 November 23Carbonada mine (near Morrissey, BC) - Coal mine disaster kills 14.Edmonton Bulletin, November 23, 1904"Fourteen miners killed" https://www.nytimes.com/1904/11/19/archives/fourteen-miners-killed-disaster-caused-by-explosion-in-the.html accessed 2025-11-9 1904Socialist Party of Canada founded by E.T. Kingsley, R.P. Pettipiece and others of the earlier Canadian Socialist League. The Western Clarion becomes its official organ. The Socialist Party elects MLAs in BC, Alberta and Manitoba, before disbanding in 1925 (reborn in 1931 as the SPC (WSM), which exists today). 1906Thomas Belanger and Francois Theriault are shot to death during a strike at Maclaren Company pulp mill at Buckingham, QU. 1906Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), formed in Chicago in 1905 and then came to BC. Founding convention of BC branch in 1906. Western Federation of Miners (WFM) instrumental in its early efforts. 1906IWW Lumber Handlers Union No. 526, composed primarily of Tsleil-Watuth First Nations people of Burrard, strikes in opposition to demands of longer hours and lower pay. First IWW strike in western Canada. Strike largely unsuccessful; only victories are in getting jobs back and having scabs fired. 1906Thunder Bay - the first strike at the Lakehead begins. Again and again, area workers band together to fight for wage increases, job security and non-discriminatory hiring practices. 1907Quebec Bridge, still under construction, collapses, killing 75, including 33 Mohawk steelworkers from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. (When being rebuilt, it collapsed again in 1916.) 1907IWW achieves majority control of the AFL-CIO unions in Nelson. (Just a couple of years later, it becomes Nelson's largest union and leads a successful fight for the 8-hour day and higher wages for city workers.) 1907 July 2 Western Federation of Miners activist James “Big Jim” McGuire called miners at the Nipissing Mine property, Cobalt, Ontario out on strike. It grew into a near-general strike. IWW organizer Robert Roadhouse held nightly rallies in the Cobalt town square, which attracted large crowds. (These rallies were the first of the Wobblies’ “free speech” rallies, later held also in San Francisco and Seattle.) Some smaller mines signed contracts with the miners, but the largest mine never did. Blacklists and other troubles broke the strike in the end. The area's radical labour heritage was later shown with the election of Angus MacDonald in 1920.)Angus, "The Class War Comes to Cobalt" online accessed September 12, 2026 1907 August 28At Cobalt (Ontario), an IWW member is killed when scabs overload a charge at the mine. 1907 Sept. 7-8Vancouver Labour Day march by unionists leads to anti-Asian-immigration riot. Chinatown and Japantown are attacked, causing property damage and numerous injuries.Ito, Kazuo (1973). Issei: A History of Japanese Immigrants in North America. Seattle: Executive Committee for Publication. pp. 102–103 1907Rise of industrial unionism pre-World War I involves the IWW and other workers as well. In Quebec in 1907, workers in the textile sector, predominantly Francophone or Jews, organize industrial unions and conduct strikes. 1907Some miners in Edmonton (Strathcona Mine) gain eight-hour day.Edmonton Bulletin, December 20, 1907, p. 12. (United Mine Workers of America achieved eight-hour day in 1898.) 1909Alberta provincial election: Charles O'Brien, of the Socialist Party of Canada, elected by coal miners in the Rockies. 1909 October 5Wellington Collieries cave-in at Extension, BC (near Ladysmith) kills 32. 1909Prince Rupert (BC) - 123 IWW men walk off sewer construction worksite. 1909Victoria IWW branch signs up 300 men employed in street construction and leads them out on strike. That same year, Victoria IWW calls for a general strike to demand release of McNamara brothers, arrested for the bombing of the Los Angeles Times building. 1909Vancouver Free Speech Fight, wherein the IWW, supported by the Socialist Party of Canada, refuses to give in to demands by mayor and police that labourites not hold open-air rallies and meetings. Prominent U.S. leftist speakers Lucy Parsons and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn also assist. (Vancouver Free Speech Fight re-fought in 1911 and 1912.)
1910s
1910 December 9Bellevue mine disaster at Bellevue, Alberta kills 30 miners. 1911Vancouver Free Speech Fight is re-fought in 1911 (and again in 1912). 1911 result: outdoor meetings allowed on certain streetcorners. 1911 December 23At Nelson, BC, John LeTual and Caleb A. Barton are murdered while organizing for Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).