Timeline of labour issues and events in Canada

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This is a timeline of labour issues and events in Canada.

1880s

1883 - The Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC), a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions, is formed.

1912-1914 - Great Coal Strike on Vancouver Island - Joseph Mairs martyred - memorial cairn in Ladysmith, BC
1917 - Creation of the Canadian Labour Party
1918 - The shooting death of Albert "Ginger" Goodwin sparks the Vancouver General Strike, the first general strike in Canadian history.
1919 - Western Labour Conference in Calgary leads to creation of One Big Union
1919 - Winnipeg General Strike

1924 - An informal coalition of progressive MPs forms the Ginger Group in the House of Commons to fight for labour and social issues.
1925 - One coal miner was killed and many injured during a protest as a result of a major strike at the British Empire Steel and Coal Company (BESCO) in New Waterford, Nova Scotia. Davis Day was established in the memory of Bill Davis, the miner who was murdered by company police. The labour dispute resulted in the deployment of 2,000 soldiers during the largest peacetime deployment of the Canadian Army for an internal conflict since the Northwest Rebellion of 1885.
1929 - Murder of Rosvall and Voutilainen

1949 - Asbestos Strike
1949 - Controversial American labour unionist Hal C. Banks comes to Canada to assist in a labour dispute between rival shipping unions.^[1]

1952 - First Peace Arch concert by Paul Robeson
1956 - Creation of the Canadian Labour Congress
1956 - The Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers hold a national convention in Sudbury, Ontario, at which singer and activist Paul Robeson gives his first concert outside the United States since being placed under a travel ban by the United States government in 1950.

1961 - The CCF becomes the New Democratic Party
September 10, 1961 - A Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers meeting at the Sudbury Arena, regarding the union's controversial proposal to merge with the United Steelworkers, erupts into a riot.^[2]
1963 - Reesor Siding Strike
1967 - The international Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers merge with the United Steelworkers. Local 598 in Sudbury, Ontario is the only Mine Mill local in the world to reject the merger, instead continuing operations as an unaffiliated union organization until 1993.
1969 - Murray-Hill riot

1975 - Grace Hartman is elected head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, becoming the first woman to lead a major labour union in North America.
September 15, 1978 - The Inco Strike of 1978 begins in Sudbury, Ontario. Workers are out on strike for almost nine months, until June 7, 1979.

1985 - The Canadian Auto Workers become independent of their former parent union, the United Auto Workers. This process is later documented in the film Final Offer.
1986 - Six-month long strike at the Gainers meatpacking plant in Edmonton

1992 - A bomb at the Giant Mine in the Northwest Territories kills nine replacement workers. Striking mine employee Roger Warren is eventually convicted on nine counts of second-degree murder.
1993 - Local 598 in Sudbury, Ontario, which was the only Mine Mill local in the world not to join the United Steelworkers when the two unions merged in 1967, joins the Canadian Auto Workers.
1998 - Teenagers Jennifer Wiebe and Tessa Lowinger successfully unionize a McDonald's franchise in Squamish, British Columbia. However, the union is decertified in July 1999.

November 22, 2000 - A McDonald's restaurant in Montreal is unionized. The location is closed down on August 31, 2001, with the owner claiming economic pressures due to a rent hike. This is later documented in the film Maxime, McDuff & McDo.
2004 - CN Rail workers strike
2005 - Wal-Mart closes its Saguenay, Quebec store which became the first store of its brand in Canada being unionzied.
May 29, 2006 - Toronto Transit Commission workers stage a one-day wildcat strike.
April 26, 2008 - 2008 Toronto Transit Commission strike
September 19, 2008 - A fire destroys the historic Sudbury Steelworkers Hall in Sudbury, Ontario.
December 10, 2008 - OC Transpo drivers and mechanics strike
June 22, 2009 - 2009 City of Toronto inside and outside workers strike
July 13, 2009 - Workers at Vale's operations in Sudbury embark on a yearlong strike over contract concessions.^[3]
July 5, 2010 - A tentative resolution of the Vale strike in Sudbury is announced.^[3]