ANNUAL MEETING
CANADIAN COMMITTEE ON LABOUR HISTORY
TORONTO, 27 MAY 2002

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 11:50 a.m.

ATTENDANCE (26)

AGENDA

M/S/C: To Adopt the agenda as presented.

    M/S/C: To Adopt the minutes of the last meeting as presented in Labour/Le Travail, 48 (Fall/Automne 2001), 389–391.

BUSINESS ARISING

None

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

Jim Naylor reported on a banner year for events in and around the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, especially the successful CCLH workshop in Hamilton on "Brothers and Sisters: Gender and the Labour Movement, Past and Present" co-sponsored by the Workers' Arts and Heritage Centre, and the forthcoming "Writing Canadian Labour: Critical Perspectives" conference at Trent University to mark the fiftieth issue of Labour/Le Travail. He noted the day-long event on "New Directions in Comparative and Transnational History" with papers on labour history, and the CCLH's co-sponsorship of the Canadian Committee on Women's History annual dinner to raise funds for the Barbara Roberts' Memorial Fund.

    Accomplishments of various CCLH members were reported to general acclaim. Congratulations were extended to Joan Sangster for her appointment to the Seagram Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies at McGill University, to Gerry Friesen for his election to Vice-President of the Canadian Historical Association and for his appointment as University Research Professor at the University of Manitoba, and to Greg Kealey for his appointment to Vice-President at the University of New Brunswick.

    The CCLH workshop in Hamilton was judged a great success and thanks were extended to Craig Heron and members of the organising committee and of the Workers' Arts and Heritage Centre. Discussion ensued about organising and funding next year's workshop in Halifax. Members present agreed in principle that the workshop should be self-sustaining, but that, at the discretion of the Executive, up to $1000.00 could be used to support the workshop. M/S/C

    Discussion ensued about the Eugene A. Forsey Prizes in Canadian Labour and Working Class History, to enable the President to prepare a report for the donor. Questions of allocation and of publicity were raised, and volunteers for each committee were solicited. The committees for the undergraduate and graduate prizes were charged with submitting reports to the President.

    The possibility of a listserve for CCLH members was discussed as a vehicle for information dissemination, based on the model of the CCWH. Members present favoured the proposal in principle, but with caveats about logistics since the membership of the CCLH consists of all subscribers to Labour/Le Travail. The issue of potential moderators, and whether they were necessary, was discussed, but no final decisions was taken. The Executive was charged with examining the issues of a listserve and reporting back to the membership.

REPORT OF THE TREASURER

Greg Kealey presented the financial report.
    Members present accepted the financial report.

REPORT OF THE EDITOR

Bryan Palmer thanked Irene Whitfield and Josephine Thompson and the interns and office staff at Memorial and Trent Universities for their work in producing the recent fall and spring issues of Labour/Le Travail, and for their role in ensuring Labour/Le Travail's smooth transition to Trent University. He reported a healthy bank of manuscript submissions and a high ranking in the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Publications Grant competition. He thanked Alvin Finkel and Peter Bischoff as the English and French book review editors.

    Discussion ensued about the SSHRC's cutbacks to scholarly journal grants, with various suggestions about raising concerns in the CHA and the Canadian Association of Learned Journals. The Editor will contact appropriate bodies and report back to the membership.

    Members present accepted the editor's report.

REPORT OF THE PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

Greg Kealey reported the recent publication of A Very Red Life: The Story of Bill Walsh by Cy Gonick, and invited further manuscript submissions.

ELECTIONS

Gerry Freisen, chair of the elections committee, accepted the following nominations:
    President: Joan Sangster (Trent)
    Vice-President: Craig Heron (York)
    As a call for further nominations elicited none, Joan Sangster and Craig Heron were acclaimed.

M/S/C: To acclaim the other members of the Executive:
    Secretary: Cecilia Danysk (Western Washington)
    Treasurer: Gregory S. Kealey (Memorial)

OTHER BUSINESS

Conferences, presentations and projects were brought to members' attention, including the Angelina Project, the Kenny Prize lecture, the "Writing Canadian Labour" conference, and the Hamilton workers project.

    Members were invited to book launches for Joan Sangster's Girl Trouble: Female Delinquency in English Canada (Between the Lines) and Jim Silver and Errol Black's Building a Better World: An Introduction to Unionism in Canada (Fernwood).

    Liason with the Labor and Working Class History Association and the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States was discussed, as Cecilia Danysk holds positions in these organizations and Franca Iacovetta is working with Liz Faue for the North American Labor History Conference.

    A motion of thanks was voted to the outgoing members of the executive.

ADJOURNMENT

Members present adjourned at 1:20 p.m.