"The Cost-Of-Living Index and Wage Determination"

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Article "The Cost-of-Living Index and Wage Determination" Jean-Marie Martin Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, vol. 4, n° 5, 1949, p. 41-42. Pour citer cet article, utiliser l'information suivante : URI: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1023468ar DOI: 10.7202/1023468ar Note : les règles d'écriture des références bibliographiques peuvent varier selon les différents domaines du savoir. Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter à l'URI https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l'Université de Montréal, l'Université Laval et l'Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. Érudit offre des services d'édition numérique de documents scientifiques depuis 1998. Pour communiquer avec les responsables d'Érudit : [email protected] Document téléchargé le 20 juillet 2016 10:03 Rulletiu du n&UUiouâ. iuduitfuellu Volume 4, number 5 QUEBEC January 1949 Published by the Department of Industrial Relations, THE COST-OF-LIVING INDEX AND Faculty of Social Sciences, Laval University. WAGE DETERMINATION GEORGES-HENRI LÉVESQUE, o.p., Dean GÉRARD TREMBLAY, Director JEAN-MARIE MARTIN GÉRARD DION, Assistant-Director JEAN GAGNÉ, Secretary CHARLES BÉLANGER, Administrator The Bulletin is published monthly, Septem• To what extent can the cost of living index be used ber to June inclusively (ten issues a year). in the negotiation of wage agreements ? Annual subscription: Canada: $1.50; Fo• reign: $2.00. Single copies: twenty-five cents. Tbe Cost-of-Living Index of the Federal Bureau of Sta• Publication indexed in the tistics functions to express, with the aid of percentages, the "Canadian Index". changes in the retail prices of a certain number of commo• AU correspondance must be addressed dities and services — constant as to quahty and quantity to the Literary Editor — entering into the composition of the budget of a typical GÉRARD DION 2, University Street, Quebec. family for a determined period. BuUetin des relations industrieUes This description requires some further explanation. We Volume 4, number 5 January 1949 must ask ourselves, first of all, what we understand by a « typical family », then what we mean by a « budget » and Contents finally what is signified by a « determined period ». These The cost-of-living index and wage determination are the three essential elements which enter into the compo• Jean-Marie MARTIN 41 sition of the Cost-of-Living Index. Some aspects of the vocational training system in use in the The « typical family » with which the official Canadian printing industry of Montreal Index is concerned, is not a real family. It is the average Marcel FORGET 43 Who must administer the family resulting from a certain number of families actually oath to the withness living in the country during the years serving as the basic Marie-Louis BEAULIEU 45 Statistics on labour relations 47 period for the setting up of the index. Union security in the The Cost-of-Living Index was calculated by making Province of Quebec Gérard DION 48 first of all an enquiry in some 45,000 to 50,000 homes in a Our Readers' comments 50 dozen cities of Canada. From these 45,000 to 50,000 homes, 1,439 workingmen's families considered as typical1 by the Contributors BANCROFT, (Mrs.) M.-T., Translator of the Federal Bureau of Statistics, were chosen to take a detailed Bulletin. count of their costs of maintenance, reckoning from October 1, BEAULIEU, Marie-Louis, K.C., B.A., L.Ph., LL.D., Lawyer, Quebec Bar; Professor 1937 up to September 3, 1938. These famiUes lived in the fol• in the Faculty of Law and the Faculty lowing cities: Charlottetown, Halifax, St. John, Quebec, of Social Sciences of Laval University. DION, Gérard, L.Th., L.PhiL, M.Soc.Sc, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, London, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Professor Assistant-Director of the In• Edmonton and Vancouver. The revenue of the 1,439 selected dustrial Relations Department, Faculty of families varied from $600.00 to $2,800.00 a year, the greater Social Sciences, Laval University. FORGET, Marcel, B.A., L.Ph., maitre en rela• number of the families though, receiving between $1,200.00 tions industrielles (Montréal); Assistant- and $1,600.00 in revenue per year. The mean revenue of Secretary, Apprenticeship Commission of the Printing Trades of the City of Mont• all the families was established in the neighbourhood of real. $1,500.00. MARTIN, Jean-Marie, B.A., L.A.S. (Mont• real), M.S.A. (Cornell), Professor, Di• rector, Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences of Laval University. (1) The choice of families as being typical was made following an elaborate study of the 1931 Canadian Census with the purpose Authorized as second class mail of establishing the principal attributes of the workingmen's Post-office Department, families of the country and also of choosing the cities facilitat• Ottawa, Canada. ing the best possible sampling. 42 Bulletin des relations industrieUes de Laval In analysing the budgets furnished by each One must not forget either that the family of 4.6 of these 1,439 families the conclusion was arrived persons is found nowhere and that, in conse• at that the average annual expenditure established quence, the representative family furnishing the itself at $1,413.90. This sum was therefore chosen budget on which is based the Cost-of-Living Index as base and to it was given the figure of 100. is a family which exists only in the abstract. As explained in the November number of the These remarks are not made to criticize the Bulletin des relations industrieUes, this amount of composition of the Cost-of-Living Index in Cana• family outlay — $1,413.90 — was divided into da. They have for aim only to demonstrate that six important groups of expenses, namely : 1 —- the Cost-of-Living Index is an arbitrary measure Food; 2 — Lodging; 3 — Heat and Lighting; 4 — calculated, it is true, with as much exactness as Clothing; 5 — Furnishings; 6 — Sundries (under the family milieu, which was made the object of this heading of « Sundries » were included family the budget investigations, would permit, but expenses for health, personal items, moving, leisu• which remains, nonetheless, a measure, i.e., a re and recreation, life insurance). term of comparison. It is clear that the Cost-of- In giving to the total figure of $1,413.90 the Living Index does not represent the expenditures value of 100 it was found that this figure of 100 of such a particular family that we could know. was divided for budget purposes in the following The Index is a barometer, a floodometer, as an fashion according to the groupings above : 1 — excerpt from an article appearing in the Februa• Food 31.3%; 2 — Lodging 19.1%; 3 — Heat & ry, 1948 number of the « Revue Statistique du Light 6.4%; 4 — Clothing 11.7%; 5 — Furnishings Canada » recalls, « It is important above all to 8.9%; 6 — Sundries 22.6%. remind ourselves that the Index measures the This budget of $1,413.90 per year, as we changes occurring in the cost of living and not in have seen, represented the average expenditures the forms oi life. It is an index of the movement for the upkeep of 1,439 families. But it was ne• of prices rather than the changes which are pro• cessary that this average should correspond also duced in the total expenses of a family ». « —TTie to an average family and it was discovered that Index, in addition, measures only the average the family which represented the average of the changes which are produced in the cities and 1,439 families studied, consisted of 4.6 persons. towns across the country. By reason of the parti• Finally, the period in the course of which cular circumstances which surround the life of this family - of 4.6 persons spent for its annual certain families it is not at all doubtful that the maintenance an average of $1,413.90 was esta• cost of living with these has increased in a man• blished during the five year interval of the years ner much more marked than the Index. On the 1935-36-37-38 and 39. contrary, with other families, it has risen less By the preceding we can see that what we rapidly. » understand by the family budget in the case of All this is to say that we cannot give to the the official Cost-of-Living Index of Canada is the Cost-of-Living Index all the meaning that per• total of the annual maintenance expenses, during sonal interest or group interests are tempted to a five-year period of a workingman's family com• lend it. We must not lose sight of the fact that posed of 4.6 persons, living in one or other of the a particular measure, for example, the mètre, the urban centres already mentioned, divided accord• gold standard etc., has neither utility nor value ing to the six classes of expenditures. unless interpreted with regard to its own function. From all these explanations it is clearly The mètre, to measure distances or surfaces, the evident that the official Cost-of-Living Index in gold standard, to measure the intrinsic value of Canada applies only to a group of families having money, the Cost-of-Living Index to measure the an annual revenue of around $1,500.00 and that variations in the retail prices of certain specific this annual revenue, since it is taken as repre• services and commodities! Moreover, the word it• sentative, is supposed to reflect the most current self indicates that it is here a question of an in• dex, i.e.
Recommended publications
  • The Experience and Expression of Gender Among Halifax Women Taxi Drivers Since World War II Kimberly Berry
    Document generated on 09/27/2021 1:13 a.m. Urban History Review Revue d'histoire urbaine She's No Lady: The Experience and Expression of Gender among Halifax Women Taxi Drivers since World War II Kimberly Berry Volume 27, Number 1, October 1998 Article abstract "She's No Lady" explores the complex relationship between gender identity URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1016610ar and work culture as experienced by women taxi drivers in Halifax. Working in DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1016610ar a traditionally male industry, women taxi drivers often attract the attention of the press and the public as an amusing novelty or a scandalous disgrace. These See table of contents reactions are, in part, the result of the popular perception that masculine and feminine domain are mutually exclusive, restricted to men and women separately and respectively. Furthermore, characterized as highly competitive, Publisher(s) independent operators in a dangerous industry, taxi drivers embody a popular image of masculinity. While the place of women is generally considered to be Urban History Review / Revue d'histoire urbaine outside of masculine culture, women taxi drivers demonstrate the fluidity of gender cultures as they adeptly navigate the contested terrain of their ISSN masculine work-culture. Despite the routine comments and questions from passengers and colleagues alike, most women drivers find a considerable 0703-0428 (print) degree of membership within the larger community of drivers, and in this 1918-5138 (digital) sense become "one of the men"; seen first as taxi drivers and then women. Explore this journal Cite this article Berry, K.
    [Show full text]
  • "A Palace for the Public": Housing Reform and the 1946 Occupation of the Old Hotel Vancouver*
    "A Palace for the Public": Housing Reform and the 1946 Occupation of the Old Hotel Vancouver* JILL WADE On 26 January 1946 thirty veterans led by a Canadian Legion sergeant- at-arms occupied the old Hotel Vancouver to protest against the acute housing problem in Vancouver. The incident climaxed two years of popular agitation over the city's increasingly serious accommodation shortages. In the end, this lengthy, militant campaign achieved some con­ crete housing reforms for Vancouver's tenants. The struggle and its results provide an excellent case study by which to examine the interaction between protest and housing reform in mid-twentieth century urban Canada. In the past, historians of Canadian housing have not concerned them­ selves with the interrelations of protest and reform. Rather, some have concentrated upon specific instances of improvements in housing: the activities of the Toronto Housing Company and the Toronto Public Housing Commission between 1900 and 1923; the distinctive urban land­ scape of homes and gardens in pre-1929 Vancouver; the establishment of the St. John's Housing Corporation in the forties; the reconstruction of Richmond following the 1917 Halifax explosion; and the array of federal programs undertaken between 1935 and 1971.1 Other historians have * I would like to thank Douglas Cruikshank, Robin Fisher, Logan Hovis and Allen Seager for their helpful comments during this paper's preparation. 1 Shirley Campbell Spragge, "The Provision of Workingmen's Housing: Attempts in Toronto, 1904-1920" (M.A. thesis, Queen's University, 1974); idem, "A Conflu­ ence of Interests: Housing Reform in Toronto, 1900-1920," in The Usable Urban Past: Planning and Politics in the Modern Canadian City, eds.
    [Show full text]
  • PAA Oral History Project Volume 1--Presidents Number 2
    DDEEMMOOGGRRAAPPHHIICC DDEESSTTIINNIIEESS Interviews with Presidents and Secretary-Treasurers of the Population Association of America PAA Oral History Project Volume 1--Presidents Number 2--From 1961 through 1976 Prepared by Jean van der Tak PAA Historian 1982 to 1994 Assembled for Distribution by the PAA History Committee: John R. Weeks, Chair (PAA Historian, 1994 to present) Paul Demeny David Heer Dennis Hodgson Deborah McFarlane 2005 ABOUT THE PAA ORAL HISTORY PROJECT AND THESE INTERVIEWS This series of interviews with past presidents and secretary-treasurers and a few others for the oral history project of the Population Association of America is the brainchild of Anders Lunde, without whom PAA would scarcely have a record of its 60year history. Dismayed by the dearth of usable PAA files he inherited as secretary-treasurer in 1965-68, Andy later determined to capture at least the reminiscences of some of PAA's longest-time members. When written pleas yielded few results, he set about doing taped interviews with past presidents and secretary-treasurers and conducted over a dozen (with help from Abbott Ferriss and Harry Rosenberg) between 1973 and 1979. Andy also assembled core records of meetings, membership numbers and officers and Board members since PAA's founding in 1931. He established PAA's official archives and arranged--with the help of Tom Merrick and Conrad Taeuber--for their cataloguing and deposit in the Georgetown University library. [Note: the archives were removed from Georgetown University in the late 1990s, and are now housed in a storage unit rented by the Population Association of America, accessible through the Executive Director of the PAA.] With Con Taeuber, he organized the "PAA at Age 50" session at the 1981 50th anniversary meeting in Washington, which produced four valuable papers on early PAA history by Frank Notestein, Frank Lorimer, Clyde Kiser, and Andy himself (published in Population index, Fall 1981).
    [Show full text]
  • Frank Myron Guttman the HEBREW FREE LOAN ASSOCIATION OF
    Frank Myron Guttman THE HEBREW FREE LOAN ASSOCIATION OF MONTREAL The Jew is not a burden on the charities of the state nor of the city; these could cease their func- tions without affecting him….A Jewish beggar is not impossible: perhaps such a thing may exist, but there are few men who can say that they have seen that spectacle.1 Many Montreal businessmen, some of whom have been or are now on the board of directors owe their start up and subsequent success to the Hebrew Free Loan Association (HFLA). The primary purpose of the HFLA is to lend interest-free money to the needy, to people who could not otherwise obtain loans from banks or mortgage companies. The practice began in the Middle Ages in Europe and spread to America at the end of the nineteenth century. The principal of interest-free loans is based on biblical and rabbinic injunctions as well as Jewish practices that have evolved through time. The HFLA endeav- ours to reduce pauperism through the mechanism of helping individuals to help themselves. This approach was judged a better solution to poverty than charity in that it provides the tools for the poor to increase their financial security. The mode of operation of the association is such that it minimizes the shame associated with a loan by providing unmarked cheques. An underlying secondary purpose of the HFLA is to fight anti- semitism by demonstrating both that Jews are not usurers and that they look after their own. 46 Frank Myron Guttman The Montreal HFLA was established in 1911.
    [Show full text]
  • Enlistment in the Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1918
    Canadian Military History Volume 24 Issue 1 Article 23 2015 Enlistment in the Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1918 Chris Sharpe Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh Part of the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Chris Sharpe "Enlistment in the Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1918." Canadian Military History 24, 1 (2015) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian Military History by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. : Enlistment in the Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1918 Enlistment in the Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1918 A Re-evaluation1 CHRIS SHARPE Abstract: Critical analysis of Canada’s recruitment for the war effort has three main themes. The first is that the government undertook to raise an expeditionary force too large to be maintained by voluntary enlistment. As a result, conscription for overseas service had to be imposed, creating enduring rifts between regions and linguistic groups. The second is that too few Canadian-born men enlisted. The third is that the low enlistment rate among French-Canadians was a national embarrassment. This paper examines the regional patterns of enlistment, evaluates the arguments advanced to explain the French-Canadian ambivalence to the war, and concludes that conscription was necessary v a l u a t i o n s o f C a n a d a ’s military contribution to the First World War generally incorporate three themes: that voluntary Eenlistment fell short of the need; that Canadian-born men did not do their fair share; and that the shortcomings of the national effort 1 The first version of this paper appeared thirty years ago.
    [Show full text]
  • Profiling Competitive Rural Regions in Canada
    RURAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE PROFILING COMPETITIVE RURAL REGIONS IN CANADA A Focus on Self-contained Labour Areas June 2017 PROFILING COMPETITIVE RURAL REGIONS IN CANADA Prepared by: Ray D. Bollman, Research Affiliate Rural Development Institute Brandon University I would like to sincerely acknowledge the contribution of Anne (Ash) Munro and Alessandro Alasia of Statistics Canada to the conceptualization and the production of this report. Rural Development Institute, Brandon University Brandon University established the Rural Development Institute in 1989 as an academic research centre and a leading source of information on issues affecting rural communities in Western Canada and elsewhere. RDI functions as a not-for-profit research and development organization designed to promote, facilitate, coordinate, initiate and conduct multi-disciplinary academic and applied research on rural issues. The Institute provides an interface between academic research efforts and the community by acting as a conduit of rural research information and by facilitating community involvement in rural development. RDI projects are characterized by cooperative and collaborative efforts of multi-stakeholders. The Institute has diverse research affiliations, and multiple community and government linkages related to its rural development mandate. RDI disseminates information to a variety of constituents and stakeholders and makes research information and results widely available to the public either in printed form or by means of public lectures, seminars, workshops
    [Show full text]
  • Scots in British Columbia's Interwar Fishing Industry1
    “Mon – he’s a gran’ fish”: Scots in British Columbia’s Interwar Fishing Industry1 M ICHAEL E. VANCE isitors to the Empire Exhibition at Wembley between 1924 and 1925 would have seen among the numerous exhibits of imperial Vproducts a large window display of canned salmon constructed by the Anglo-British Columbia Packing Company. Careful observers may have noted that the can label consisted “of two circular designs.” In the left design [were] written in block letters the words “Wee Scottie” and the “Anglo-British Columbia Packing Co. Ltd. London and Vancouver, B.C.” The right design contain[ed] a representation of a boy in highland clothes riding a salmon, and holding in his hand a tin of Wee Scottie salmon. Immediately below … [were] written the words “Mon – he’s a gran’ fish.”2 As one of the leading interwar producers of canned salmon in British Columbia,3 the abc Packing Company would have taken advantage of the Empire Exhibition to promote its product, but according to the company history, it was the firm’s owner and president, Henry Ogle Bell-Irving, who had championed the “Wee Scottie” design. Early in 1914, he had arranged for a donation of a large quantity of canned salmon for the war effort but insisted it be labelled with the brand. As a consequence of his action, “Wee Scottie” canned salmon became 1 An earlier version of this article was presented at the conference entitled “British Columbia: Re-Thinking Ourselves,” University of British Columbia, Vancouver, May 2003. The author is grateful to Renée Hulan, Douglas Vaisey, Geoff Meggs, Robert McDonald, and the anonymous readers for their encouragement and helpful advice.
    [Show full text]
  • Occupational Income Scores and Immigration Assimilation. Evidence from the Canadian Census
    Economic History Working Papers No: 292 Occupational Income Scores and Immigration Assimilation. Evidence from the Canadian Census Kris Inwood (Guelph), Chris Minns (LSE), and Fraser Summerfield (St. Francis Xavier) DecemberJuly 2018 2018 Economic History Department, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, London, UK. T: +44 (0) 20 7955 7084. F: +44 (0) 20 7955 7730 Occupational income scores and immigrant assimilation. Evidence from the Canadian Census* Kris Inwood (Guelph), Chris Minns (LSE), and Fraser Summerfield (St. Francis Xavier) JEL Codes: Keywords: Abstract: Little evidence is available to assess the effect of substituting occupation-based income scores for individual incomes before 1940. The example of immigrant assimilation in Canada 1911-1931 reveals differences in the extent and even the direction of assimilation depending on whether income scores are used and how the occupational income score is constructed. Given the increasingly wide use of income scores, we summarize a number of procedures to address the limitations associated with the absence of individual level income variation. An adjustment of conventional income scores for either group earnings differences and/or intertemporal change using summary information for broad groups of occupations reduces the deviation between scores and actual incomes. * We thank Ian Keay, Ariel Zimran, seminar participants at LSE and Lakehead University, and conference participants at the 2015 Canadian Economics Association, the 2015 European Historical Economics Society meetings, and the 2016 Social Science History Association for helpful comments. This research was supported by funds to the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), and Statistics Canada.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cost-Of-Living Index and Wage Determination Jean-Marie Martin
    Document generated on 09/26/2021 12:21 a.m. Relations industrielles Industrial Relations The Cost-of-Living Index and Wage Determination Jean-Marie Martin Volume 4, Number 5, January 1949 Article abstract To what extent can the cost of living index be used in the negotiation of wage URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1023468ar agreements ? DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1023468ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Département des relations industrielles de l’Université Laval ISSN 0034-379X (print) 1703-8138 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Martin, J.-M. (1949). The Cost-of-Living Index and Wage Determination. Relations industrielles / Industrial Relations, 4(5), 41–42. https://doi.org/10.7202/1023468ar Tous droits réservés © Département des relations industrielles de l’Université This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit Laval, 1949 (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Rulletiu du n&UUiouâ. iuduitfuellu Volume 4, number 5 QUEBEC January 1949 Published by the Department of Industrial Relations, THE COST-OF-LIVING INDEX AND Faculty of Social Sciences, Laval University. WAGE DETERMINATION GEORGES-HENRI LÉVESQUE, o.p., Dean GÉRARD TREMBLAY, Director JEAN-MARIE MARTIN GÉRARD DION, Assistant-Director JEAN GAGNÉ, Secretary CHARLES BÉLANGER, Administrator The Bulletin is published monthly, Septem• To what extent can the cost of living index be used ber to June inclusively (ten issues a year).
    [Show full text]
  • Of the Program of Adult Educationand Economic Cooperationsponsored by St
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 027 476 AC 003 965 B y Coady, M. M. Masters of Their Own Destiny; The Story ofThe Antigonish Movement of Adult EducationThrough Economic Cooperation. Pub Date 39 Note-177p. EDRS Price MF-$0.75 HC-$8.95 Groups, *Economic Descriptors-CommunityDevelopment,*Cooperatives.Credit(Finance),Discussion Development, Educational Attitudes. Farmers,Fisheries, *Historical Reviews, *LaborEducation, Local Unions, Mass Instruction, Political Power, PowerStructure, Regional Programs, SocioeconomicStatus, *University Extension Identifiers-*Antigonish Movement, Nova Scotia, StFrancis Xavier University The book records the developmentof the program of adult educationand economic cooperationsponsored by St. Francis XavierUniversity in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The program datesfrom 1853 when a Catholic theologicalschool was established at Arichat. In 1855 theschool was transferred to Antigonish,named St. Francis Xavier, enlarged and convertedinto a liberal arts college.By 1939, the faculty wai known for its interest inthe people of its constituency.S.F.X extension workers organized mass meetingsand small classes enrollingfarmers, miners, and factory workers in economicallyoriented adult education programs.The study clubs proved an adequate meansfor organizing labor and credit unionsand economic cooperatives. Eventually, thepeople owned their own lobsterfactories and marketing cooperatives; economic powerof the masses was being achieved.Basic to the philosophy of the S.F.X. extension program wasthe belief that educationalemphasis should be on the material and economic sothat u;timately the common manwould be free to devote his time and energiesto cultural pursuits.Although the program repudiates Marxism, economic cooperatives areadvocated, since they reward the members according to thepeople's creative .and .productiveability. (The book contains a revisionof statistics correct to the endof 1960.) (se) U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • "Nit Ahin Un Nit Aher": Yiddish Scholarship in Canada 70 Pierre Anctil / “Nit Ahin Un Nit Aher”: Yiddish Scholarship in Canada
    Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juives canadiennes, vol. 21, 2013 [2014] 69 Pierre Anctil "Nit ahin un nit aher": Yiddish Scholarship in Canada 70 Pierre Anctil / “Nit ahin un nit aher”: Yiddish Scholarship in Canada Yiddish was the main language of communication for the vast majority of East Eu- ropean immigrants that arrived in Canada in the first half of the twentieth century, including a last wave, composed of survivors of the Holocaust, who set foot in the country around 1948-1950. It was not the only language that Jews from Eastern Eu- rope knew and could use fluently, far from it, but it proved to be the most resilient in the context of a North American diaspora. As a recent study conducted by Bernard Spolsky and Elana Shohamy has demonstrated, individuals hailing from tradition- al milieus in Jewish Europe were schooled in historical Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Aramaic, used fusion languages such as Yiddish, and commonly spoke co-territorial non-Jewish languages like Russian, Polish, German and a host of oth- er regional dialects.1 Once in Canada, East Europeans favoured Yiddish over other idioms because it was the language that they had spoken first as children in the shtetl environment, and because it had become the main vehicles for revolutionary political activism in Russia during the 1905 insurrection.2 There is no doubt that for immigrants, Yiddish carried a deep symbolic significance as the language of cultural modernity and of the ongoing struggle for national liberation in the tsarist Empire. Data collected by
    [Show full text]
  • A Legal History of Employment Pension Plans in Canada
    Gifts or Rights? A Legal History of Employment Pension Plans in Canada by Elizabeth Jean Shilton A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Juridical Science Faculty of Law University of Toronto © Copyright by Elizabeth Jean Shilton 2011 Gifts or Rights? A Legal History of Employment Pension Plans in Canada Elizabeth Jean Shilton Doctor of Juridical Science Faculty of Law University of Toronto 2011 Abstract This thesis explores the role played by law in the current breakdown of the employment pension system, focusing on the legal status of pension plans within the employment relationship, and on the way lawmakers have defined, shaped and enforced employee pension rights. It traces the legal status of employment pensions from their 19th Century characterization as gifts to reward employees for long and faithful service, to their current 21st Century construction as terms of the contract of employment. The thesis argues that Canadian lawmakers within all three legal regimes structuring rights and obligations within the employment relationship – the common law, collective bargaining law and statute law – have contributed significantly to the overall dysfunction of the system by cultivating both substantive and procedural legal rules that locate critical issues concerning the scope, design, durability and distribution of employee pension rights within the control of employers. Predictably, Canadian employers have used that control to shape pension plans to meet their distinct business needs, needs that frequently collide with worker needs and expectations for good pensions. Even in the heyday of the „Fordist‟ work structures that fostered employment pension plans, the system delivered benefits very unequally, privileging the interest of elite ii workers who fit the „male breadwinner‟ mould, and failing to provide adequate and secure pensions for the majority of Canadian workers.
    [Show full text]