Injured Workers’ History Project

Active history

The Injured Workers History Project (IWHP) is the work of a group of injured workers, advocates and researchers who are uncovering and writing the history of the injured workers’ movement in Ontario. The Project, begun in 2005, gained the support of the Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury (RAACWI) under co-chairs co-chairs Robert Storey (Associate Professor, School of Labour Studies, McMaster University) and injured worker Sabrina Pacini. Other Project members: Beryl Brown, Bryan Cook, Marion Endicott, Kate Lushington, Sheelagh Macdonald, John McKinnon, Dan Ublansky.

History for the future

In collecting oral histories and conducting archival research, the Project has captured memory and documented an important part of Ontario’s social history. It has also engaged injured worker activists and leaders in determining how what has been learned can be used to educate and motivate injured workers in current struggles for justice in the workers’ compensation system.

The material and knowledge gained are shared through presentations to conferences and community forums; a series of “IWHP Bulletins”; the DVD “Their Only Power was Moral”; historical re-enactments of the Meredith hearings drawn from the transcripts of the Meredith hearings; and academic publications.