Labour Welfare in Canada: An Examination of Occupational Assistance

Abstract

This article explores labour welfare in Canada across three distinct periods of occupational assistance: welfare capitalism that began with the Industrial Revolution and persisted through the depression of the 1930s; occupational alcoholism programming that emerged during World War II and the typically unreported domestic labour strife of the 1940s, lasting through the postwar economic boom into the 1960s; and the employee assistance programming era with the introduction of the broad-brush approach to workplace-based assistance that also witnessed organised labour in Canada provide fundamental supports to workers that were originally introduced by workplace owners during the welfare capitalism period, though now to benefit workers rather than to control them. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and into the new information and technological era of work, organised labour has had a distinct role in shaping and providing services to enhance worker and community wellness in Canada.