Ottawa Trades Council

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Ottawa Trades Council was the first local labor central body in Ottawa. It was formed on December 19, 1872 at the St. Lawrence Hotel and brought together workers from the bricklayers and masons, limestone cutters, plasterers, and the typographical union. The split with an unpaid contractor spurred the move. The pro-union Ontario Workman noted that workers were determined to push for wage guarantees through a lien law.

The council pressed for the Mechanics Lien Act in Ontario to guarantee wages and worked with the Ottawa and Hamilton Labour Councils and the Toronto Trades Council to secure this law. It helped hold the first official labor meeting with a Canadian Prime Minister in 1873 and participated in forming the first national central labor body, the Canadian Labour Union, in 1873, hosting its second convention in 1874 at the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. In 1874, the council’s president, Daniel O’Donoghue, was elected to the Ontario Legislature.

An economic depression in the 1870s weakened the labor movement, and the Ottawa Trades Council faded away; there is no trace of it after 1877. Official languages: English and French. Headquarters: Ottawa, Ontario.