1843 Lachine Canal strike

1843 labor strike in Montreal, Canada September 2026 September 2026 Lachine Canal strike 1843 the North American canal age Province of Canada, British Empire Wage cuts Wage restitution Strikes and demonstrations Irish navvies 71st regiment 1,300 27 During the 1843 Lachine Canal strike, an estimated 1,100 to 1,300 workers on the Lachine Canal expansion project in Montreal walked off the job after their wages were cut by one-third, down to just 2 shillings a day.Kalbfleisch John From the archives: Labourers' struggle ended in bloodshed 14 June 2003 17 June 2017 Montreal Gazette https://montrealgazette.com/news/provincial-news/from-the-archives-labourers-struggle-ended-in-bloodshed/Horner 2010 38 "More than 1,100 participated in the strike" The canal workers were predominantly marginalised Irish migrant labourers who lived with their families, including women and children, in the shantytown around the worksite.Horner 2010 38 They demanded their wage be increased to 3-and-a-half shillings a day, and they wanted to be paid in cash, not credits to the company store,Horner 2010 36 which was operated by contractors.Horner 2010 43 Canal workers at the nearby Beauharnois Canal also went on strike sometime in early 1843 in response to poor wages. After the work stoppage began at the Lachine Canal, violence broke out between rival factions of canal workers, one being migrants from Cork and the other larger group from Connaught.Horner 2010 38 The military intervened and sent the 71st regiment to confiscate weapons and arrest the ringleaders of the factions.Horner 2010 38–39 Twenty-seven people were arrested in January.Horner 2010 39 When the Montreal Gazette covered the strike and the clashes, the correspondent portrayed the violence as "manifestations of hereditary hatred ... imported among us from various provinces in Ireland", rather than a conflict stemming from the workers' material conditions.Horner 2010 38–39 This narrative quickly spread throughout the Montreal press and stoked xenophobia against the migrant canal workers.Horner 2010 39 The strike carried on for several weeks, with violence erupting periodically.Horner 2010 41–42 Then in March, the canal workers staged a demonstration; led by fife players, they marched from the shantytown on the banks of the Lachine Canal into the city of Montreal and gathered peacefully on the steps of the Bank of Montreal.Horner 2010 42 This act garnered sympathy from some of the Montreal press.Horner 2010 42 However, the workers' motivations were unclear; despite the coverage of the strike and the demonstration, the voices of the workers themselves were almost completely absent from the press.Horner 2010 43 One exception was a statement from a worker printed in the Montreal Gazette, in which the worker attacked public works contractors on the canal "[who want] to live by the sweat of our brow".Horner 2010 43 Increasingly, editorials in the press were critical of the contractors and the way they paid canal workers in credits that could only be used to buy goods at the contractors' company store.Horner 2010 43 The Lachine Canal strike ended in March 1843 after work recommensed on that worksite; there was no clear conclusion or formal agreement.Horner 2010 44 Later that year on 12 June, the strike led by the workers at the nearby Beauharnois Canal turned deadly. After the Beauharnois workers attacked two contractors, the 74th army regiment confronted them and killed as many as 20 workers and injured 50. References Bibliography Horner Dan Solemn Processions and Terrifying Violence: Spectacle, Authority, and Citizenship during the Lachine Canal Strike of 1843 Urban History Review Revue d'histoire urbaine 38 2 2010 36–47 43560272 See also Shiners' War Welland Canal Riot Category:1840s labor disputes and strikes Category:Labour history of Canada Category:Labour disputes in Quebec