J. S. Woodsworth
Encyclopedia
James Shaver Woodsworth (July 29, 1874 – March 21, 1942) was a pioneer in the Canadian
social democratic
movement. Following more than two decades ministering to the poor and the working class, J. S. Woodsworth left the church to lay the foundation for, and become the first leader of, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
(CCF), a democratic socialist party that later became the New Democratic Party
(NDP).
, Ontario
, to Esther Josephine Shaver and James Woodsworth
. His father was a Methodist
minister, and his strong faith was a powerful factor in shaping his later life. His grandfather, Harold Richard Woodsworth, had opposed William Lyon Mackenzie
in the 1837 Rebellions.
in 1882, where his father became a Superintendent of Methodist Missions in western Canada. Following in his father's footsteps, J.S. was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1896 and spent two years as a circuit preacher in Manitoba before going to study at Victoria College in the University of Toronto
and at Oxford University in England
. While studying at Oxford University in 1899, he became interested in social welfare work. During his stay, the Second Boer War
broke out, and Woodsworth was immersed in discussions about the moral values of imperialism
. In 1902, following his return to Canada, he took a position as minister at Grace Church in Winnipeg
, and in 1903, married Lucy Staples.
In this role, he worked with the poor immigrants in Winnipeg and preached a social gospel
that called for the Kingdom of God "here and now". It was not long, however, before Woodsworth became restless as a minister. He had difficulty accepting Methodist dogma
, and questioned the wisdom of the Church's emphasis on individual salvation
without considering the social context in which an individual lived. In a statement of explanation presented to the Manitoba Methodist Church Conference in 1907, he cited concerns with matters such as baptism, tests for those entering the Church, and fasting as a religious exercise. He tendered his resignation, but it was refused and he was offered the opportunity to assume the Superintendency of All People's Mission in Winnipeg's North End. For six years he worked with the poor and immigrant families, and during this time, he wrote and campaigned for compulsory education, juvenile courts, the construction of playgrounds, and other initiatives in support of social welfare.
Woodsworth left All People's in 1913 to accept an appointment as Secretary of the Canadian Welfare League. During this time he travelled extensively throughout the three Canadian prairie provinces, investigating social conditions, and writing and presenting lectures on his findings. By 1914, he had become a socialist and an admirer of the British Labour Party.
In 1916, during World War I
, he was asked to support the National Services Registration, better known as "conscription
". As church ministers were being asked to preach about the duty of men to serve in the military
, Woodsworth decided to publish his objections. As a pacifist
, he was morally
opposed to the Church being used as a vehicle of recruitment, and was fired from his position with the Bureau of Social Research, where he was working at the time. In 1917, he received his final pastoral posting to Gibson's Landing, British Columbia. Woodsworth resigned from the Church in 1918 because of its support of the war. "I thought that as a Christian
minister, I was a messenger of the Prince of Peace
," he is quoted as saying. His resignation was accepted.
. He joined the union
, helped organize the Federated Labour Party of British Columbia, and wrote for the labour newspaper.
In 1919, he set out on a tour of Western Canada
, arriving in Winnipeg just as the Winnipeg General Strike was underway. He immediately began presenting addresses at strike
meetings. When the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
charged into a crowd of strikers demonstrating in the centre of Winnipeg, killing one person and injuring 30, Woodsworth led the campaign of protest, and soon became involved in organising the Manitoba Independent Labour Party (ILP).
Woodsworth briefly returned to British Columbia in 1920 to campaign as a Federated Labour Party candidate in Vancouver
. He received 7444 votes, but was not elected to the provincial legislature.
He became editor of the Western Labour News. A week after the editor of the strike bulletin was arrested and charged with seditious
libel, Woodsworth found himself in the same position, but was released on bail after five days' imprisonment, and the charges were never filed. These events were instrumental in establishing Woodsworth's credentials with the labour movement and in propelling him to a twenty-year tenure in public office. They also affirmed his beliefs in the importance of social activism.
In December 1921, Woodsworth was elected as the Independent Labour Party Member of Parliament
for the riding
of Winnipeg North, a constituency he served until his death. The first bill he proposed concerned unemployment insurance and, even though he was informed by the Clerk of the House of Commons
that bills involving federal spending had to be presented by the government, he nonetheless continued to press his case for constitutional reform. Fourteen years later, the government agreed to strike a committee to discuss possible constitutional reforms. During this time, Woodsworth was an unflagging advocate for the worker, the farmer, and the immigrant.
In 1929, Woodsworth was a keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Student Christian Movement of Canada
, a fledgling social justice movement founded in 1921, and inspired Stanley Knowles
, then 21, who later became ordained and helped found the New Democratic Party
.
Rejecting violent revolution and any association with the new Communist Party of Canada
, Woodsworth became a master of parliamentary procedure
and used the House of Commons as a public platform. He sat with the Progressive Party of Canada
and was a leader of its radical faction, the Ginger Group
.
When the Canadian Liberal Party
nearly lost the 1925 election
, Woodsworth was able to bargain his vote in the House for a promise from the Liberal government to enact an old age pension plan. Introduced in 1927, the plan is the cornerstone of Canada's social security
system. In 1932, Woodsworth toured Europe as a member of the League of Nations
Assembly in Geneva
.
struck, Woodsworth and the ILP joined with various other labour and socialist groups in 1932 to found a new socialist party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
(CCF), with Woodsworth as its first leader. Woodsworth said: "I am convinced that we may develop in Canada a distinctive type of Socialism. I refuse to follow slavishly the British model or the American model or the Russian model. We in Canada will solve our problems along our own lines."
In 1933, the CCF became the official opposition in British Columbia and, in 1934, the party achieved the same result in Saskatchewan
. In the 1935 election
, seven CCF Members of Parliament were elected to the House of Commons and the party captured 8.9 percent of the popular vote. The CCF, however, was never able to seriously challenge Canada's two party system. In particular, the enormous prestige of the long-time Liberal Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King
, prevented the CCF from displacing the Liberals as the main party of the left, as had happened in Britain
, Australia
and New Zealand
.
In 1939, the majority of CCF members refused to support Woodsworth's opposition to Canada's entry into World War II
. During the debate on the declaration of war, Mackenzie King said: "There are few men in this Parliament for whom I have greater respect than the leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. I admire him in my heart, because time and again he has had the courage to say what lays on his conscience, regardless of what the world might think of him. A man of that calibre is an ornament to any Parliament."
Nevertheless, Woodsworth was almost alone in his opposition to the war, and his days as a party leader were over. He was re-elected to the House in September 1940, but suffered a stroke in the fall and, over the next 18 months, his health deteriorated. He died in Vancouver
, British Columbia
in early 1942, and his ashes were scattered in the Strait of Georgia
.
Woodsworth's daughter, Grace MacInnis
, followed in his footsteps as a CCF politician.
, has largely abandoned Woodsworth's vision of a socialist Canada, Woodsworth's memory is still held in great respect within the party, and across Canada.
Woodsworth College
of the University of Toronto
, and J. S. Woodsworth Secondary School
in Ottawa
, Ontario
(closed in 2005) are named after him. There is also a housing co-operative in downtown Toronto named after him. There is also a J.S. Woodsworth Senior Public School in Scarborough, Toronto. In Winnipeg a chrome coloured sixteen-story Manitoba provincial office building built in 1973 is named after him. The Ontario Woodsworth Memorial Foundation merged with the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation
in 1987.
The Woodsworth home at 60 Maryland Street in Winnipeg, Manitoba is now the location of the Centre for Christian Studies. CCS purchased Woodsworth House from the Woodsworth Historical Society in 1998, with a commitment to keep the Woodsworth name and to continue to display photographs of Woodsworth and reminders of his commitment to the social gospel and social justice.
In 2004, a CBC contest rated Woodsworth as the 100th Greatest Canadian of all time.
In October 2010, the town of Gibsons, British Columbia announced that it would be naming a street in a new subdivision after Woodsworth. Woodsworth lived in Gibsons for a short time, beginning in 1917.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
movement. Following more than two decades ministering to the poor and the working class, J. S. Woodsworth left the church to lay the foundation for, and become the first leader of, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
(CCF), a democratic socialist party that later became the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
(NDP).
Childhood
The oldest of six children, James Shaver Woodsworth was born in Etobicoke Applewood Farm, near TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, to Esther Josephine Shaver and James Woodsworth
James Woodsworth
Rev. James Woodsworth, D.D. was, in the late 19th century, Superintendent of Methodist Missions in the North-West of Canada, which then included all four of today's western provences...
. His father was a Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
minister, and his strong faith was a powerful factor in shaping his later life. His grandfather, Harold Richard Woodsworth, had opposed William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie was a Scottish born American and Canadian journalist, politician, and rebellion leader. He served as the first mayor of Toronto, Upper Canada and was an important leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion.-Background and early years in Scotland, 1795–1820:Mackenzie was...
in the 1837 Rebellions.
Early ministry
The Woodsworth family moved to Brandon, ManitobaBrandon, Manitoba
Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, Canada, and is located in the southwestern area of the province. Brandon is the largest city in the Westman region of Manitoba. The city is located along the Assiniboine River. Spruce Woods Provincial Park and CFB Shilo are a relatively short distance...
in 1882, where his father became a Superintendent of Methodist Missions in western Canada. Following in his father's footsteps, J.S. was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1896 and spent two years as a circuit preacher in Manitoba before going to study at Victoria College in the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
and at Oxford University in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. While studying at Oxford University in 1899, he became interested in social welfare work. During his stay, the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
broke out, and Woodsworth was immersed in discussions about the moral values of imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
. In 1902, following his return to Canada, he took a position as minister at Grace Church in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, and in 1903, married Lucy Staples.
In this role, he worked with the poor immigrants in Winnipeg and preached a social gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
that called for the Kingdom of God "here and now". It was not long, however, before Woodsworth became restless as a minister. He had difficulty accepting Methodist dogma
Dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...
, and questioned the wisdom of the Church's emphasis on individual salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
without considering the social context in which an individual lived. In a statement of explanation presented to the Manitoba Methodist Church Conference in 1907, he cited concerns with matters such as baptism, tests for those entering the Church, and fasting as a religious exercise. He tendered his resignation, but it was refused and he was offered the opportunity to assume the Superintendency of All People's Mission in Winnipeg's North End. For six years he worked with the poor and immigrant families, and during this time, he wrote and campaigned for compulsory education, juvenile courts, the construction of playgrounds, and other initiatives in support of social welfare.
Early social activism
As a Mission worker, Woodsworth had the opportunity to see first hand the appalling circumstances in which many of his fellow citizens lived, and began writing the first of several books decrying the failure to provide workers with a living wage and arguing for the need to create a more egalitarian and compassionate state. In 1909, his Strangers Within Our Gates was published, followed in 1911 by My Neighbour. Both of these books remain basic reading in the history of social practice and reform in Canada. Woodsworth established The People's Forum in 1910, a twice-each-Sunday series of lectures, concerts, and discussions presented by various of Winnipeg's ethnic groups. This series ran for seven years.Woodsworth left All People's in 1913 to accept an appointment as Secretary of the Canadian Welfare League. During this time he travelled extensively throughout the three Canadian prairie provinces, investigating social conditions, and writing and presenting lectures on his findings. By 1914, he had become a socialist and an admirer of the British Labour Party.
In 1916, during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was asked to support the National Services Registration, better known as "conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
". As church ministers were being asked to preach about the duty of men to serve in the military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
, Woodsworth decided to publish his objections. As a pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, he was morally
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
opposed to the Church being used as a vehicle of recruitment, and was fired from his position with the Bureau of Social Research, where he was working at the time. In 1917, he received his final pastoral posting to Gibson's Landing, British Columbia. Woodsworth resigned from the Church in 1918 because of its support of the war. "I thought that as a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
minister, I was a messenger of the Prince of Peace
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
," he is quoted as saying. His resignation was accepted.
Political involvement
Woodsworth and his family remained in British Columbia, where, despite his slight stature, he took work as a stevedoreStevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
. He joined the union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, helped organize the Federated Labour Party of British Columbia, and wrote for the labour newspaper.
In 1919, he set out on a tour of Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
, arriving in Winnipeg just as the Winnipeg General Strike was underway. He immediately began presenting addresses at strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
meetings. When the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
charged into a crowd of strikers demonstrating in the centre of Winnipeg, killing one person and injuring 30, Woodsworth led the campaign of protest, and soon became involved in organising the Manitoba Independent Labour Party (ILP).
Woodsworth briefly returned to British Columbia in 1920 to campaign as a Federated Labour Party candidate in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. He received 7444 votes, but was not elected to the provincial legislature.
He became editor of the Western Labour News. A week after the editor of the strike bulletin was arrested and charged with seditious
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
libel, Woodsworth found himself in the same position, but was released on bail after five days' imprisonment, and the charges were never filed. These events were instrumental in establishing Woodsworth's credentials with the labour movement and in propelling him to a twenty-year tenure in public office. They also affirmed his beliefs in the importance of social activism.
In December 1921, Woodsworth was elected as the Independent Labour Party Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for the riding
Electoral district (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
of Winnipeg North, a constituency he served until his death. The first bill he proposed concerned unemployment insurance and, even though he was informed by the Clerk of the House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
that bills involving federal spending had to be presented by the government, he nonetheless continued to press his case for constitutional reform. Fourteen years later, the government agreed to strike a committee to discuss possible constitutional reforms. During this time, Woodsworth was an unflagging advocate for the worker, the farmer, and the immigrant.
In 1929, Woodsworth was a keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Student Christian Movement of Canada
Student Christian Movement of Canada
The Student Christian Movement of Canada is a youth-led ecumenical network of student collectives based in spirituality, issues of social, economic, and environmental justice, and building autonomous local communities on campuses across the country...
, a fledgling social justice movement founded in 1921, and inspired Stanley Knowles
Stanley Knowles
Stanley Howard Knowles, PC, OC was a Canadian parliamentarian. Knowles represented the riding of Winnipeg North Centre from 1942 to 1958 on behalf of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and again from 1962 to 1984 representing the CCF's successor, the New Democratic Party .Knowles was widely...
, then 21, who later became ordained and helped found the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
.
Rejecting violent revolution and any association with the new Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
, Woodsworth became a master of parliamentary procedure
Parliamentary procedure
Parliamentary procedure is the body of rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings and other operations of clubs, organizations, legislative bodies, and other deliberative assemblies...
and used the House of Commons as a public platform. He sat with the Progressive Party of Canada
Progressive Party of Canada
The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...
and was a leader of its radical faction, the Ginger Group
Ginger group
A ginger group is a formal or informal group within, for example, a political party seeking to inspire the rest with its own enthusiasm and activity....
.
When the Canadian Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
nearly lost the 1925 election
Canadian federal election, 1925
The Canadian federal election of 1925 was held on October 29 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 15th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party formed a minority government. This precipitated the "King-Byng Affair".The Liberals under...
, Woodsworth was able to bargain his vote in the House for a promise from the Liberal government to enact an old age pension plan. Introduced in 1927, the plan is the cornerstone of Canada's social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
system. In 1932, Woodsworth toured Europe as a member of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
Assembly in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
.
Formation of the CCF
When the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
struck, Woodsworth and the ILP joined with various other labour and socialist groups in 1932 to found a new socialist party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
(CCF), with Woodsworth as its first leader. Woodsworth said: "I am convinced that we may develop in Canada a distinctive type of Socialism. I refuse to follow slavishly the British model or the American model or the Russian model. We in Canada will solve our problems along our own lines."
In 1933, the CCF became the official opposition in British Columbia and, in 1934, the party achieved the same result in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
. In the 1935 election
Canadian federal election, 1935
The Canadian federal election of 1935 was held on October 14, 1935 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's Conservative Party.The central...
, seven CCF Members of Parliament were elected to the House of Commons and the party captured 8.9 percent of the popular vote. The CCF, however, was never able to seriously challenge Canada's two party system. In particular, the enormous prestige of the long-time Liberal Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
, prevented the CCF from displacing the Liberals as the main party of the left, as had happened in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
In 1939, the majority of CCF members refused to support Woodsworth's opposition to Canada's entry into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. During the debate on the declaration of war, Mackenzie King said: "There are few men in this Parliament for whom I have greater respect than the leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. I admire him in my heart, because time and again he has had the courage to say what lays on his conscience, regardless of what the world might think of him. A man of that calibre is an ornament to any Parliament."
Nevertheless, Woodsworth was almost alone in his opposition to the war, and his days as a party leader were over. He was re-elected to the House in September 1940, but suffered a stroke in the fall and, over the next 18 months, his health deteriorated. He died in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in early 1942, and his ashes were scattered in the Strait of Georgia
Strait of Georgia
The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is approximately long and varies in width from...
.
Woodsworth's daughter, Grace MacInnis
Grace MacInnis
Winona Grace MacInnis, OC, OBC was a Canadian politician and feminist. She was the first woman from British Columbia elected to the Canadian House of Commons, as well as the first wife of a former Canadian Member of Parliament to be elected to the House of Commons in her own right, rather than by...
, followed in his footsteps as a CCF politician.
Woodsworth's legacy
J.S. Woodsworth strongly influenced Canadian social policy, and many of the social concepts he pioneered are represented in contemporary programs such as social assistance and medicare, which are deemed to be fundamentally important in Canadian society today. While the party for which he was central founder, today called the New Democratic PartyNew Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
, has largely abandoned Woodsworth's vision of a socialist Canada, Woodsworth's memory is still held in great respect within the party, and across Canada.
Woodsworth College
Woodsworth College
Woodsworth College, named after politician and clergyman James Shaver Woodsworth , is a college within the University of Toronto. It is the largest college in the Faculty of Arts and Science on the St. George Campus. It is also the newest of the colleges at the University of Toronto, created in...
of the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, and J. S. Woodsworth Secondary School
J. S. Woodsworth Secondary School
J. S. Woodsworth Secondary School was a high school in the Borden Farm neighborhood of Ottawa , Ontario, Canada. Located at 159 Chesterton Drive, the school opened in 1973 and closed on June 30, 2005. The school's sports team was the Warriors, and the team's mascot was Woody the Warrior...
in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
(closed in 2005) are named after him. There is also a housing co-operative in downtown Toronto named after him. There is also a J.S. Woodsworth Senior Public School in Scarborough, Toronto. In Winnipeg a chrome coloured sixteen-story Manitoba provincial office building built in 1973 is named after him. The Ontario Woodsworth Memorial Foundation merged with the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation
Douglas-Coldwell Foundation
The Douglas-Coldwell Foundation is a Canadian think tank devoted, in the words of its slogan, to "promoting education and research into social democracy." It was founded in 1971, and is based in Ottawa....
in 1987.
The Woodsworth home at 60 Maryland Street in Winnipeg, Manitoba is now the location of the Centre for Christian Studies. CCS purchased Woodsworth House from the Woodsworth Historical Society in 1998, with a commitment to keep the Woodsworth name and to continue to display photographs of Woodsworth and reminders of his commitment to the social gospel and social justice.
In 2004, a CBC contest rated Woodsworth as the 100th Greatest Canadian of all time.
In October 2010, the town of Gibsons, British Columbia announced that it would be naming a street in a new subdivision after Woodsworth. Woodsworth lived in Gibsons for a short time, beginning in 1917.
Further reading
- Woodsworth, J.S. Strangers Within Our Gates. Toronto, Ontario: Doreen Stephen Books, 1909. (ISBN 0-8020-1891-2)
- Woodsworth, J.S. My Neighbour. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 1911. (ISBN 0-8020-1824-6)
- MacInnis, Grace. J. S. Woodsworth: a Man to Remember. Toronto Ontario: Macmillan of Canada, 1953 (reprinted 1969). (ISBN 0-7705-1180-5)
- Mills, Allen. Fool for Christ: The Political Thought of J.S. Woodsworth. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 1991. (ISBN 0-8020-6842-1)