Voices and ideas from the 2017 Canadian Labour Congress Convention

From May 8 to 12, delegates from across the country gathered in Toronto, Ontario for the Canadian Labour Congress convention; Canada's largest labour convention. This year's theme was Together for a Fair Future.

rabble.ca reported from the convention floor where we set up a booth, and gathered video, photographs and stories. On this rabble radio, a selection of highlights of the weekend's proceedings.

Here is what you'll hear:

1. Meagan Gillmore has been rabble's labour beat reporter since March of this year. The Canadian Labour Congress was her first chance to experience the field and meet many people from the labour movement in one place. Sophia Reuss spoke with Gillmore about her job and the labour movement. The labour beat reporter position happens through a partnership between Unifor, the Canadian Association of Labour Media (CALM) and rabble.ca.

2. Angela Davis has been deeply involved in movements for social justice around the world. She emerged as a prominent activist in the 1960s, especially for her involvement in the American Civil Rights movement. Her work as an educator — both at the university level and in the larger public sphere — has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice. Listen to an excerpt from her address on Sunday May 7 as part of the CLC Human Rights Forum: Disruption is Power.

3. Avi Lewis spoke on Tuesday, May 10 with a panel discussing The Leap Manifesto. In this excerpt, he discussed some of the conceptions and misconceptions that have prevented the manifesto from receiving unanimous support in the labour movement.

Thanks to Sophia Reuss and Braden Alexander for helping put this show together, and to Emily Parr for making the Angela Davis recording available to us. rabble radio is hosted this month by Victoria Fenner, who is also the rabble podcast network's executive producer.

Image: Frank Saptel, one of rabble's loyal supporters who dropped by the rabble booth to say hello. Photo by Maya Bhullar, rabble.ca

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