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Expert: 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organization

Published: 9 April 2019

On April 11, the International Labour Organization (ILO) will celebrate its 100th anniversary and Adelle Blackett, Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law and Development, is available to discuss with reporters why this organization is still relevant today.

For example, Professor Blackett is fighting for Canada to ratify the ILO’s Domestic Workers Convention (No. 189) which sets minimum standards to make domestic work more decent and fair, and recognizes domestic workers’ freedom of association.

She developed a 12-week course inspired by the agency’s international vocation culminating on April 11.

“McGill holds a unique place in the history of the International Labour Organization,” explains Professor Blackett. Created in 1919 as part of the League of Nations, the ILO is the world’s oldest international organization. In the torment of World War II, Canada offered a refuge to this agency charged with the promotion of social justice and human and labour rights, from 1940 through 1948. From its temporary headquarters at McGill, the ILO prepared its post-war future and worked on its constitutional annex, the 1944 Declaration of Philadelphia, a declaration which Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to as “a landmark in world thinking”.

Contact: adelle.blackett [at] mcgill.ca (English and French)

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