Lesson 13 — Activity 1: Working Conditions and the Industrial Revolution

So far in this theme, you have learned about the earliest stages of Canada's economy.

Hundreds of years ago, most work was connected to making sure that people's basic needs (food, shelter, and clothing) were met. You have learned how Indigenous peoples met their needs by living off the land and using what nature provided. Work was all done by hand or with the help of animals like horses.

Globalization has its roots in economics. Much global expansion is motivated by money. For example, you have also learned that Europeans first came to claim Canadian land because their governments wanted control of the natural resources (fish, furs, and timber) found here. There was money to be made by Europeans, so they built companies to organize the new industries.

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Globalization continued with the advent of the Industrial Revolution.

In this activity, you will learn about working conditions and industrialization.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 18th century (1700s) and then spread to other parts of the world. The revolution led to the beginning of factories that made large numbers of goods quickly and cheaply. It happened because of new inventions, like the steam engine, which allowed machines to do the work that used to be done by hand.

 Corporations and private citizens owned the companies that made and distributed these goods and services. This was the beginning of what is called capitalism.

 In a capitalist system, the government of the country interferes as little as possible in the economy. The economic development of the country depends on the profits made and reinvested by these corporations and private citizens.

Many people were needed to run the machines in the factories. Workers were also needed to mine coal to run the new machines. The factory owners did not want to pay a lot because the more people they paid, the less money they would earn. Many of the workers hired were children because they were inexpensive and were not old enough or educated enough to complain. These children came from poor families who could not afford to send their children to school.

Canada began to industrialize by the middle of the 1800s.

In this time period, with the development of means of transportation (canals, railways) and the appearance of the steam engine, the first factories and large businesses appeared in the major urban centres. While the first factories (in glass, clothing, and shipbuilding industries) were set up in Nova Scotia, industrialization was soon centralized in Québec and Ontario (Montréal, Hamilton, and Toronto) in the tobacco and textile industries, in foundries, and in the railway-supplies business. The demand for unskilled labour (especially for construction gangs) and the number of skilled workers (eg., carpenters, bricklayers, tailors, and foundry and leather workers) grew rapidly.

Even then, traditional enterprises — such as small stores, offices, craft and manufacturing shops (businesses in which several craftsmen and apprentices still did handwork)  — remained very important.

Workers in these shops maintained considerable control over their own activities, including working conditions, prices for their services and products, and the hiring of their apprentices. Employer–employee relations remained largely personal and production continued to be primarily determined by commissions received.

Although it is hard to believe today, children as young as five worked 12 hours a day during the Industrial Revolution. Many men, women, and children were permanently disabled, injured, or killed on the job, and there was no kind of workers' compensation given to them.

 When the government in England began to look into poor working conditions, many workers were asked to explain what their jobs were like. It was because of these stories, and the protests of people working in factories and mines, that laws and rules were eventually made in order to make things better for workers.