While the Rideau Canal between Ottawa and Kingston is today a matter of national pride and key to Eastern Ontario’s tourism industry, for the workers who constructed it in the 19th century life was brutal. Approximately 1,000 of these men died, often of malaria related illness and/or through the many accidents that were commonplace. It is therefore no surprise to learn that on this date in 1820 canal workers downed tools to protest their horrific working conditions. You can read more about what these brave workers faced thanks the Canadian Labour Congress at this link: https://canadianlabour.ca/rideau-canal-workers-riot-in-the-streets-to-protest-poor-wages-and-working-conditions/
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.