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Organized in 1972, the Writers' Union of Canada held its first annual general meeting of eighty founding members at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on 3 November 1973. The purpose of the Writers' Union is to unite Canadian writers for the advancement of their common interest--the fostering of Canadian writing, relations with publishers, exchange of information among members, safeguarding the freedom to write and publish, and good relations with other writers and their organizations in Canada and throughout the world.

For further information on the Writers' Union, see Ted Whittaker, ed., The Writers' Union of Canada: A Directory of Members (Toronto: The Writers' Union of Canada, 1981).

In April 1906 John McClelland and Frederick D. Goodchild left the Methodist Book and Publishing House and began a book supply company in Toronto. On 20 September 1907, McClelland and Goodchild was officially registered as a company. George Stewart joined the firm in 1913 while Goodchild left in 1918. The name of the company was changed to McClelland and Stewart. Jack McClelland, John McClelland's son, was the president of the company from 1952 to 1982. In 1982 he became chairman when Linda McKnight was elevated to president. In December 1985 McClelland and Stewart was rejuvenated when Avie Bennett, an asute businessman and an important supporter of Canadian culture and the arts, purchased the company and served as its President. Bennett soon hired Douglas M. Gibson as editor and publisher of a separate imprint, Douglas Gibson Books, appointing Adrienne Clarkson as Publisher, and promoting Ellen Seligman, who had joined the firm in 1977 as Senior Editor, to Editorial Director, Fiction.

In June 2000 Bennett donated 75% of the publishing arm of McClelland and Stewart to the University of Toronto. He sold the other 25% to Random House Canada. Avie Bennett became Chairman of the Board, Douglas Gibson became President and Publisher of McClelland & Stewart, while retaining his own imprint, and Ellen Seligman assumed the role of Publisher (Fiction) and Vice-President (later becoming Senior Vice-President). Returning to Canada from the Crown Publishing Group (a division of Random House, Inc.) in New York, Douglas Pepper assumed the position of President and Publisher of McClelland & Stewart in June 2000, while Gibson continued his position as the editor and publisher of Douglas Gibson Books. Pepper, while making many innovations has, along with Ellen Seligman on the fiction side, maintained the company's commitment to publish a vibrant and high-quality list. On the non-fiction side, Susan Renouf joined the company as Chief Operating Officer and Associate Publisher (non-fiction).

For a detailed history of the company up to 1994 as well the books published, see Carl Spadoni and Judy Donnelly, A Bibliography of McClelland and Stewart Imprints, 1909-1985: A Publisher's Legacy (1994).

The Organic Geochemistry Division (OGD) is a semi-autonomous segment of the larger Geochemical Society. The OGD was officially recognized as an integral part of the Geochemical Society in November 1960, although steps to formalize the group began in November 1959. The OGD was formed to create a common forum for researchers in soil geochemistry, oceanography, petroleum geochemistry, coal geochemistry, microbiology and other related fields. A Chair and a Division Secretary oversee the functions of the division and assist in the organization of the annual Gordon Research Conference. The OGD annually recognizes outstanding scholarly work with the Best Paper Award (student and professional) and the Alfred E. Trebis Award for major achievements in organic geochemistry.

Locks’ Press was a private press, owned and operated by Fred and Margaret Lock in Kingston, Ontario. The press was originally established in 1978 in Brisbane, Australia, where the Locks’ resided from 1974 to 1987. The first book from the press was published there in 1979 and by 1987 when they moved to Canada, the Press had produced seven books. In Kingston, Fred Lock received an appointment as Professor of English at Queen’s University. The Locks’ bought a house and have since worked out of their home, where they have turned their kitchen into a press room and two bedrooms into a studio and bindery. By 2001, they had printed eleven books, fourteen pamphlets, and twelve broadsides, most of them with illustrations by Margaret Lock. Though the Press ceased book publication after 2000, it continued to produce broadsides. In 2013, Locks’ Press ceased operations and Margaret and Fred Lock moved to England.

Margaret Lock was born in Hamilton in 1950 and graduated from McMaster University in Fine Art in 1972. She later studied printmaking at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Fred Lock was born in England in 1948 and moved to Canada in 1971 as a graduate student in the Department of English at McMaster. From 1974 to 1987 he taught in Australia, at the University of Queensland. Fred has a special interest in Latin, medieval and eighteenth-century English texts. He acts as editor and has also provided translations for about a third of the titles. Margaret designs the books and does the typesetting, illustrating in woodcuts, printing and binding. The type is handset, and printed one page at a time in a proofing press. The paper is hand-made, and the books are in small editions, bound by hand. The Locks’ aims are to publish literature before 1900, in order to reflect their personal interests and provide an opportunity for Margaret’s woodcut illustrations. Locks’ Press has been represented in many group and solo exhibitions, in Australia, Canada and the United States. The Locks have won awards for their excellence in the book arts.

The Steelworkers' Organizing Committee, which had already organized many workers, met in Cleveland in 1942 to found the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). Canada was divided into two districts: District 5 which included Quebec and the Maritime provinces and District 6 which included the rest of Canada, from Ontario to British Columbia. Around 1960 District 6 was reduced to cover only Ontario. In 1996 Atlantic Canada rejoined District 6. John Mitchell was the first director of District 6. Other directors include: Larry Sefton who was elected director in 1953, Lynn Williams in 1973, F. Stewart Cooke in 1977, Dave Patterson in 1981 and Leo Gerard in 1988. The current director is Harry Hynd. In the early days of the USWA, members were employed in either the steel or mining industries. Nowadays they are employed in many additional sectors of the economy, including hospitals, universities, hotels, warehouses, bakeries, banks, and transportation.

Sueños : Dreams was a magazine which published poetry and art related directly or indirectly to dreams. There appears to have been five issues in total, with the last issue a double one. Issues 1 and 2 appear to have been published in Puebla, Mexico, issue 3 was published in Los Altos, California, and issue 4-5 (a double issue) may have been published in Edmonton, Alberta. The editor was Bjarne Tokerud.

The Revolutionary Marxist Group (RMG) was a Canada-wide organization composed of militant socialists. It was founded in the summer of 1973. The RMG was closely affiliated with the Fourth International, an organization founded by Leon Trotsky in opposition to Stalinist socialism. As an affiliate to the Fourth International, the RMG maintained relations with several other related socialist sects. The most notable of these were the League for Socialist Action, the Revolutionary Workers League, the International Marxist Group , and the Socialist Workers Party. In 1977, the RMG, along with two other groups fused to form the Revolutionary Workers League.

This organization originated in the 1920s as part of the Communist Party of Canada, from which its founders were expelled in 1928 because of their support for the political positions of Leon Trotsky. Banned during World War II the organization was relaunched in 1945 as the Revolutionary Workers Party, Canadian Section of the Fourth International.

By 1963 it was known as the League for Socialist Action, with members in Toronto and Vancouver. The following year a branch was established in Montreal under the name Ligue Socialiste Ouvrière. A youth wing, the Young Socialists, was established in 1964; its branch in Quebec was known as the Ligue des Jeunes Socialistes. Following a positive response from the New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus during 1967-1968, a section of the League emerged as the "Waffle" Caucus of the N.D.P. in 1969. The "Waffle", however, proved to be a broad, heterogeneous formation, encompassing a wide spectrum of views, from liberal-reformist and patriotic to revolutionary socialist and inter-nationalist and the N.D.P. soon found itself unable to tolerate the more revolutionary Marxist and Trotskyist elements within the party. The main body of the League for Socialist Action and the International Socialists continued working through the N.D.P. but many more extreme members became discouraged by their apparent lack of progress.

In the spring of 1972 the "Waffle" was proscribed as an organized left wing within the party. One section went on to found the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada while others, wishing to remain inside the party formed the Left Caucus "to continue the struggle". The 1973 convention of the adult organization saw the emergence of a minority grouping, the Revolutionary Communist Tendency, which went on to join the Revolutionary Marxist Group. In 1977 supporters of the Revolutionary Marxist Group and a separate Quebec organization, the Groupe Marxiste Revolutionnarie, united with the League for Socialist Action and the Ligue Socialiste Ouvrière, as well as both youth groups, to form the Revolutionary Workers League. In the late 1980s the League changed its name to the Communist League of Canada.

In March 1937 a group of workers at Westinghouse Electric Corporation started to organize a union. Bert McClure, an electrician, acting as a volunteer organizer in Hamilton, contacted the United Electrical union at Buffalo, New York and charter number 504 was issued. In 1977, 504 divided into 504 and 550. In 1992 the United Electrical union was merged into the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada (CAW Canada). CAW merged with Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) to form Unifor, maintaining Local 504. An early history by C. S. Jackson, "UE Canada: 30 Years, 1937-1967", can be found in the master file.

In 1977, United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers Local 504 divided into 504 and 550. In 1992 the United Electrical union was merged into the National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada (CAW Canada).

The organization was founded in the winter of 1958 by Mary Van Stolk of Edmonton to protest the dangers of nuclear fallout. Mrs. Stolk travelled across Canada, meeting clergymen, businessmen, academics, politicians, and others, gathering a consensus to form a national committee. Hugh L. Keenlyside was named provisional chairman of the committee which was then named the Committee for the Control of Radiation Hazards. In March 1961 the national office was set up in Toronto. Mrs. Van Stolk was replaced as Executive Secretary by F.C. Hunnius. The major policy initiative of the group was a national petition against nuclear weapons for Canada. In the winter of 1962 the organization changed its name to the Canadian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CCND). The organization was active until 1965.

Division 107 of the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America was established in Hamilton, Ont. on 9 April 1899 and signed its first agreement with the Hamilton Street Railway Company in June 1900. In 1957 the union began to represent workers at Canada Coach Lines Ltd. as well. Employees of the Public Service Commission of Galt, Ontario (later re-named Cambridge, Ont.) were added in 1962. In 1964 the union's name was changed to the Amalgamated Transit Workers. Mississauga Transit system workers joined the local in 1970.

Guernica Editions was founded in 1978 in Montréal, Québec by Antonio D’Alfonso. The company is dedicated to the bridging of cultures in Canada and publishes both original works and translations in three languages, English, French, and Italian. Guernica is named after the Spanish city of Guernica which was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. The firm has published over 300 titles and 500 authors from around the world. Antonio D’Alfonso was born in Montréal in 1953 and is a graduate of Loyola College and the Université de Montréal. In addition to his work in publishing, he has written several books, and has been a literary critic and film maker.

The Geochemical Society was founded on 7 November 1955. The purpose of the Society is to encourage the application of chemistry to the solution of geological and cosmological problems. It is an international organization, based in the United States, with its membership predominantly university professors. The Society honours outstanding contributions by individual scientists annually by presenting the F.W. Clarke Award, V.M. Goldschmidt Award and the Clair C. Patterson Award. Its principal publication, co-sponsored by the Meteoritical Society, is Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.

Colin Smythe, the founder of Colin Smythe Limited Publishers, was born in Berkshire, England. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He returned to England and in 1966 established Colin Smythe Limited, in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. The firm specializes in Anglo-Irish literature. In 1987 he was presented with an award from the Association of Anglo-Irish Literature in Dublin.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was formed on 2 November 1936 consisting of two radio networks; Trans-Canada (English) and the French network. In 1952 two television stations began broadcasting in Toronto and Montreal.

After the abolition of slavery in the French West Indies in 1848, the policy of allowing the immigration of Indian and Asians as indentured labourers was established. The ship Réamur transported these indentured labourers from the French controlled porets of Karikal and Pondicherry in the south of India to French Guyana and Marinque.

The Churches of Christ are autonomous Christian congregations associated with one another through common beliefs and practices. They have roots in the American Restoration Movement. According to the manuscript this congregation started in October 1889 at Broadway Hall, moved to Brunswick Avenue, October 1897, and then to Bathurst Street in November 1902. The Elders of the church in 1904 were William Forrester, Duncan Stirling, James Stewart, and John Smart.

H.M.S. Amethyst belonged to the Sixth rating in the Royal Navy, that is the lowest rating. It carried 28-24 guns, and was known as a donkey or jackass frigate. It was classed as a Spartan, along with five other ships, and carried 240 men. The guns were located on the upper deck, the quarter deck, and the forecastle. The keel was laid in April 1843 and the ship was launched on 1 October 1845. Beginning in 1864 it was lent out for commercial purposes. In 1869 it was sold to the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company.