1967 Fredericton Encaenia
Jodoin, Marie-Joseph Paul Claude
Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
Orator: Cattley, Robert E.D.
Image
Image Caption
L to R: Sir Max Aitken, Marie-Joseph Paul Claude Jodoin
Second Image Caption
Source: 1967 Encaenia Composite
Citation:
ENCAENIA, MAY, 1967
MARIE-JOSEPH PAUL CLAUDE JODOIN
to be Doctor of Laws
His boyhood ambition was to be a surgeon. But the crash of '29 and the Depression forced him to trade the scalpel for the pick and shovel. In five calloused years he saw hunger everywhere. In the sweat-shops of Montreal he saw the need for surgery of a social kind, when cutters were driven to sleeping on their tables and a pair of workers might share a weekly wage of $7.50. In 1937 he joined Montreal local 262 of the I.L.G.W.U., organized a triumphant strike, and negotiated their first contract.
A union man to his cuff-links, his worth to Labour and Management has ever since been manifest. In 1956 he was elected President of the Canadian Labour Congress, which was founded largely under his promotion on a merger of the two great rival unions. For eleven years he has steered it on a sane course between the extremes of Right and Left.
The C.L.C. is now trimming itself ruthlessly to the demands of a more technical age. And the robust Claude proudly points out that as he grew with the Labour movement, so now he is but following that movement's example by streamlining himself.
This is needless punishment for so outstanding a figure, who calls Canada his Country, Quebec his province, Ottawa his Headquarters, and men of every colour his brothers.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
MARIE-JOSEPH PAUL CLAUDE JODOIN
to be Doctor of Laws
His boyhood ambition was to be a surgeon. But the crash of '29 and the Depression forced him to trade the scalpel for the pick and shovel. In five calloused years he saw hunger everywhere. In the sweat-shops of Montreal he saw the need for surgery of a social kind, when cutters were driven to sleeping on their tables and a pair of workers might share a weekly wage of $7.50. In 1937 he joined Montreal local 262 of the I.L.G.W.U., organized a triumphant strike, and negotiated their first contract.
A union man to his cuff-links, his worth to Labour and Management has ever since been manifest. In 1956 he was elected President of the Canadian Labour Congress, which was founded largely under his promotion on a merger of the two great rival unions. For eleven years he has steered it on a sane course between the extremes of Right and Left.
The C.L.C. is now trimming itself ruthlessly to the demands of a more technical age. And the robust Claude proudly points out that as he grew with the Labour movement, so now he is but following that movement's example by streamlining himself.
This is needless punishment for so outstanding a figure, who calls Canada his Country, Quebec his province, Ottawa his Headquarters, and men of every colour his brothers.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
Citations may be reproduced for research purposes only. Publication in whole or in part requires written permission from the author.