Kalmen Kaplansky, (January 5, 1912 – December 10, 1997) was a
civil
Civil may refer to:
*Civic virtue, or civility
*Civil action, or lawsuit
* Civil affairs
*Civil and political rights
*Civil disobedience
*Civil engineering
*Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism
*Civilian, someone not a membe ...
,
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
and
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
Alan Borovoy
Alfred Alan Borovoy, (March 17, 1932 – May 11, 2015) was a Canadian lawyer and human rights activist best known as the longtime general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).
Kaplansky was born in
Białystok
Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area.
Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...
in what is now
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and emigrated to
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
after graduating from high school in 1929.Kalmen Kaplansky , Canada's Rights Movement: A History, accessed February 2, 2008 He attempted to enroll at
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
but the university's
registrar
A registrar is an official keeper of records made in a register. The term may refer to:
Education
* Registrar (education), an official in an academic institution who handles student records
* Registrar of the University of Oxford, one of the se ...
told the young Jewish immigrant that "my job is to keep people like you out of the university."Lamberston, Ross, Repression And Resistance: Canadian Human Rights Activists, 1930-1960 ', University of Toronto Press, 2005, page 285
He was a printer by profession and worked as a linotype operator and typesetter from 1932 to 1943. He was an active member of the Montreal Typographical Union (Local 176 of the
International Typographical Union
The International Typographical Union (ITU) was a US trade union for the printing trade for newspapers and other media. It was founded on May 3, 1852, in the United States as the National Typographical Union, and changed its name to the Interna ...
Trades and Labour Congress of Canada
The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1886 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor. It was the third attempt at a nat ...
.
From 1936 to 1938 he was the secretary of the Montreal council of the
Labour Party of Canada
There have been various groups in Canada that have nominated candidates under the label Labour Party or Independent Labour Party, or other variations from the 1870s until the 1960s. These were usually local or provincial groups using the Labour Pa ...
. He was also a leading activist in the Jewish community serving as chairman of the
Workmen's Circle
The Workers Circle or Der Arbeter Ring ( yi, דער אַרבעטער־רינג), formerly The Workmen's Circle, is an American Jewish nonprofit organization that promotes social and economic justice, Jewish community and education, including Yiddi ...
in Montreal from 1940 to 1943. He served with the Canadian Army from 1943 to 1946.
In August 1939, as
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
loomed, Kaplansky returned to Białystok in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade his father and brothers to come to Canada. He boarded to cross the Atlantic on his return trip in September 1939 and was one of the survivors when it became the first British ship to be sunk by the
after Britain declared war.Cohen, Fran, "The story of Athenia story of my father, too," ''Toronto Star'', September 16, 1999
Human rights activism
As the national director of the
Jewish Labour Committee
The Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) is an American secular Jewish organization dedicated to promoting labor union interests in Jewish communities, and Jewish interests within unions. The organization is headquartered in New York City, with local/re ...
from 1946 to 1957, Kaplansky was a leading advocate for anti-discrimination efforts; he believed that it was necessary to extend the JLC's mandate beyond fighting
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
to combat discrimination against all minorities and involve non-Jews, and the broader labour movement, in the JLC's civil rights work.
Kaplansky persuaded the Canadian division of the
United Steel Workers of America
The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headqua ...
to introduce a resolution at the 1947 Canadian Congress of Labour convention calling for "vigorous action" on the part of the CCL and its affiliated unions in "the fight for full equality for all peoples, regardless of race, colour, creed, or national origin."Lamberston, Ross, "The Dresden Story": Racism, Human Rights, and the Jewish Labour Committee of Canada , ''Labour/Le Travail'', March 2001 Kaplansky also lobbied for the creation of a permanent committee on racial tolerance which the CCL established in 1948.
He also worked along the same lines with the CCL's rival, the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada working with
Claude Jodoin
Claude Jodoin (May 25, 1913 – March 1, 1975) was a Canadian trade unionist and politician. He served as the first president of the Canadian Labour Congress from 1956 to 1966.
Background
Born in the Montreal suburb of Westmount, Jodoin was ...
to write the Congress' Racial Discrimination Committee report in 1946 which called for the TLCC to take action against racial and religious intolerance calling them "dangerous ideas ... being used by our enemies to divide labor and to distract the attention of the working people of this country from the real issues facing them." Kaplansky also wrote a resolution to the TLC convention, introduced by the
International Ladies Garment Workers Union
The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the Clothing#Gender differentiation, women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest trade union, labor unions in the United States, one of the firs ...
which called for the establishment of "trade unions committees for racial tolerance."
Kaplansky and the JLC were thus able to organize Joint Labour Committees to Combat Racial Intolerance with the CCL and the TLC in Montreal, Toronto, Windsor, Winnipeg and Vancouver that fought against discrimination against minorities including Jews,
Black Canadians
Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...
,
French Canadians
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...
and
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and actively investigated and exposed complaints of discriminatory practices. These efforts are credited with bringing about laws against discriminatory hiring and accommodation practices in Ontario and elsewhere.
His work helped bring about the Ontario Fair Employment Practices Act of 1951 that banned racial discrimination in hiring and influenced legislation across the country.
Kaplansky was also chair of National Committee on Human Rights of the
Canadian Labour Congress
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (french: Congrès du travail du Canada, link=no or ) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.
History Formation
The CLC was ...
, with the mandate being the "elimination of racial and religious discrimination in all areas of Canadian society and the promotion of equality of opportunity in employment, housing, and public accommodation for all residents of Canada." and was the first director of the Department of International Affairs of the Canadian Labour Congress.Kaplansky, Kalmen, Canadian Jewish Congress archives /ref>"Labour Mourns Loss Of Human Rights Fighter Kalmen Kaplansky", ''Canada NewsWire'', December 11, 1997 He also served as Canadian labour's representative of the
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
where he helped draft the ILO's
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958
The Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation or Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention (ILO Convention No.111) is an International Labour Organization Convention on anti-discrimination. It is o ...
which is the world standard for judging nations' laws and practices on the issue and is credited with earning the ILO the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
in 1969. He was also an alternate member on Canada's delegation to
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
.
In 1947, Kaplansky and
Moishe Lewis Moishe Lewis (born Losz, sometimes known as Morris Lewis, 1888–1950) was a Jewish labour activist in eastern Europe and Canada.
Life
A tanner by trade, he was born and raised in the Svisloch shtetl in the Russian Empire (later part of Poland ...
spearheaded "The Tailors Project" by the Workmen's Circle and Jewish Labour Committee to bring European Jewish refugees to Montreal to work in the needle tradesSmith, Cameron, ''Unfinished Journey: The Lewis Family''. Toronto: Summerhill Press. (1989) , page 215-218 They were able to do this through the federal government's "bulk-labour" program that allowed labour-intensive industries to bring European
displaced person
Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...
s to Canada, in order to fill those jobs.
Electoral politics
Politically, Kaplansky was active with the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...
(CCF) and, its successor, the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
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*
*
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Cartier Cartier may refer to:
People
* Cartier (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Cartier Martin (born 1984), American basketball player
Places
* Cartier Island, an island north-west of Australia that is part of Australia' ...
.
Later life
In his final years he was president of the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation, which promotes education and research into
social democracy
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
. Kaplansky died on
International Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day is list of minor secular observances#December, celebrated annually around the world on 10 December every year.
The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, ...
in 1997.
Honours
In 1980, Kaplansky was awarded the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
for his human rights efforts.Canadian Press, "Order of Canada honors 57", ''Globe and Mail'', December 20, 1980