Urbain Lafontaine (184519 January 1913) was a typographer, trade union leader, newspaper owner, and municipal official from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. He was one of the leading figures of the labour movement in Quebec in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

Canada East Canada East (french: links=no, Canada-Est) was the northeastern portion of the United Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new ...

, he trained as a typographer as a youth before moving to New York City. He returned to Canada in 1866 and defended Ontario during the Fenian raids. After settling in

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 ...

, he helped organized the Union Typographique Jacques-Cartier, which was the Montreal branch 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 ...

. He and

Olivier-David Benoît Olivier-David Benoît (6 February 1837 – 19 February 1897) was a shoemaker by trade and attained importance in history as a trade union leader. Benoît had his early trade union experience with an American-based group called the Knights of Labor. ...

co-founded the first French-speaking branch of the

Knights of Labor Knights of Labor (K of L), officially Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was an American labor federation active in the late 19th century, especially the 1880s. It operated in the United States as well in Canada, and had chapters also ...

in Montreal in 1883. From 1891 to 1893, he served as president of the Union Typographique Jacques-Cartier. In 1892, he was elected workman (president) of the local assembly of the Knights of Labor.Jacques Rouillard, “LAFONTAINE, URBAIN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed January 24, 2021, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/lafontaine_urbain_14E.html.

References

1845 births CategorY:1913 deaths Activists from Montreal People from Trois-Rivières Trade unionists from Quebec Canadian expatriates in the United States Knights of Labor people {{trade-unionist-bio-stub