William Ivens (June 28, 1878 – June 20, 1957) was a religious and political figure in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada. He was a leading figure in the Winnipeg General Strike,, and subsequently served as a

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member of the

Manitoba legislature The Legislature of Manitoba is the legislature of the province of Manitoba, Canada. Today, the legislature is made of two elements: the King of Canada in Right of Manitoba, represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, and the unicameral ...

from 1920 to 1936.

Personal life

Ivens was born in Barford, in

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, to William Ivens and Sarah Willis. He then immigrated to Canada in 1896 when he was 16. Ivens was educated at

Wesley College, Winnipeg Wesley College was a college that existed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from 1888 to 1938. In 1924, Wesley College became part of the United Church of Canada.https://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/statutes/private/c20090e.php The United Church of Canada Act ...

and was greatly influenced by Reverend Salem Bland. He graduated from Wesley College in 1906 with a Bachelor of Arts, then in 1907 with a Bachelor of Divinity. Ivens attended the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in political economy and becoming an ordained minister in the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Church. On July 7, 1908, William Ivens and Louisa Davis wed. In 1910, their son Milton Herbert Ivens was born.

Career

Ministerial career

Ivens began his ministerial career at a time when the

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was on the rise in Canada. He was stationed at the McDougall Methodist Church in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

in 1916, and called for the church to lead the labour movement in its struggle against the prevailing tendencies of North American capitalism. In 1917 and 1918, Ivens was opposed by several members of his congregation by defending conscientious objectors to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and criticizing the management of the war. He expressed these opinions as a private citizen in newspaper articles, rather than from his pulpit; nevertheless, many church members opposed him as insufficiently patriotic in wartime. Although there were several petitions presented in Ivens' favour (he had improved the financial status of McDougall during his time as its minister), the overseeing body removed him from the church in June 1918 in an effort to restore local unity. Ivens agreed to stand down on condition that he be granted a year's leave to establish a "workers' church". Before the end of the month, he had founded the first Labour Church in the City of Winnipeg.

Labour Church Leader

June 30, 1918 marked the start of the Labour church as soon to be members gathered at the Winnipeg Labor Temple to discuss the possibility of a church for workers, pro-labour

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and disgruntled church members. This church was created to preach information relevant to the working class. It was here where Ivens became the minister for this Labour church. Ivens was directly involved in labour activism during this period. He supported the newly organized Dominion Labour Party, and attempted to build local networks of support in a speaking tour of western Canada. Upon his return to Winnipeg, he assumed the editorship of the ''Western Labour News'', a newspaper published by the Winnipeg

Trades and Labour Council A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or ...

Participation in the Winnipeg General Strike

Ivens continued as editor of the Western Labour News during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, and published a Daily Strike Bulletin during this period. He wrote numerous articles in support of the strikers. Reverend Ivens preached services of his church in the park every Sunday for the six weeks of the strike. Within these services strike news would be relayed along with the prayers. Although he warned against public disorder, he also referred to the strike as the harbinger of a new age for the working-class in Canada. His Labour Church soon became the scene of extremely large meetings, with crowds growing up to 7,000 listeners. When the Canadian government suppressed the strike in June 1919, Ivens was arrested on charges of

seditious libel Sedition and seditious libel were criminal offences under English common law, and are still criminal offences in Canada. Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection ...

and conspiracy during an overnight raid on the 17th of June. James Shaver Woodsworth took over Ivens positions following the arrest. Although it is unlikely that his editorials actually constituted sedition by the standards of the age, on March 28, 1920, he was found guilty and given a year in prison. Ivens was then sent to

Stony Mountain Penitentiary Stony Mountain Institution is a federal multi-security complex located in the Rural Municipality of Rockwood immediately adjacent to the community of Stony Mountain, Manitoba, about from Winnipeg. The Institution (medium-security) began opera ...

Political career

While still in prison, Ivens ran as a candidate of the Dominion Labour Party (DLP) in the provincial election of 1920, and was elected in the city of

. Winnipeg, at the time, elected ten members by preferential balloting; Ivens finished fifth on the first count and was declared elected on the second after receiving transfers from DLP leader Fred Dixon. In late 1920, the DLP split into two factions via a fallout over the Winnipeg General Strike. Dixon, Ivens, Woodsworth and most others on the left of the DLP founded the new

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

of Manitoba (ILP) in November 1920. He was re-elected in the provincial election of 1922, but was reduced to fourth place among the successful

social democrat 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 ...

ic candidates and was not assured of re-election until the final count. In addition to his political career, Ivens also received a

chiropractor Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudoscien ...

's certificate in 1925 and practiced in the field. Ivens was re-elected in the elections of 1927 and 1932, though again trailing other successful social democratic candidates. He lost his seat in the provincial election of 1936. In 1940, Ivens ran unsuccessfully as an Ontario Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) candidate in the federal Kenora—Rainy River riding. He attempted a comeback in the election of 1941 as a candidate of the

Manitoba Cooperative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Manitoba) (CCF), known informally as the Manitoba CCF, was a provincial branch of the national Canadian party by the same name. The national CCF was the dominant social-democratic party in Canada from th ...

, but was unsuccessful. Ivens remained active in the CCF after leaving the legislature but never held a seat.

Death and legacy

He died on June 20, 1957 in

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, at the age of 78. Ivens was interred in Elmwood Cemetery in Winnipeg, on July 12, 1957. Ivens worked to create a better life for the working class of Manitoba. He preached within his Labour Church, supported strikers and worked as a politician to make change.