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Awards
Canadian Freedom of Association Award | Allen Ponak Best Student Paper Award | Gérard Dion Award | The H.D. Woods Lecture
One of the highlights of the Canadian Industrial Relations Association is the ability to highlight outstanding students, scholars and practitioners in the field. To this end, CIRA has established five honors that it bestows upon individuals or organizations each year. These include the Roy J. Adams Canadian Freedom of Association Award, Law of Work Award, Allen Ponak Best Student Paper Award, Gérard Dion Award, and H.D. Woods Lecture.
The Canadian Freedom of Association Award
On June 2, 2016, the Canadian Industrial Relations Association announced the generous donation by Roy J. Adams of funds to support an annual award to a person or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to promoting understanding of and compliance with international standards regarding the right to organize and bargain collectively as those standards apply to Canada. Consideration for the award shall include but not be limited to efforts or initiatives that establish or expand upon the right of all workers to form and join unions of their own choosing without prior authorization; that expand the guarantees for the free functioning of worker and employer organizations without interference by public authorities; and to respect, to promote and to realize in good faith the rights of workers and employers to collective bargaining in accord with internationally recognized human rights standards and, in particular, those principles and standards developed and promoted by the International Labour Organization.
Honourable Rosalie Abella, 2022
2022 Honourable Rosalie Abella
2021 Anthony Giles, Brian Burkett, Hassan Yussuff and Larry Brown
2019 Pierre Verge (accepted posthumously by his son Louis Verge)
2018 Beverley McLachlin and Louis LeBel
2017 Craig Bavis and Larry Kowalchuk
Allen Ponak Best Student Paper Award
The Allen Ponak Best Student Paper Award is CIRA’s distinction given to the best student paper presented at the annual conference. Graduate students are invited to submit papers that proceed through a blind review process to determine acceptance for presentation at the conference and the winner of the competition. The award is typically accompanied by a $500 prize. The recipient is invited to receive the award at the CIRA banquet held during the annual conference.
Students interested in submitting a paper for this award should check the annual conference website for details. Papers must be sole authored by the student, begin with a cover page containing the title and an abstract of no more than 300 words outlining the purpose of the paper, the methodology used, and main conclusions, be in 12 point font, double-spaced, in APA format and not exceed 10,000 words inclusive of references but excluding abstract and appendices.
2022 Xiaolu ‘Luna’ Li
2021 Jennifer Del Riccio, Osgood Hall Law School, York University
2018 Phillippe Scrimger, Université de Montréal
2017 Sean O'Brady, Université de Montréal
2016 Tingting Zhang, University of Toronto
2015 Luba Yurchak, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
2014 Bruce Curran, University of Toronto
2013 Rachel Aleks, University of Toronto and Bradley Weinberg, Cornell University
2012 Kelly Pike, Cornell University
2011 Ryan Edmonds, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
Gérard Dion Award
Every year since 1980, CIRA has presented an award to an individual or organization in recognition of their outstanding contribution to our discipline. In 1990 this award was named the Gérard Dion Award in memory of Gérard Dion of the University of Laval who was a founding member of the Canadian Industrial Relations Association.
Leah Vosko, 2023
2023 Leah Vosko, York University
2022 Pradeep Kumar, Queen’s University
2018 Judy and Larry Haiven, Saint-Mary’s University
2017 Robert Hebdon, McGill University
2016 Beth Bilson, University of Saskatchewan
2015 Gregor Murray, Université de Montréal
2014 Anil Verma, University of Toronto
2013 Bob White, Past President Canadian Labour Congress and Past President CAW
2012 Heather Smith, United Nurses of Alberta
2011 Suzanne Payette, formerly of the Labour Program, HRSDC
2010 Joseph B. Rose, McMaster University
2009 André Beaucage, Université du Québec en Outaouais
2008 Michel Grant, Université du Québec à Montréal
2007 Allen Ponak, University of Calgary
2006 Jean Sexton, Laval University
2005 Jeffrey Sack, Sack Goldblatt Mitchell
2004 Gene Swimmer, Carleton University
2003 Morley Gunderson, University of Toronto
2002 Mark Thompson, University of British Columbia
2001 Le Fonds de solidarité de la FTQ
2000 Shirley Goldenberg, McGill University
1999 Tony Smith, University of New Brunswick
1998 Noah Meltz, University of Toronto
1997 Roy Adams, McMaster University
1996 Centre for Industrial Relations, University of Toronto
1995 Gérard Hébert, University of Montreal
1994 John Fryer, NUPGE
1993 Alton Craig, University of Ottawa
1992 A.W.R. Carrothers, University of Ottawa
1991 W. Donald Wood, Queen’s University
1990 Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations
1989 Corporation professionnelles des conseillers en RI du Québec
1988 Eugène Forsey, Canadian Senator
1987 H. Carl Goldenberg, Canadian Senator
1986 Jacob Finkelman, Public Services Labour Relations Commission
1985 School of Industrial Relations, Université de Montréal et Gérard Hébert
1984 No award
1983 Stuart Jamieson, University of British Columbia
1982 Gérard Dion, Laval University
1981 Koval Bell, Nova Scotia Federation of Labour
1980 Harry Douglas Woods, McGill University
The H.D. Woods Lecture
Since 1984 the Canadian Industrial Relations Association has invited a prominent academic or practitioner in the field to deliver an honorary lecture on a topic of contemporary importance in industrial relations. This honorary lecture is named in honor of Harry Douglas Woods, a professor at McGill University who made significant contributions to the field of industrial relations in Canada, including founded the Industrial Relations Centre at McGill University.
Dionne Pohler, 2023
2023
Dionne Pohler
University of Saskathewan
"Building (Balanced) Bridges: Industrial Relations Scholarship in a Time of Polarization”
2022
Bea Bruske
President of the Canadian Labour Congress
2020
Pam Frache
Workers' Action Centre
“Building the Fight for Decent Work: Lessons from Ontario”
2018
Claude Rioux
Confédération des syndicats nationaux
2017
Judge Fudge
University of Kent
“The Future of the Standard Employment Relationship: Labour Law, New Institutional
Economics and Old Power Resource Theory”
2016
Michael Lynk
Western University
“Recent Developments in Canadian Constitutional Law in Freedom of Association”
2015
Dr. Gerhard Bosch
Duisberg Universtät and Director of the Arbeit und Qualifikation Insititute in Germany
2014
Charlotte Yates
McMaster University
“The Role of the State in the Auto Industry: Co-Investor or Bystander?”
2013
Anthony Giles
Director General, Strategic Policy, Analysis and Information on workplaces, Labour Program, Human Resources Development Canada
2012
Beth Bilson
University of Saskatchewan
“Reassessment and Renewal: An Opportunity for Labour Arbitration”
2011
Ray Larkin
Pink Larkin
“Labour Law in Eastern Canada: Some Reminiscences”
2010
Guylaine Vallée
Université de Montréal
“Emerging Models, Actors and Strategies for Representation at Work”
« Nouveau modèles, acteurs et strategies pour la representation au travail »
2009
Peter Fairbrother
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
2008
Daphne Taras
University of Calgary
2007
Yvon Bellemare
TUAC / UFCW
“The Labour Movement’s Past and Future: Perspectives from a UFCW Local President”
2006
Bruce Kaufman
Georgia State University
“Rescuing and Revitalizing Industrial Relations”
2005
Elaine Bernard
Harvard Trade Union Program
2004
Gregor Murray
Université de Montréal
“Like a Phoenix? Sources of Renewal in the Organized Study of Work and Employment”
2003
Nancy Riche
Canadian Labour Congress
2002
Luis Aparicio Valdez
Tadashi Hanami
Thomas Kochan
Russel Lansbury
Bertha Lujan
Tiziano Treu
“Woods Memorial Panel”
2001
Judith Maxwell
Canadian Policy Research Networks
“Rethinking Institutions for Work and Employment in the New Economy and Society”
« Repenser les institutions pour le travail à l’ère de la nouvelle économie »
2000
Buzz Hargrove
National President of the Canadian Auto Workers
1999
Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré
Windsor University
“Employment Equity in Canada: Legal and Social Objectives”
« L’équité en matière d’emploi au Canada: point de rencontre entre le juridique et le social »
1998
John Godard
University of Manitoba
“Industrial Relations after the Transformation Thesis – A Return to Institutionalism”
« Les RI doivent-elle revenir à l’institutionnalisme après la thèse de la transformation? »
1997
Mark Thompson
University of British Columbia
“Industrial Relations: The Mother of All Disciplines”
« Les relations industrielles : mère de toutes les disciplines »
1996
Bernard Adell
Queen’s University
“Labour Law’s Perennial Identity Crisis: So What Else is New?”
« La crise d’identité sans cesse renouvelée du droit de travail : quoi de neuf sous le soleil? »
1995
Jean Sexton
Université Laval
« L’évolution de la revue RI de Laval »
1994
Andrew C.L. Sims
Alberta Labour Relations Board and Public Service Employee Relations Board
“Wagnerism in Canada: A fifty-year check-up”
« Le wagnérism au Canada : bilan de santé de ses 50 ans d’existence »
1993
Me Marc Lapointe
Commission Canadienne des relations de travail / Canadian Labour Relations Board
« Et si Bus Woods se réincarnait, qu’est-ce qu’il en penserait aujourd’hui ? »
“If Bus Woods was here today, what would he say?”
1992
Thomas A. Kochan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Industrial Relations Research and Labour Policy: Canada and the United States at a Crossroads”
1991
Loraine Pagé
Présidente CEQ
« Les femmes et l’emploi : à la recherche de l’égalité »
“Women in the Workplace: In Search of Equality”
1990
J.F.W Weatherill
Candian Labour Relations Board
« Pour enfinir avec la propaganda »
1989
Rosalie S. Abella
Ontario Law Reform Commission
“Of Royal Commissions and Labour Boards”
1988
No lecture
1987
David M. Beatty
University of Toronto
“The Academy and the Courts”
1986
Jacob Finkelman
“Public Sector Collective Bargaining”
1985
Daniel Benedict
Concordia University, CAW/TCA
1984
Shirley Goldenberg
“A Tribute to H.D. Woods”
H.W. Arthurs
York University
“Understanding IR Research and Policy in Canada from 1969 to 1984 and beyond”