Collection 99-1004 - Eugene A. Forsey collection

The Honourable Eugene A. Forsey was a major figure in Canadian labour history, Eugene Forsey was author, professor, constitutional analyst and political commentator

Forsey was born in 1904 in Grand Bank, Newfoundland. He attended McGill University, and Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. In the 1930s, Forsey drafted the Regina Manifesto, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)'s founding declaration of policy, and ran for public office four times for the CCF. He served as a lecturer in economics and political science from 1929-1941 at McGill, and held the post of director of research for the Canadian Congress of Labour (known as the Canadian Labour Congress from 1956-1966) from 1942 to 1966. Forsey directed a special centennial project, 'a history of Canadian unions, 1812-1902', from 1966-1969, and served on a committee which founded Labour/Le Travail. Forsey was regarded as one of the foremost experts on the Canadian constitution and taught Canadian Government and Canadian labour history at Carleton University and the University of Waterloo. He was a member of Senate from 1970-1979, and was named to the Privy Council in 1985. Forsey received numerous honorary degrees, including one from Trent University in 1978, and was chancellor of Trent University from 1973-1977.

His books include How Canadians Govern Themselves (now in its sixth edition) and Trade Unions in Canada, 1812-1902. A complete list of Forsey's publications can be found here.

Forsey died on February 20, 1991.