The Alberta Labour History Institute (ALHI) was founded in 1999 to give working people a chance to preserve their own stories in their own words.
We are a group of trade unionists, community activists, archivists, and historians dedicated to the collection, preservation, and dissemination of the stories of Alberta’s working people and their organizations.
Oral history, mainly via videos, has always been the major form of research that ALHI undertakes. Our videos are available in our office as well as at the Provincial Archives of Alberta. We supplement the oral histories with archival and library research.
We post full transcripts on our website, along with podcasts of what we view as the best excerpts.
We’ve used our oral history materials to create videos, booklets, annual calendars, and a book, all of which are available directly on our website or via links from the website. We also provide advice to unions re archiving and re educational materials. Most “deliverables” for the Alberta Federation of Labour centennial celebration in 2012—the book, a booklet, six videos, and various posters—were ALHI creations.
We’ve also sponsored workshops and conferences and film nights that double as educational events and provide us with interviewees. For example, in 2002, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Edmonton Hunger March, participants who were still alive spoke at our commemorative workshop and we recorded their words.
We sponsored a conference on Alberta labour history in 2012 as part of the AFL centennial events. It included a combination of activists telling their stories plus academic sessions. We had a similar conference in 2014 and then in 2016, we marked the 30-year anniversary of the Gainers Strike and other major strikes that made up the “Alberta hot summer of ‘86” with an Edmonton workshop that included the showing of a video ballad by Maria Dunn and our videographer Don Bouzek on the Gainers workers. The video ballad was also performed in Calgary and Red Deer.
In 2019 we hosted workshops and concerts across Alberta on “The Centennial of the Great Labour Revolt of 1919” and produced an accompanying video, display panels, and a booklet.
A recent ALHI project is our “Indigenous Labour History Project,” which involves a major effort to gather the stories of First Nations and Métis people. We’ve already produced a video on the Métis ironworkers who did the most dangerous construction work on the skyscrapers of downtown Edmonton. It’s entitled “Waltzing with the Angels” and can be viewed on our website.
If you would like to join with ALHI in carrying out our mission to tell the history of Alberta’s working people, please e-mail us at alhioffice@gmail.com.
Or perhaps just tell us a story or send us pictures or artefacts you think should be on our website. If you are interested in learning more about ALHI, starting a Chapter in your community, or making a financial contribution to support our work, please email us at
alhioffice@gmail.com.
You can also contact us at:
ALHI
Suite 603, 12323 Stony Plain Rd NW
Edmonton, AB T5N 3Y5
Ph: (780) 732-0320