GUELPH POLITICAST #386 - Alan’s Box (A Labour Day Special)

This weekend is Labour Day, and boy is there labour activity these days. From the Canadian Media Guild workers at TVO to employees at Toronto area Metro grocery stores to municipal workers in Cochrane Ontario, it's been non-stop labour action in 2023. Our podcast this week isn't about any of those strikes, but it is about someone who held deeply the cause of advancing workers rights.

Go down to Goldie Mill Park, the unofficial home and rally point for local labour here in Guelph, and you may stumble upon a little red box in the ground. It says “Guelph Soap Co. Crystal Soap Chips” on the side, but this is Alan's Soapbox. Alan Pickersgill was a millwright by vocation, but he was an activist at heart. He cranked out columns for the newspaper and stuck a finger in the eye of the establishment. He even ran for office a couple of times. He passed away in 2021.

Alan left a big mark in Guelph, so it’s weird that this public memorial is a small red and silver box named after a fake soap company, but that’s the point. In ye olden days, one used a soapbox, a sturdy wood box used to transport dry good like soap, to give themselves a stage to speak on. Hyde Park in London still has its "Speakers’ Corner" soapbox every Sunday after 150 years, so maybe we can do the same thing here in Guelph now with Alan's Soapbox.

That's one idea for Alan’s Soapbox, and we're joined this week by two of the people that helped make it happen: Janice Folk-Dawson, executive vice-president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, and Juanita Burnett, local labour activist and sometime Communist candidate. They’re going to tell us about how the Soapbox project came together, what made Goldie Mill Park a good location, and obviously, we will talk about the current state of labour in Guelph and beyond.

So let's talk about Alan's Box on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!

Alan’s Soapbox can be found at Goldie Mill Park by the river, and the bottom of London Road. There doesn’t seem to be any plans to hold the annual Labour Day Picnic in Riverside Park, but if you’re looking for a labour-related activity for your Labour Day, your best bet is to check out the events page of the Canadian Labour Congress’ website.

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