Frank & Ella Hatheway Labour Exhibit Centre

The Labour Exhibit Centre was opened in July 2007 with the purpose of displaying workers memorabilia and preserving, promoting and honouring the rich and long history of workers in Saint John.

The Centre is more than an exhibit centre, in that it is our goal to educate the public on the important role unions have played in the building of our city and the contribution that unions continue to make to the quality of the life we enjoy.

LABOUR HISTORY

Missing Person: Grace Hamilton Hatheway

History Professor Emeritus, David Frank shares how Mark Blagrave’s recent novel Lay Figures reminded him of Grace Hamilton Hatheway and he shares details about her life and travels to and from Saint John, New Brunswick.

James E. Tighe

James Edmund Tighe (known as “Ned” to his closest friends and colleagues) was born in Saint John, N.B., on March 22, 1878. He was the son of Irish-born Patrick Tighe and Nova Scotia born Mary Driscoll. Tighe attended St. Peter’s School, but went to work early in life on the Saint John waterfront and for a short period of time worked as a longshoreman…

Day of Mourning Ceremony

Saint John Labour holds an annual Day of Mourning ceremony on April 28 at the Day of Mourning Monument located at the Frank and Ella Hatheway Labour Exhibit Centre.

The laborer stands at the portal of the 20th century knocking. His knotted, seamed fingers grasps his instruments of work, the product of centuries. He hears the words of the Magna Charta repeated, he listens to the sonorous sentences in the Declaration of Independence and he remembers the liberty phrases of the French Republic. All through the 19th century he watched the vast increase of wealth gained by his arm and skill, and now he stands at the gate of the 20th century crying. How long, O Christ, shall we wait for thy law to be understood?

W. Frank Hatheway, “The Cry of Labor” (1906)