CUPE BC Historical Collection: Special Collections and Rare Books

On this page

CUPE BC wooden sign

Access the digital collection or visit in person

With generous financial support from the Canadian Union of Public Employees, British Columbia Division (CUPE BC), a selection of material from the CUPE BC Historical Collection has been digitized and is available online with descriptive metadata.

You can also view the collection in person in Special Collections and Rare Books.

Collection history

CUPE BC is British Columbia's largest labour union and represents more than 1000,000 people working in hundreds of occupations in over 170 locals. These locals include municipalities, school boards, airlines, hospitals, libraries, the ambulance service, colleges, and universities, including SFU.

A variety of materials, including convention proceedings and minutes, constitutions, and periodicals, document the history of CUPE from the merger of the National Union of Public Service Employees and the National Union of Public Employees in September 1963 into the 21st century. Struggles for equity for women, better child care, workplace safety, and against contracting out and deregulation are among the actions undertaken by CUPE that are represented by material in the collection. This large collection represents the history of a major Canadian union and of the labour movement in general over the second half of the 20th century.

Highlights

The collection illustrates the range of functions and activities undertaken by CUPE BC over more than 50 years. Material in the collection includes:

  • Convention proceedings, minutes, resolutions and other material
  • Photographs
  • Periodicals and bulletins
  • Promotional items
  • Committee reports
  • Election campaign material
  • Meeting and convention transcripts and audio and video recordings
  • BC Federation of Labour convention proceedings
  • President's papers and day timers
  • Special Education Task Force documents
  • Canadian Labour Congress convention materials

Rights

Material from the CUPE BC Historical Collection have been made available by Simon Fraser University Library under a Creative Commons attribution, non-commercial license. We encourage the appropriate open use of material from this collection for educational and other not-for-profit purposes with attribution. Parties interested in using material from this collection for commercial purposes should contact Special Collections and Rare Books, SFU Library.