Contact info

If you need assistance with library research, please email Moninder Lalli moninder_lalli@sfu.ca, Librarian for Labour Studies, or use the Ask a Librarian link.

Research process

Start Your Research Here - This page gives you an overview of the research process, or in other words how to find materials for your essay.

Selected encyclopedias and handbooks

Use encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks to obtain definitions and overviews of a topic and also to identify key authors.

• Canadian Encyclopedia: Indigenous Peoples.
   Useful entry may include "Economic conditions of Indigenous Peoples in Canada"
• Handbook Global History of Work
• Handbook of the Politics of Labour, Work and Employment
• Handbook on the international political economy of gender 
• International handbook on diversity management at work : country perspectives on diversity and equal treatment
• Routledge handbook of Indigenous wellbeing
  This handbook explores the physical, social and emotional, economic, cultural and spiritual, and subjective wellbeing of Indigenous people and communities around the world, and can be used to help develop and implement policies and partnerships. Start with the entry on the "Economic wellbeing of Canada's Indigenous people."
• Sociology of work : an encyclopedia 

Find journal articles

Searching the "Databases for a discipline" is a great strategy to view articles that have been written within the scholarly journals of that discipline.  For help, refer to the How to find journal articles, What is a scholarly journal?, and Finding articles: Advanced search techniques [video 3:13 mins]

If full-text of article is not available from within the database, click on the "Get@SFU" link to find it or to initiate an inter-library loan request.

• ProQuest Sociology Collection - for issues related to class, gender, racism, sexuality and sexism and theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and policy science. Also searches Sociological Abstracts
• America: History and Life
  Indexes literature on all aspects of United States and Canadian history, culture, and current affairs from prehistoric times to the present.
• Political Science Complete - Scholarly journal articles,Journals, reference books and monographs, and conference papers on political topics with a worldwide focus, reflecting the globalization of contemporary political discourse.
• CBCA Complete - Comprehensive Canadian periodical collection for reference and current events. Publications include scholarly journal articles, trade publications, dissertations, books, newspapers and magazines
• Social Sciences Full Text  Provides access to a wide assortment of the most important English-language social science journals. Social Sciences Full Text includes full-text articles from hundreds of journals, covering the latest concepts, theories and methods from both applied and theoretical aspects of the social sciences.
• Academic Search Premier -- (multidisciplinary) covers many GSWS journals in full text. provides access to articles in scholarly journals and magazines. You can "limit" your search results to "academic" or "scholarly" sources.
• Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America - Academic articles and Indigenous news sources.  Covers all aspects of Native North American culture, history, and life from the sixteenth century to the present. Topics include business, multicultural relations, gaming, governance
• Canada Commons (formerly, Canadian Electronic Library from desLibris) - Canadian health and public policy documents, and Canadian e-books. 
  • The "Boolean operators" (AND, OR) must be in capital letters.
  • If you don't want variations of a term then put the term in quotation marks ("term")
  • Basic search engine
    • policy AND gender AND ("wage gap" OR "pay equity") - results limited by selected "subjects". You can apply additional limits.
  • Advanced search engine: policy AND gender AND ("wage gap" OR "pay equity") 
• Canadian Newsstream - This database offers access to the full text of over 350 Canadian newspapers from Canada's leading publishers.

For more database including "legal" ones, see the Labour Studies guide's side tab: Books & articles

Selected journals

• Canadian employment law today
• Canadian labour & employment law journal
• Equality, diversity and inclusion : an international journal
• Journal of labor and society
• Journal of labor research
• Just labour : a Canadian journal of work and society [2002 - 2014]
• Labour = Le Travail  [Canadian]
• Labor studies journal
• Union farmer quarterly [Canadian]

Find books in the Library

How to use the Library Catalogue  [guide]

Do a Library Catalogue search to see if the Library owns or provides access to the sources that you've identified. 

For known items it is best to check using "Browse by title" icon.

Search by topic, using Basic or Advanced Search

Note: In the searches below,  you can limit results to "Resource type" of "Books" and "Subjects"

• (equal* OR inequal* OR unequal* OR discrimin*) AND (work OR jobs OR employment) AND Canad*
  • results limited by selected "subjects"
• (white privile* OR "invisible power" OR advantage* OR class) AND (work* OR jobs OR employment OR promot*)
• (diversity OR inclus*) AND (work OR jobs OR employment OR union*) AND Canad*
• (colonial* OR raciali* OR "social differences) AND (work OR jobs OR employment) AND Canad*
• (immigr* OR foreign) AND (skills OR credentials OR qualifications OR training) AND canad*
• (raci* OR discrim* OR stereotyp*) AND (employ* OR jobs OR labour OR labor) AND canad*
• (Aborig* OR Indigen* OR "First Nations") AND (employ* OR jobs OR labor* OR labour* OR skill*) AND (Canad* OR British Columbia")
  • Limited by selected "Subjects"
• ("labour union*" OR "labor union*" OR "trade union*" OR "organized labour" OR "organized labor") AND canad*
• (labor OR labour) AND unions AND "political parties" AND canad*
• "Industrial workers" AND canad*
• politics AND (labor OR labour) and canad*

Combine different concepts using AND
Combine same concepts using OR
Use quotation marks to search for a phrase
Use brackets for synonyms
Use asterisk (*) for different endings of words

Use pull-down menu and select, "Source Types" as "Books"

Note:  For Catalogue Search, when combining concepts, use CAPITAL letters ( "OR", "AND")

Selected books

• Alien capital : Asian racialization and the logic of settler colonial capitalism 
• Amplifying Indigenous voices in business : Indigenization, reconciliation, and entrepreneurship 
• As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance
• BC disadvantage for women : earning compared with other women in Canada
• Building a better world : an introduction to the labour movement in Canada [print]
• Building the power : the Labourers' Union in British Columbia
• Canadian business owner's guide to reconciliation : best practices for Indigenous inclusion
• Canadian labour in crisis : reinventing the workers' movement [print]
• Canadian labour policy and politics 
• Canadian political economy
• Cartographies of Race and Social Difference
• Changing prospects for trade unionism : comparisons between six countries
• Coerced : work under threat of punishment
• Collective bargaining and gender equality
• Coloniality and Racial (In)Justice in the University : Counting for Nothing? 
• Corporate law, codes of conduct and workers' rights
• Creation of a shared prosperity in Canada : unions, corporations and countervailing power
• Dark side of the nation : essays on multiculturalism, nationalism and gender
• Decolonizing employment : Aboriginal inclusion in Canada's labour market [print]
• Defying Expectations: The Case of UFCW Local 401
• Employment equity in Canada : the legacy of the Abella report
• Equity, Diversity & Canadian Labour
• Evaluation of the Labour Standards Program : final report
• From demonized to organized : building the new union movement
• Gender ambiguity in the workplace : transgender and gender-diverse discrimination
• Gender pay gap : understanding the numbers
• Global wage report 2018/19 : what lies behind gender pay gaps / ILO
• Inclusion Revolution : The Essential Guide to Dismantling Racial Inequity in the Workplace
• Indigenous Gendered Experiences of Work in an Oil-Department, Rural Alberta Community
• Legislated inequality : temporary labour migration in Canada
• Labour politics in Canada
• My Conversations with Canadians
• No-Nonsense Guide to Equality.
• Platformization and Informality Pathways of Change, Alteration, and Transformation 
• Problem with work feminism, Marxism, antiwork politics, and postwork imaginaries
• Race, Class and Gender: An Anthology [print]
• Wobblies of the World: A Global History of the IWW
• Human Rights and Labor Solidarity : Trade Unions in the Global Economy
• Policing Black lives : state violence in Canada from slavery to the present [print]
• Power in Coalition : Strategies for Strong Unions and Social Change
• Roadblocks on the Career Path : Challenges Faced by Persons with Disabilities in Employment : Monitoring Canada's Implementation of the Un Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabities : a Report
• Solidarity forever? : an analysis of changes in union density
• Structural Injustice and Workers' Rights
• Trade unions and democracy : strategies and perspectives
• Unions in court : organized labour and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
• Women, labor segmentation and regulation varieties of gender gaps 
• Working Women in Canada: An Intersectional Approach

Browse Books in the Library Catalogue Using Subject Headings

Catalogue Search / Browse then change "Title" to "Subject" and enter your subject term

• Collective bargaining -- Canada
• Discrimination in employment
• Discrimination in employment -- Canada
• Diversity in the workplace
• Equality -- Canada
• Forced labor
• Industrial relations
• Labor -- Canada
• Labor -- Social aspects
• Labor laws and legislation -- Canada
• Labor movement -- Canada
• Labor policy
• Labor policy -- Canada
• Labor unions -- [name of the country]
• Labor unions -- Canada
• Labor unions -- United States
• Labor unions -- Political activity
• Pay equity
• Pay equity -- Canada
• Sociology of work
• Wages

Government documents

Codes and laws

Labour in Canada is regulated by federal or provincial legislation. The jurisdiction depends on the specific business or industry.

Federally regulated businesses and industries include banks, marine shipping, air transportation, railway and road transportation, telephone, telegraph and cable systems, radio and television broadcasting, businesses dealing with many First Nation activities, private businesses necessary to the operation of a federal act, and most federal Crown corporations. For a full list, click here.

Provincial law sets out the minimum standards that apply to most workplaces in each province. For British Columbia, click here for guidelines to evaluate whether the business or industry that you are examining is covered by provincial jurisdiction.

Note: Certain professions and occupations are not covered by these acts. In British Columbia, chartered accountants, foresters, health professionals, legal professionals, licensed real estate workers, registered security workers, and veterinarians are regulated through separate provincial laws. See the regulations for specific industries in British Columbia.

Links for Canadian labour law

British Columbia Employment Standards Act
The provincial legislation that ensures that employees in British Columbia receive at least basic standards of compensation and conditions of employment. The British Columbia Employment Standards Act and Regulation sets out minimum working conditions for all employees covered under provincial labour laws. A number of sectors or industries in British Columbia are subject to specific regulations that only apply to them. Click here to see the regulations for specific industries.

British Columbia Labour Relations Code
The provincial legislation that protects the right of employees in British Columbia to be a member of a trade union and to participate in its lawful activities. The Code further delineates the rights of employees and employers.

Canada Labour Code
Consolidates federal statues that relate to labour, facilitating production by controlling strikes & lockouts, occupational safety and health, and some employment standards. The Code only applies to the industries which are under federal legislation.

Canada Labour Standards Regulation
Federally consolidated regulations related to respecting hours of work, wages, annual vacations, general holidays, reassignment, maternity leave and parental leave, bereavement leave, group and individual termination of employment and severance pay, work-related illness and injury in federal works, undertakings and businesses

Consolidated Statutes and Regulations

WorkSafeBC

Statistics

• BC STATS - collects and publishes reports of statistics from Statistics Canada, provincial government ministries and agencies and from administrative files.
• Statistics Canada - the major statistical gathering agency of the federal government. It publishes the "whole range of statistics on the economic and social activities of the Canadian people". There are daily, weekly, quarterly, annual and irregular publications. They also publish the Census of Canada at five-year intervals.
  • Labour
    • how many people are employed or unemployed; the unemployment rate; which industries or occupations people work in; the hours they work; commuting patterns; wage and non-wage benefits; job training; labour mobility;
    • work absences; unionization; unpaid work; and other topics. Also includes geographic and demographic characteristics.
  • Labour Force Survey - a monthly survey which measures the current state of the Canadian labour market and is used, among other things, to calculate the national, provincial, territorial and regional employment.
  • Labour Market Overview

Presentation skills and writing help

See the Student Learning Commons for expert and friendly help with academic writing, learning, and study strategies.

• Resources on developing your participation skills
• Resources to help you improve your presentation skills

Library guides

• Library Research Tutorials. Animated tutorials on search techniques for finding books and journal articles.
• Annotated bibliographies
• Evaluating sources
• How to find journal articles
• Library Catalogue search guide
• What is a scholarly (or peer-reviewed) journal?
• What is plagiarism?  Guide to common forms of plagiarism and how to avoid them