New Book Looks at the History of the Teamsters in Canada

A new book about the history of the Teamsters union in Canada traces nearly 125 years of the labour organization’s struggles, victories, and dedication to the working class.

The book, which combines interviews with Teamsters members and historical documents produced by, and about, the Teamsters, provides an in-depth examination of the union from the earliest local unions to its members’ involvement in major labour conflicts that helped shape Canada.

The book sets out to describe and analyze two subjects. The first is the place, and roles, of Teamsters throughout Canadian history. The second is the development of Teamsters Canada, and the union’s relationship to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). Specifically, a case is built throughout the book that the story of Teamsters in Canada is significant for two reasons. Firstly, articulating the history of Teamsters in Canada works as part of an understanding of the historical development of the working class in Canada generally, and thus, an understanding of the country itself. And secondly, Teamsters in Canada are an appropriate topic of historical analysis because they have played significant roles in many of the most important episodes of labour history in the country for more than a century.

While the Teamsters have been present in Canada since 1903, the history of teamstering in the country dates back even further. After weathering the Great Depression, both world wars, post-war reconstruction, and the turbulent 1960s, by 1976, Canadian Teamsters had reached a new stage of organization when they held their inaugural convention as a national IBT conference. By the 1990s, demands by the Canadian union for increased recognition of the unique organizing conditions, labour management practices, and specific policy conditions faced by its members resulted in additional powers to handle its day-to-day operations, including the election of a Canadian president. As organizing continued on the ground into the new millennium, the IBT amended its international constitution to recognize the sovereignty of Teamsters Canada and its uniquely Canadian union structures.

Published in 2026, and launched during the union’s 50th anniversary conference in Kelowna, British Columbia, History of the Teamsters in Canada, is the most extensive study of the Canadian union’s history to date.

“Canadian Teamsters have a long and storied history that is both unique and simultaneously tied to the historical development of the IBT, and of Canada itself,” says author Joseph Fantauzzi. “This book works to carefully describe and analyze the particular evolution of the Canadian wing of the union, and to place that evolution within the country’s economic and social history. Canadian history is not merely the stories of politicians, governments, institutions, and businesses: without the working class, defining moments would not have occurred as they did. The standpoint of labour is crucial to understanding history—and the insistence that a better life for workers is possible.”

The book was published by Teamsters Canada. To contact author Joseph Fantauzzi, send an email to teamsterscanadabook2026@gmail.com