Humphrey Mitchell

Mitchell, Humphrey

Humphrey Mitchell, electrician, trade unionist, politician (b at Old Shoreham, Eng 9 Sept 1894; d at Ottawa 1 Aug 1950). After serving in the Royal Navy in WWI, Mitchell settled in Hamilton, Ontario, to work as an electrician. He served 2 years as president and 22 as secretary of the Hamilton and District Trades and Labor Council and chaired the Ontario executive of the TRADES AND LABOR CONGRESS OF CANADA. He was elected city alderman (1929-31) and in a 1931 by-election won a seat in the House of Commons. Although an independent labourite, he refused to join the new CCF and eventually gravitated towards the Liberals. After his defeat in the 1935 general election, he entered the federal Department of Labour; he later headed a number of wartime commissions and boards on labour matters. From 1941, just before he regained a parliamentary seat, until his death he was minister of labour under KING and ST. LAURENT. The introduction of new compulsory collective-bargaining legislation during his tenure laid the basis for Canada's postwar industrial-relations system.