Article

Gustave Francq

Published Online January 24, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Gustave Francq, typographer, labour leader (b at Brussels, Belgium Mar 1871; d at Montréal 2 Jan 1952). Sometimes considered the father of international unionism in Québec, Francq immigrated to Québec City in 1889 and learned typography.

Francq, Gustave

Gustave Francq, typographer, labour leader (b at Brussels, Belgium Mar 1871; d at Montréal 2 Jan 1952). Sometimes considered the father of international unionism in Québec, Francq immigrated to Québec City in 1889 and learned typography. In Montréal, he became an official in the Union typographique Jacques Cartier and in the Conseil des métiers et du travail de Montréal and was vice-president of the TRADES AND LABOR CONGRESS OF CANADA 1909-11. In Le Monde ouvrier/The Labour World, the journal he founded in 1916 and still the organ of the Québec Federation of Labour, he defended the international union movement against criticism by clergy and Catholic unions. In 1908 Francq ran in the provincial election on behalf of the Parti ouvrier. After WWI he grew closer to the LIBERAL PARTY. In 1926 he was appointed the first president of Québec's Minimum Wage Commission. He became honorary life president in the Fédération provinciale du travail du Québec for his outstanding contributions to international unionism in Québec.