On the Presence of the Past in the Future of International Labour Law

With Professor Adelle Blackett, Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law, McGill University

Throughout its first century, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has played a pivotal role in promoting a now familiar narrative of labour law’s purpose. Rooted in industrialization, state centred, and focused on “productive” labour, this narrative has become increasingly challenged.

In this lecture, Professor Blackett will explore the history of the ILO, especially in relation to its social justice mandate. By rethinking the ILO’s past, this presentation seeks to open space for alternative narratives: transnational futures of international labour law.

The Read Lecture series was inaugurated in 1975 to honour the memory of the late Horace E Read, OC, QC, who was dean of Dalhousie Law School from 1950 until 1964, in recognition of his contribution to legal education and legal scholarship.