Series 12 - Groups

Series consists of Prof. Ng’s files on organizations for immigrant women and garment workers in which she participated. These include the following:

• Apparel Textile Action Committee (ATAC) (1989-1995): Records document the work of ATAC’s Joint Adjustment Committee, which was set up between the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union under the Industrial Adjustment Service Program of Canada Employment and Immigration Commission. Prof. Ng was appointed Chairperson in 1991. The group aided workers affected by closures, downsizings and/or bankruptcies in the textile industry by providing counselling, retraining, and help finding a new job. Files include program reports, correspondence, minutes, funding requests, member lists, brochures and press releases. There is also a report from ATAC’s ESL-career decision making program.

• CERIS (The Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (1997-2008): Files include administrative records, newsletters, research overviews, and the proceedings of the Fourth National Metropolis Conference in 2000.

• The Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) (1986-2010): Files include financial statements, reports, strategic planning, project files, research and articles, and conference records.

• The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) (1992-1994): Files include conference records, reports, research interviews and other records.

• INTERCEDE (International Coalition to End Domestics’ Exploitation) (1980-2001): This coalition provided services, assistance, and education to domestic workers, advocated for improvements in the living and working conditions of domestic workers and participated in public awareness campaigns. The group also lobbied provincial and federal governments for legislative changes for domestic workers, presented briefs to the Ontario government and the federal government’s Task Force on Immigration Practices and Procedures, organized rallies, and generally advocated on behalf of the needs of domestic workers. Files include research and reports, press clippings, newsletters, correspondence, minutes, orientation kit and briefs and responses to government reports.

• Inter Pares (1999-2004): The single file on Inter Pares includes published ephemera such as bulletins and pamphlets.

• The Jade Garden Adjustment Committee (1988-2005): This committee was struck in order to provide support for workers displaced by the closing of the Jade Garden Restaurant. Files include reports, contracts, interviews and surveys, correspondence, minutes, financial records, and background material on Chinese immigrants in Toronto. One report, to the Office of Labour Adjustment and Ontario Training and Adjustment Board, gives a good overview of the case: “When restaurant workers and adjustment services meet: the Jade Garden Restaurant Workers’ Experience” by Roxana Ng (B2014-0005/004(02))

• The National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada (NOICMWC) (1986-1992): Files include conference records, meeting minutes, the constitution, newsletters, outreach materials, reports, correspondence, conference material, and other records.

• UNITE (the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees) (1995-2001): Files include outreach materials, newsletters, memos, minutes from the Toronto Project Team, project records, press releases and clippings, publications, reports, and other records.

• Women Working with Immigrant Women (WWIW) (1979-1992): Files include annual reports, minutes, the constitution, newsletters, project files and other records, especially for the WWIW in New Brunswick.

The series also begins with files on various groups for which there are only a few records, and in which Prof. Ng was less actively involved.