● Year in which labour unions in Canada became legal: 1872
● Chance that a homeless person in Toronto was born outside of Canada: 1 in 3
● Of these, percentage that have vocational training or a college or university degree: 39
● Chance that a homeless person in Toronto attempts suicide at least once a year: 1 in 10
● Percentage decline in the number of private sector Canadian workers who have a pension, between 1980 and today: 29
● Number of unionized workers in Canada at the start of World War I: 166,000
● Number five years later: 378,000
● Number of journalists worldwide who are currently imprisoned for their work: 166
● Of these, number who are imprisoned in Cuba, China and Iran, respectively: 24, 30, 33
● Number of trade union activists worldwide murdered in 2008: 76
● Of these, number that took place in Latin and South America: 66
● Percentage of countries in Latin and South America where a majority of the population prefer socialism to capitalism: 89
● Percentage increase in sales of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital in China during the past year: 450
● Chance that a Canadian believes part-time workers should have the same benefits as full-time workers: 4 in 5
● Number of countries in the world where homosexuality is illegal: 80
● Number where it is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty: 13
● Year in which the first gay and lesbian rights committee was formed inside a Canadian labour union: 1991
● Year in which Saskatchewan became the first jurisdiction in Canada to pass occupational health legislation: 1972
● Year in which Ontario became the first jurisdiction in the world to pass pay equity legislation for all workers: 1987
● Estimated number of slaves in the world today: 29,000,000
● Percentage of Americans who support President Obama’s proposed “card check” unionization reform: 53
● Year in which the International Committee for Prostitutes Rights was founded: 1985
● Percentage of Canadian workers who say they worry about becoming unemployed: 36
● Number of officially unemployed people in Canada who aren’t eligible for Employment Insurance: 920,000
● After-tax profits of the largest six Canadian banks during the last four quarters: $14 billion
● Number of unprofitable quarters that the Canadian banking industry suffered during the current economic crisis: 0
● Percentage of all Chinese Canadians between 1881 and 1885 who worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway: 43
● Ratio of miles of Canadian Pacific Railway track built to the number of Chinese Canadian deaths on the job: 1:1
● Number of Aboriginal women who have gone missing in Canada since 1980: 521
● Average individual income in Canada in 2008: $40,237
● Time it would take the richest 100 corporate executives in Canada to earn this income at work, in minutes: 4
● Number of countries around the world whose parliaments have more women than men: 1
● Year in which the Canadian federal government officially ended race-based immigration policies: 1967
● Year in which child labour was made illegal in Canada: 1929
● Percentage of Russians who believe it is “important for women to have full equality of rights”: 35
● Percentage of Mexicans who believe this: 89
● Chance that a worker who went on strike during the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike didn’t belong to a union: 1 in 2
● Number of additional people worldwide expected to fall into extreme poverty over the next year: 200,000,000
● Number of countries around the world where more than 30% of children aged 5 to 14 are working: 19
● Percentage increase in the median real hourly wage in Canada between 1980 and 2005: 0.01
● Number of times the word “capitalist” is written in the 1933 Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) Manifesto: 14
● Number of times the word “socialism” is: 0
Our Times Tally, inspired by Harpers Index (see www.harpers.org), is compiled by freelance writer Sean Cain.