Fighting for Fairness Transcript

Narrator: It’s 1929, and at the Villa-Maria Convent School in Montreal, young Madeleine Parent and her friends are happy to attend school. But not everyone is so lucky. Some young people — barely older than Madeleine — can’t afford an education. They need to work to support their families.

Young Madeleine: It’s just not right.

Young friend: All this homework? The soup?

Young Madeleine: Why do we get to learn and play while those girls have to work so hard?

Young friend: I guess their families are poor.

Young Madeleine: It’s not fair. It needs to change!

Narrator: Years pass, and in 1938, Madeleine heads off to McGill University. She’s older now — and determined to make a difference in the world.

Male college friend: What are you doing after we graduate?

Adult Madeleine: I want to help people.

Female college friend: We all want that!

Adult Madeleine: Working people need friends like us.

Narrator: Across Quebec, thousands of Quebec women work in factories that make things like yarn, fabric, and knitted items. These workers endure 10-hour days in unpleasant and dangerous workplaces, often for very low pay. Vowing to help, Madeleine and her friend, Kent Rowley of the United Textile Workers of America, travel throughout Quebec rallying the workers. 

Adult Madeleine: You don’t have to put up with this! You deserve better. Your work is making the company owners rich! You deserve more money and a safe, health place to work!

Narrator: Madeleine’s efforts pay off, and in June 1946, workers at the Montreal Cotton Company go on strike — making Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis very angry.

Maurice Duplessis: I declare this strike illegal! I want those two in jail!

Narrator: The strike lasted more than three months, but in the end, the three thousand textile workers won the right to unionize. This resulted in better pay and working conditions. Madeleine and Kent continued to fight for workers’ rights. Along the way, they even got married. But they also started making powerful enemies.

Kent Rowley: You can’t kick us out! 

Adult Madeleine: We’ve organized thousands of workers!

Union man 1: People are saying you’re communists.

Union man 2: And worse.

Kent Rowley: Cowards!

Adult Madeleine: You may be afraid of Duplessis, but we’re not!

Union guys: Get out! And don’t come back!

Narrator:  Madeleine dedicated her life to helping others and continued to fight for what she believed in. Along the way she helped start the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and also fought for the rights of Indigenous women.

For decades, Madeleine worked for equality and peace — protesting against war, and marching for human rights until the end of her life, in 2012.

In 2013, the province of Quebec named a bridge near Montreal in honour of her. 

And in 2016, the city opened a park in her name. Today it's a place where visitors can relax and reflect on Madeleine Parent’s tireless dedication to helping others.