Grade levels: Senior High (10-12)

A Heaven on Earth is the story of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a uniquely Canadian social and political movement spanning years from the Great Depression to the early years of the 1960’s. The film looks at the personalities involved their visions of a “heaven on earth” – a world characterized by co-operation, peace, equity and social justice – and brings to life the dramatic social and political upheavals which shaped the period. Highlighting the movement’s contributions to social programs currently under attack, A Heaven on Earth contains a crucially important message for contemporary audiences.

On July 14, 1946, a group of steelworkers poured out of Hamilton’s Playhouse Theater and set up pickets around the country’s largest steel mill. Their action sparked one of the most important strikes in Canada’s history – a strike which many believe to mark the birth of the modern Canadian labour movement. On the previous Friday, the steel industry had been put under government control, and all employees threatened with imprisonment were they to strike. Defying the Law, an account of that long summer, charts the historic struggle for union recognition against both government and an historically powerful industry.