A first for Canada

Industrial Relations at Queen's came into existence on October 12, 1937. It was the first institution of its kind in the country, a true pioneer. In the ensuing years, Queen's professors, researchers, students and staff have contributed more to the understanding and development of industrial relations in Canada than any other institution.

From these roots grew the Queen's Industrial Relations Centre (IRC), an institution known as much for its active research, publications, and involvement in Canadian public affairs as for its well-respected and well-attended programs and conferences relating to labour relations and human resources management.

True to its pioneering spirit, the IRC in 2003 launched a series of open programs in the area of organization development, the first such programs offered by any Canadian management development unit. This program series has grown into two Certificate streams and developed a new generation of organization development professionals.

On the academic side, the IRC also spurred the creation of the Queen's School of Industrial Relations, which was established in 1983 to offer a multidisciplinary Master of Industrial Relations (MIR) degree program. Since that first class, more than 500 men and women have graduated from the Queen's MIR program, a legacy now reflected in the boardrooms of many major Canadian private and public sector organizations.

In 2003-04, the IRC and the Master of Industrial Relations program were placed within the School of Policy Studies, where they continue to share a common purpose: to analyze, interpret, and teach others about the world of people at work.

While our official name remains the Industrial Relations Centre, we are now known as Queen's IRC, and our visual identity reflects this usage. IRC more accurately reflects the Centre's mandates in labour relations in both the private and public sectors as well as organization development.

• Download a copy of Industrial Relations at Queen's: The First Fifty Years, published in 1987 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the study of industrial relations at Queen's.
• Biographical sketch of all Queen's IRC Directors.