At the age of 20 Donald Montgomery was the youngest man ever appointed to the staff of the Steelworkers' Organizing Committee, predecessor to the United Steelworkers of America.
For 10 years beginning in 1943, he toured Eastern Ontario on a variety of organizing drives. Showing an early interest in the union as a community force, he encouraged the newly-organized Steel locals to become the nucleus of district labour councils.
Transferred to Toronto in 1953, Montgomery was soon appointed Steelworkers area supervisor for the Toronto-Barrie area, a position he maintained until his election as Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress in 1974.
In 1953 he was also elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Toronto and Lakeshore Labour Council and was re-elected to the same position on the merged Labour Council of Metropolitan Toronto until 1964, when he was elected president of that 160,000-member organization. He was regularly re-elected president until his election to the CLC.
During his 10-year tenure as president of the Labour Council, Montgomery devoted much of his time to the community. He was a member of the board of directors of the Social Planning Council of Metro Toronto; sat on the governing board of the United Appeal; served as a member of the Advisory Vocational Committee for the Borough of York board of education; was an active member of the John Howard Society; served on the board of directors of Riverdale hospital; served as a labour spokesman on the board of governors of the North York General Hospital, and was a member of the founding Zoological Society responsible for Toronto's new zoo.
He was also a founding member of the Labour Council Development Foundation, a co-ordinating body for co-op housing in Metro Toronto; a member of the board of directors of the National Institute for Social Assistance which helps newly arrived immigrant workers; and was the chief architect of Metropolitan Toronto Labour Council's political action programme that helped elect a majority of progressive candidates to City Council in 1972.
During his 10 years as Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress, Donald Montgomery served as a member of the following: Canadian Standards Association and the Canadian Institute of International Affairs.
He also served on the AFL-CIO-CLC Liaison Committee and the Canadian Labour Congress International Affairs Committee; Public Relations Advisory Committee; Council for the Performing Arts; Aeronautical Advisory Board. He was chairman of the Council of Broadcast Unions; the Council of Maritime Unions; and the Advisory Committee of Aviation Unions. He is an executive member of I.N.A.S. (Canada); and a member of the Export Trade Development Board.
In 1984 he decided not to seek a sixth term as Secretary-Treasurer of the CLC and is now a consultant in industrial relations, interfacing with governments and works out of Ottawa and Toronto.
He has been awarded the Centennial Medal and the Silver Jubilee Medal by the Government of Canada and the Award of Merit by the Corporation of the City of Toronto.
He was born in Canora, Saskatchewan; received his schooling in Hamilton, Ontario; is married to Lou Eirene Huggard. They have two children.
MONTGOMERY, Donald R. - Peacefully early July 23, 2001 at Sunnybrook Hospital in his 82nd year. He is survived by his wife Lu. Children Charmiene and Kirk and grandchildren Sara, Rachel, Amanda and Kimberly. Best remembered for his work with United Steel Workers of America. The Toronto Labour Council and Canadian Labour Congress. Don was buried as requested in a private ceremony. Donations, in lieu of flowers, to Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre would be appreciated.
