Workers compensation is one of canadas oldest social institutions the modern era of workers compensation began in the early 1900s predating by decades other cherished institutions like public health care unemployment insurance and old age pensions that have come to define the canadian . Workers compensation foundations for reform edited by morley gunderson and douglas hyatt toronto university of toronto press 2000 360 pp isbn 0 8020 4453 0 an article from journal relations industrielles volume 57 number 3 ete 2002 pp 429 606 on erudit. Workers compensation begun in the early 1900s to address some of the human costs of the industrial revolution was the first of canadas social institutions it aimed to redress social instability by reimbursing workers for their suffering while protecting companies from costly court cases the need for its regulatory function did not diminish over the course of the century indeed the need . Workers compensation foundations for reform edited by morley gunderson douglas hyatt toronto university of toronto press 2000 336 pages this book presents ten essays by eleven authors most of them relatively new to workers compensation from backgrounds in other