Labour Day Parade (Toronto)

Last updated

An ironworkers union at the 2008 Toronto Labour Day Parade. Ironworkers in Labour Day parade 2008 Toronto.jpg
An ironworkers union at the 2008 Toronto Labour Day Parade.

The Toronto Labour Day Parade is an annual event held in the city of Toronto. [1] The parade is organized by the Toronto and York District Labour Council following a route down University Avenue, then west along Queen Street West then proceeding down Dufferin Street entering the Canadian National Exhibition via the Dufferin Gate.

The first parade was held in December 1872 and was organized by what was then the Toronto Trades and Labour Assembly and staged in support of the Toronto Typographical Union's strike for a 58-hour work-week. [2] Twenty-seven unions joined the parade to demonstrate in support of the Typographical Union who had been on strike since March 25. [2] The Toronto Trades and Labour Council (successor to the TTA) subsequently held similar celebrations every spring. On July 23, 1894, Canadian Prime Minister John Thompson's government made Labour Day an official holiday, moving it to the first Monday of September. Subsequent parades are held on the new date.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winnipeg general strike</span> 1919 strike in Canada

The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most famous and influential strikes in Canadian history. For six weeks, May 15 to June 26, more than 30,000 strikers brought economic activity to a standstill in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which at the time was Canada's third largest city. In the short term, the strike ended in arrests, bloodshed and defeat, but in the long run it contributed to the development of a stronger labour movement and the tradition of social democratic politics in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Canada</span> Federal political party in Canada

The Communist Party of Canada is a federal political party in Canada. Founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality, it is the second oldest active political party in Canada, after the Liberal Party of Canada. Although it does not currently have any parliamentary representation, the party's candidates have previously been elected to the House of Commons, the Ontario legislature, the Manitoba legislature, and various municipal governments across the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Simpson (Canadian politician)</span> Canadian politician (1873–1938)

James "Jimmie" Simpson was a British-Canadian trade unionist, printer, journalist and left-wing politician in Toronto, Ontario. He was a longtime member of Toronto's city council and served as Mayor of Toronto in 1935, the first member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation to serve in that capacity. He was also a member of the Orange Order in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Lawrence (Canadian politician)</span> Canadian politician and trade unionist

Samuel Lawrence was a Canadian politician and trade unionist. He was the first member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and subsequently served as Mayor of Hamilton, Ontario.

A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or state level. They may also be based on a particular industry rather than geographical area, as for example, in the Maritime Council of Australia which co-ordinated the waterfront and maritime unions involved in the 1890 Australian Maritime Dispute.

The eight-hour day movement was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses of working time.

The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1886 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor. It was the third attempt at a national labour federation to be formed in Canada: it succeeded the Canadian Labour Union which existed from 1873 to 1877 and the Canadian Labour Congress which held only one conference in 1881.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workers' Unity League</span>

The Workers' Unity League (WUL) was established in January 1930 as a militant industrial union labour central closely related to the Communist Party of Canada on the instructions of the Communist International.

The Nova Scotia Federation of Labour (NSFL) is the Nova Scotia provincial trade union federation of the Canadian Labour Congress.

The International Typographical Union (ITU) was a North American trade union for the printing trade of newspapers and other media. It was founded on May 3, 1852, in the United States as the National Typographical Union. It changed its name to the International Typographical Union at its Albany, New York, convention in 1869 after it began organizing members in Canada. The ITU was one of the first unions to admit female members, admitting women members such as Augusta Lewis, Mary Moore and Eva Howard in 1869.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel John O'Donoghue</span> Canadian politician

Daniel John O'Donoghue was a printer, labour leader and political figure in Ontario. O'Donoghue is recognized as one of the original founders of organized labour in Canada and in 1874 he became the first labour candidate election to a Canadian legislature.

Ottawa Trades Council was the first local labour central body established to unite workers in the city of Ottawa, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1918 Vancouver general strike</span> Worker protests in Vancouver, Canada

The 1918 Vancouver general strike was a general strike that took place in response to the death of Albert "Ginger" Goodwin on 2 August 1918. It was the first general strike in the history of British Columbia and a pivotal event in the Canadian Labour Revolt, which would unfold over the following years.

This is a timeline of labour issues and events in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labor Day</span> Federal holiday in the United States

Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trades Union Congress</span> Trade union centre in England and Wales

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of about 5.5 million members. Paul Nowak is the TUC's current General Secretary, serving from January 2023.

The Saint John street railway strike of 1914 was a strike by workers on the street railway system in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, which lasted from 22–24 July 1914, with rioting by Saint John inhabitants occurring on 23 and 24 July. The strike shattered the image of Saint John as a conservative town dominated primarily by ethnic and religious divisions, and highlighting tensions between railway industrialists and the local working population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto Typographical Union</span> Former Canadian union

The Toronto Typographical Union (TTU) was an early Canadian trade union in the printing industry. Founded in 1832, it came to prominence in 1872 when it organized a major strike in Toronto. Membership declined in the mid- to late-20th century as printing turned digital. By 1994, TTU had been absorbed by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Labour Revolt</span> 1918–1925 labour conflict

The Canadian Labour Revolt was a loosely connected series of strikes, riots, and labour conflicts that took place across Canada between 1918 and 1925, largely organized by the One Big Union (OBU).

The South African Typographical Union (SATU) is a trade union representing workers in the printing and media industries in South Africa.

References

  1. "Thousands march in Toronto's 141st Labour Day Parade | CBC News".
  2. 1 2 Marsh, James. "Origins of Labour Day". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved August 8, 2016.