Labour Day Musings

A Google search of labour day netted references to a lot of sites – and guess what, they are all based on and speak of Labour Day in the United States.  Well, I am here to tell you that we here in Canada celebrate labour day and not knowing the history, that is why the Google.  Can it be, that as in just about everything else, we are not independent, free thinkers, but once again a mirror reflection of what’s happening south of our borders, and thus Canada has a national holiday called Labour Day?

Is it possible that we Canadians have an original idea that doesn’t stem from something brought about by the USA?  If we are indeed but a mirror reflection of what is set up, torn down or instituted in the USA, then I say, “God help us!” Why?  Because all I see, hear and read about is disastrous to what was once a great nation.  For now, most other peoples of the world still speak highly of Canada, but if we continue along, following in the footsteps of our big sister (Ezekiel 23), then indeed we will all be crying out, “God help us!”

As back up for those harsh words and suggestions that the world at large doesn’t think too highly of the USA, I have two personal recent and one not that long ago, examples.  In the last two years I’ve been to France and Ireland.  On both of those trips I was shunned by the peoples of the land because they thought I was from the USA.  It was only on learning I was from Canada that the hand of welcome was outstretched.  The third example is when my daughter finished her last year of university in Paris at the engineering school.  I can’t count the number of tearful calls I got from her within the first couple of months of her arrival to study.  She was shunned, mimicked, laughed at and gossiped about because her classmates and the people where she lived thought she was from the USA.  It was only upon their learning she was Canadian that, as for me, the hand of welcome was outstretched and she began to feel at peace.  She was so ostracized she was ready to pack it up and come back to the university here in Canada, crying, “Mom, I can’t take this.  It’s just not worth it.”  The choice was hers and she stuck it out.  But, it wasn’t easy; strange land and strange people and customs are challenging enough, but to feel you are not only not welcomed, but hated, well, I can’t imagine just how difficult it was for her.

Upon Googling “history of labour day in Canada,” I was lead to and share this article with you.  I had no idea it actually goes back to the birth time of this country – so perhaps, just perhaps we, for once, were first and the USA followed in our footsteps.  Well, that’s what I get for jumping the gun and assuming that as always we succumbed to the leading of a country that is rapidly sliding down the slippery slope of disaster and an end to its glory days.

Interesting read this article; again political underpinnings as to how the day came about.  A political agenda; one rival using it as a means to beat out the other.  Not an intent because the leaders in fact really cared about the plight of the peoples of this country.  Sir John A. MacDonald and George Brown (yep the same guy that our Toronto college is named after) were rivals and MacDonald used Brown’s actions of prisoning workers for strikes (’cause it was a criminal offence according to the law then existing) to strengthen his own political platform.  Some things never change, do they?  Tradition, the way we’ve always done it, if it ain’t broke (but according to whose agenda?) don’t fix or change it.

Brown’s action revealed the astonishing fact that according to the laws of Canada union activity was indeed considered a criminal offense. Under the law, which dated back to 1792, police arrested and jailed the 24 members of the strike committee.

Coincidentally (or not) of interest to me, is that the labour day movement and the labour unions all seem to have been given birth to right here in my home town Toronto.  Even as far back as the 1870′s it seems Toronto was to be the seat of power in Canada, much like NY City is to the USA.  Who would have thought.  Certainly we have the largest population in this country, representing just about every other country of the world.  Certainly (ask any other Canadian citizens – outside of the GTA) it seems Toronto has the casting vote on what takes place in other parts of this country.  Now, why would that be?  If Ottawa is the capital of Canada, then why wouldn’t it be apparently Ottawa and not Toronto that rules?  My opinion – well, Toronto is to Canada as NY City is to the USA; it’s where the big bucks reside; the seat of money control and manipulation (yep, the Bay Street area where our equivalent to the NY stock exchange is located); all of the major banks are head quartered in the Bay Street corridor; all the lawyers and politicans (law makers and law breakers); the big controlling law firms and corporations are housed with their head offices in Toronto, many with branches in other cities in Canada – but the big boys (& girls) will be found on Bay Street.

Toronto, the GTA; it all began here.  Will it end here?  Will Toronto and all of its labour strikes for more, more, more….be the first to crumble.  The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Pride cometh before a fall.  To whom much is given, much is expected.  Etc. etc. etc.

Anyone seriously thought about the grassroots for this holiday, the one we keep.  I haven’t and I, like all, am just enjoying a paid day off from labour at the office.

Happy Labour Day Canada ‘eh!

	Origins of Labour Day
	In a time when the news of labour “strife” is dominated by disputes between millionaire athletes and billionaire owners, history provides a useful perspective on a time when working people had to fight to work less than 12 hours a day. The “Nine-Hour Movement” began in Hamilton, Ontario, and then spread to Toronto where its demands were taken up by the Toronto Printer’s Union. In 1869 the union sent a petition to their employers requesting a weekly reduction in hours per week to 58, placing itself in the forefront of the industrialized world in the fight for shorter hours. Their request was refused outright by the owners of the printing shops, most vehemently by George Brown of the Globe. By 1872 the union’s stand had hardened from a request to a demand and a threat to strike. The employers called the demand for a shorter workweek “foolish”, “absurd” and “unreasonable.” As a result, on March 25, 1872 the printers went on strike. On April 14 a demonstration was held to show solidarity among the workers of Toronto. A parade of some 2000 workers marched through the city, headed by two marching bands. By the time that the parade reached Queen’s Park, the sympathetic crowd had grown to 10,000. The employers fought the strikers by bringing in replacement workers from small towns. George Brown launched a counterattack by launching a legal action against the union for “conspiracy.” Brown’s action revealed the astonishing fact that according to the laws of Canada union activity was indeed considered a criminal offense. Under the law, which dated back to 1792, police arrested and jailed the 24 members of the strike committee. As history tells it, however, Brown had overplayed his hand. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald had been watching the Nine-Hour Movement with curious interest, “his big nose sensitively keen,” wrote historian Donald Creighton, “like an animal’s for any scent of profit or danger.” The scent of profit came from the fact that Macdonald’s old Liberal rival George Brown had made himself a hated man among the workers of Canada. Macdonald was quick to capitalize. In Ottawa, he spoke to a crowd at city hall, promising to wipe the “barbarous laws” restricting labour from the books. Macdonald then came to the rescue of the imprisoned men and on June 14 passed a Trade Union Act, which legalized and protected union activity. Macdonald’s move not only embarrassed his rival Brown but also earned him the enduring support of the working class. For the strikers themselves, the short-term effects were very damaging. Many lost their jobs and were forced to leave Toronto. The long-term effects, however, were positive. After 1872 almost all union demands included the 54-hour week. Thus the Toronto printers were pioneers of the shorter workweek in North America. The movement did not reach places such as Chicago or New York until the turn of the century. The fight of the Toronto printers had a second, lasting legacy. The parades held in support of the Nine-Hour Movement and the printers’ strike led to an annual celebration. In 1882 American labour leader Peter J. McGuire witnessed one of these labour festivals in Toronto. Inspired, he returned to New York and organized the first American “labour day” on September 5 of the same year. Throughout the 1880s pressure built in Canada to declare a national labour holiday and on July 23, 1894 the government of Sir John Thompson passed a law making Labour Day official. A huge Labour Day parade took place in Winnipeg that year. It stretched some 5 kilometres. The tradition of a Labour Day celebration quickly spread across Canada and the continent. It had all begun in Toronto with the brave stand of the printers’ union. James Marsh is editor in chief of The Canadian Encyclopedia.