The Cause for Celebration: Your Labour Day holdiay

Next Monday is Labour Day, a day that many of us associate with the end of summer. Many end-of-summer traditions will be acted out over the weekend, traditions like the last barbeque, the last weekend at the cabin or the last camping trip. But there is another Labour Day tradition that bears mention, one that often goes unnoticed. It is the tradition of taking a moment to ask ourselves, “Just what is Labour Day anyway?”

The history of Labour Day isn’t usually taught to us in school. As a result, many of us wrongly assume that it’s just another mandatory holiday, with meaning assigned after the fact. But in Canada, the Labour Day can trace its origins back to a single event, an event which was fundamental in shaping the country we know and love today.

The Canada of 1872 was a very different kind country than the one we know today, especially for the working class. It was normal for people back then to work a 10 to 12-hour day, and workers’ unions were not just uncommon, they were outright illegal. In April of that year, a group of Torontonian workers decided they had had enough of the long days, and they went on strike in an attempt to bring the workday down to a reasonable nine hours. Of course, they were promptly thrown in jail for their actions, but the public outcry was enormous.

A whole tenth of Toronto’s population is said to have taken to the streets and marched in protest of this injustice. Though the police and the business owners were not swayed, the march attracted the attention of Prime Minister John A. MacDonald, who either sympathised with their plight or saw the demonstration as a way to connect with voters. Either way, MacDonald freed the imprisoned men and overturned the law against forming unions. In addition, in honour of the event, Parliament set Labour Day aside as a holiday, as an opportunity to celebrate the rights of workers. In the early days of Canada, marches and parades occurred every year in memory of that 1872 protest, but over time, our memories have faded, and the day, while still appreciated, has lost most of its meaning.

So while you’re relaxing this weekend and enjoying the final days of summer, be sure to raise a glass to those nineteenth-century protesters to whom we owe not only this holiday but also our right to have a say in how we’re treated at work.