As Canadians prepare for Labour Day weekend, few people remember it was originally set up to honour unionized workers and had its origin in strife. The first labour parade in Canada was held in 1872 to rally behind a strike by the Toronto Printer’s Union in support of a nine-hour work day. For years, it was held on May 1 – the traditional day it was celebrated in Europe in the late 19th century – but eventually, it was moved to the end of summer. In 1894, Parliament made Labour Day a national statutory holiday to be marked on the first Monday of September. Canada’s early economy was based on agriculture. Even in the early part of the 1900s, a significant portion of our population still worked on the production of food. Canadian industry was only just beginning to take off, and the business of farming was based on horsepower as well as manpower. This was reflected on the 20-cent stamp of the 1928 Scroll Issue (Unitrade #157), which shows farm workers harvesting wheat using a horse-drawn wagon. Continue reading →
The anniversary of Canada’s second-largest postal union was commemorated in 2002. It is the only workers union to be given specific recognition on a Canadian postage stamp.
