Robert Andrews (thanks for the camera), Jennifer Watkins, Councillor Sharon Di Genova, Debbie Read, Ron Pederson, Tara Hughes, Councillor Kerry Ann Doherty, Robert Latimer and Jillian Cook marching in Toronto's 2007 Labour Day parade.
The Labour Day parade tradition began in Toronto on April 14, 1872, following a strike by the Toronto Typographical union demanding a nine-hour workday limit. Approximately 2,000 workers marched through the city, led by marching bands. By the time that the parade reached the Ontario legislature, the crowd had grown to about 10,000 people. The Printers' employers launched a legal challenge to the union's strike and the union lost, due to a 1792 law that made union activity illegal. Strike committee organizers were arrested, and many of the strikers lost their jobs. However, that first march became a defining moment in Canadian labour history. In 1894, Canada passed a law officially recognizing the first Monday of September as a national holiday. That year, Winnipeg hosted a huge Labour Day parade that stretched for five kilometres.