National, community pride is strong at Hamilton’s Labour Day parade

Hamilton is a city built on labour.

From the fight for a nine-hour work day in the 1870s, to the infamous Stelco strike of 1946 when one-in-five of the city’s industrial workforce walked off the job.

On Monday, thousands of workers marched through the streets, commemorating the values of solidarity and organization that’s been handed down for generations.

“There’s something to be said about going into work everyday with a sense of security that someone’s got your back,” says Nathan Ivanco, a fourth generation auto manufacturer.

“I’ve worked at the Oakville assembly plant since September of 2018. Part of a long lineage of family that’s worked there. My father before me who got in through my grandfather on my mothers side, who also got in through his father-in-law, who was the first to work there.”

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This year’s march comes amid trade tensions with the United States that have led to mass layoffs and a renewed conversation around national pride and economic survival.

“It’s really important for us this year, because of what’s going on in the world today and we’re looking more at being Hamilton strong. Hamilton is losing a lot of its steel industry right now and that’s our main point, we need to stay Canada strong, buy Canadian steel and support Canadian workers,” says Frank Crowder, the President of Unites Steelworkers Local 7135.

Labour day in Hamilton is more than just a holiday, it’s a tradition rooted in struggle, sacrifice and solidarity.

For generations, workers have marched not just to celebrate, but to remind the community of what can be accomplished when it works together.

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“At Stelco, where I’m from, there’s been no layoffs yet, which is a good thing, due to the tariffs. But maybe there’s more community outreach now, because Canada’s come together to work together because of Trump’s attacks on our sovereignty and the tariff war,” says Ron Wells, the president of United Steelworkers Local 1005.

“It’s always better with power in numbers, when you’ve got a group of people, focused in the right direction, for the right causes, it’s always better to have those people together,” says Nathan Bergstrand from the United Association Local 67.

For many, marching isn’t just about wages or job security, it’s about safety and making it home at the end of the day.

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“Five years ago tomorrow, September 2nd, my husband and father of my two children went to work at a local steel company and never made it home. He was killed in a fatal workplace accident,” says Trudy Cowan, a local advocate, mother and widow.

The United Steelworkers union is kicking off the second phase of the Stop The Killing campaign and by using Frasers hard hat as a logo so to speak, to really seek justice for the people who were killed.

From victories on the picket line to lives lost in the fight for safer workplaces, Labour Day is a reminder that progress has always come with sacrifice and that solidarity remains the city’s greatest strength.

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