My colleague, Catherine Jones, insists that Canada invented Labor Day—or Labour Day, as she and her compatriots call it. In fact, it was the international labor (no “u”) movement that advocated the creation of a day to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers.

But Canadians did play a leading role in getting the holiday adopted. In 1872, Toronto printers went on strike for a 54-hour (!) work week. When the union leaders were jailed, 10,000 workers marched in protest. Eventually, the government released the union leaders and revoked the anti-union laws. Some mark the subsequent parades held in celebration as the first Labour Day. However, the Canadian government didn’t adopt Labour Day as an official holiday until 1894.

The first Labor Day in the U.S. was celebrated in New York City in 1882. In 1887, five states officially adopted the holiday: Oregon, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. It would take another seven years for the federal government to recognize Labor Day as a national holiday. As in Canada, impetus was supplied by an incident of labor unrest—the Pullman strike of 1893-94.

Today, Labor/Labour Day is celebrated throughout the world. In most countries, the holiday occurs on May 1, the international day of the worker. Canada and the U.S. celebrate the holiday on the first Monday of each September.

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