The theme for the #May1TO, May Day: Solidarity City! Status for All! Decolonize Now!? is Build a Solidarity City. In this image series we try to imagine what a solidarity city would look like.
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Join us in the streets for our 8th Annual May Day of Action!
1PM – 4PM: Occupy Gardens @ Queens Park
5:30 PM: Rally and March starting at City Hall and ending at Little Norway Park in solidarity with striking workers at Porter (Queens Quay and Bathurst)
For seven years, you have marched on May Day to celebrate and invigorate migrant justice struggles in Toronto. On International Workers Day, we march to build a Solidarity City. Solidarity City is a unified struggle for: Respect for Indigenous Sovereignty, Status for All, an End to Imperialism and Environmental Destruction, an End to Austerity and Attacks on the Poor and Working class, continued resistance against Patriarchy, Racism, Ableism and Homophobia and Transphobia
Over 3,000 people march on Toronto's first May Day march on a working day in decades
Toronto -- Six years ago, inspired by 'A day without immigrants' marches across the United States, No One Is Illegal began organizing the May Day of Action for Status for All in Toronto. We were building for a May Day march on a working day but did not anticipate how momentous this year would be. On May Day 2012, we joined with thousands of others in over 150 cities across Turtle Island (colonial Canada and the United States) and millions around the world to mark International Workers Day and asserted the freedom to move, return, and stay for all.
What took place in Toronto could not have been possible without the commitment and energy of the May 1st Movement, Occupy Toronto, Food Not Bombs, Opirg Toronto and Rhythms of Resistance that coordinated various portions of the rally and march and the over 40 organizations that endorsed, mobilized and organized for the largest May Day in our city in recent memory.
"We will link our struggles", insisted Gunjan Chopra, organizer with No One Is Illegal - Toronto at the start of the rally. In one voice, the over 3,000 people assembled outside Nathan Phillips Square agreed. And link them we did. From naming war, environmental destruction, capitalism and colonization as the powers that force people out of their homes here and elsewhere, to targeting policies of immigration, policing and austerity that are making the lives of our communities miserable, May Day was a moment of unity, of building relationships across struggles, and of asserting that together, we are unstoppable.
#MAY1TO: May Day of Action to Axe the Refugee Exclusion Act!
May 1, 2012, 4pm, International Workers Day
March starts at Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto City Hall
Please note that only the 4pm and 7pm actions on May 1 and the party on May 5th are being coordinated by No One Is Illegal - Toronto along with many allies. Others are posted here in solidarity, and plans may radically change in the next week. Please check the links directly for updates.
Canada is shutting out Refugees and Families! On May Day 2012 march for Status for All!
For the last six years, No One Is Illegal - Toronto has coordinated a May Day of Action to celebrate and invigorate migrant justice struggles. This year dozens of groups across the City are collaborating in a show of solidarity and strength to mark the May Day of Action. On May 1st, 2012 No One Is Illegal - Toronto will take the streets to push back against the refugee exclusion act (Bill C-31), ensure family reunification in the face of cuts to permanent immigration for parents and grandparents, and support decolonization struggles on Turtle Island. JOIN US!
On May 1st 2011, International Worker's Day, workers waged and unwaged, people with and without status took to the streets of Parkdale. For the 6th year in row we gathered to demand Status for All, to march for justice, for freedom, for access without fear, for the right of all to live with respect and dignity.
As people gathered in front of Parkdale Collegiate they were greeted with delicious food, high-energy musicians and Samba bands, and hundreds of vibrant flags, placards and banners. Powerful messages of solidarity were delivered by indigenous sovereignty activist Missy Elliot, Jethro Tulin from the Porgera Alliance of Papua New Guinea, the Caregivers Action Centre, the South Asian Women's Rights Organization and the International Federation of Iranian Refugees.
Over 1800 people braved the gray and rainy day to be a part of the demonstration, and Parmbir Gill, an organizer with No One Is Illegal – Toronto explained that commitment when he said: "Those who are the most marginalized, the most gunned down, the most kicked, beaten, spit on, treated like dirt, we who bear all of these acts of violence on our minds and bodies - we are also the most rugged, the most stubborn, the most resilient.”
