In operation since 1888, Dominion Regalia is a company that has manufactured regalia, badges, buttons, banners, and sashes for fraternal organizations, and unions. While their focus has shifted toward equestrian ribbons, flags, and regalia, a visit to their website shows that they still make embroidered banners. Their label can be found on some of the banners in our collection. 

In the early- to mid-20th century, some unions used Dominion to make their banners and ribbons, because they were a unionized workplace under the Allied Printing Trades Council.

Print ads, like the one published in the 1907 Labour Day Program, targeted unions locals interested in having regalia such as banners and ribbons made. Such regalia proliferated after Labour Day was established as a national holiday in 1894, and the Labour Day parade became an annual celebration for workers. 

Over the years, The Dominion Regalia Co. Limited operated out of a number of Toronto locations. Archival catalogues and advertisements show that the company was located at 76 York Street, the former address of the heritage-designated Frederick Crompton Buildings, as early as 1898. Later locations include King Street near Yonge in the early 1900s, 2 Elm Street, and 348 Yonge Street at Elm in 1950. Today, Dominion Regalia continues to operate from an industrial park in Markham, Ontario. 

Sources

Donegan, Rosemary. 1988. “Iconography of Labour, The: An Overview of Canadian Materials”. Archivaria 27 (January), 35-56. https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/11533.

Dominion Regalia website. https://dominionregalia.com