From 2009-2015, the Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly came together in an ambitious attempt to unite the working class and the left in Canada’s largest city. Evolving from the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis and nearly thirty-years of neoliberal economic policy, the group’s goal was to create a space for “voices on the left, and developing a radical politics for the 21st Century.”
The years following the financial sector’s collapse in the US was an active time of grassroots organizing, from the Occupy Movement, and the Arab Spring sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa, to student protests in Quebec. Organized by members of the Socialist Project, the Assembly’s first meeting took place in the Spring of 2009. After a broad call for participants, the meeting attracted over 100 enthusiastic participants from across the Greater Toronto Area.
With a vision statement and themes identified, the Assembly began work on campaigns in the Spring of 2010. Members of the Assembly championed Free and Accessible Public Transit and worked on awareness raising for the upcoming G8 and G20 meetings which were set to take place in Toronto that summer. The Assembly was present at rallies and marches and their presence was known thanks in large part to the banner produced by activist and artist Carole Condé (1940-2024) seen here. Condé saw making banners as her contribution to causes she was involved in. Beyond banners, the Assembly also created pamphlets and booklets that expanded on their campaigns and complemented a variety of timely labour issues including striking postal workers, threat to public service jobs and challenging the policies of Toronto’s Mayor, Doug Ford.
Despite the enthusiasm present in the early meetings, the Assembly was not sustainable in the long term and formally disbanded in 2015 due to internal differences about the group’s long-term direction. That being said, the progressive politics and enthusiastic activist energy present from day-one of the assembly can still be found throughout the city’s collective fights. From Black Lives Matter, the Pro-Palestinanian movement, and the ongoing fight against austerity in Ontario, the spirit of the Assembly is still very much alive and kicking.
From 2009-2015, the Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly came together in an ambitious attempt to unite the working class and the left in Canada’s largest city.
Key Sources
https://labornotes.org/2010/11/toronto-assembly-ties-together-everyone-hammered-recession