For May Day 2025, Ottawa groups are organizing a month of activities to protest, build, learn, and celebrate as together we fight for a better future. You’re invited to join us for the Month of May Day!
- Ottawa May Day March 2025 – May 1, 5:00-7:00pm, starting at Confederation Park (Elgin @ Laurier)
- Solidarity and Info Picket for Early Childhood Educator Terminated for Organizing – May 2, 4:30-5:30pm, 407 Hilson Ave.
- Beats & Boards Games Night! – May 2, 6:00-9:00pm, The Grove (280-18 Louisa St.)
- The Leveller May Story Meeting – May 5, 7:00-8:00pm, Online
- Book Launch: Red Flags by David Camfield – May 13, 7:00-8:00pm, Octopus Books (116 Third Ave.)
- Queer and Trans Solidarity With Palestine – May 16, 7:00-9:00pm, St. Paul University Amphitheatre (233 Main St.) & Online
- Blocking for Events – May 17, 12:00-2:00pm, Online
- Film Screening and Panel Discussion: Working for Freedom – May 22, 7:00-9:00pm, Arlington Five (5 Arlington Ave.)
- Shut Down CANSEC – May 28, 7:00am, EY Centre (4899 Uplands Drive)
MAY 1
Ottawa May Day March 2025
Fight for the Future! Capitalism is a Death Cult!
Thursday, May 1
5:00pm – 7:00pm
Start: Confederation Park (Elgin @ Laurier)
In the northern hemisphere, the first day of May is a moment to enjoy the stirrings of life after winter. As International Workers’ Day, May Day is also a moment for waged and unwaged workers across the world to pause and celebrate our collective power. May Day is our holiday, all of us who stand on the side of the earth and the oppressed.
May Day is a day to recognize all who labour – paid and unpaid, formal and informal, in care work and field work – all of the activities that sustain us and our community. It’s a day to recommit to forging solidarity across borders against exploitation and dispossession. Above all, May Day honours the power of ordinary people, working together, to shape the conditions of our lives.
Things are getting harder. People are struggling to get by, the rich are getting richer, the ecological crisis is intensifying, Palestine is enduring unspeakable horrors, authoritarianism is growing more ascendant globally, and ruling officials are offering us little more than flag-waving and immigrant-blaming. In these circumstances, it’s all the more crucial to remember that collective struggle from below is a source of joy and the way that we win.
This May 1st, let’s come together and affirm that a future built on justice and dignity for all is one worth fighting for!
This march is organized by Punch Up Collective. More info here.
MAY 2
Solidarity and Info Picket for Early Childhood Educator Terminated for Organizing
Friday, May 2
4:30-5:30pm
407 Hilson Avenue (park and parking lot on the side of Hilson Avenue Public School, near Kirkwood and Richmond Road)
Come out for a friendly information and solidarity picket at Westboro Children’s Centre, in support of an educator who was fired “without cause” while it is clear that she was targeted for her involvement in workplace organizing.
Beats & Boards Games Night!
Friday, May 2
6:00-9:00pm
The Grove – 280 – 18 Louisa Street
Queer + Social – DJ del Pilar spinning low-decibel Afrohouse/beats, funk & RnB. We’ll provide some classic board games – feel free to bring your own! Canteen with non-alcoholic drinks, inc beer, cocktails, & seltzers. This is a covid-safer event.
- N95 or equivalent are required. Some free masks (overhead straps) will be available at the door.
- We monitor CO2 throughout the night and will announce if the monitors reach 1000.
- The new Grove space is much bigger than the last one, with 2 small windows that open, a central HVAC system, and high ceilings. We will have at least 3 air purifiers running at max at all times.
- 18 Louisa St. does not have easy access to the outside, so we ask you to enjoy beverages in the hall outside the main space.
Sliding scale tickets start at $5 but free tickets are always available if needed. Just message to get on the guest list 😍
New Space Info:
- 18 Louisa, unit 280, is on the 2nd floor and is accessed by the elevator or stairs.
- The exterior doors are automatic, and the door to the studio is manual. If the exterior door is locked, buzz 2800 to enter.
- There are accessible washrooms on the same floor. The (gendered) washrooms are shared with the whole floor but after hours it’s unlikely anyone else will be on site.
- The studio is over 800 square feet of open space with an 11 ft ceiling and 2 small windows that open.
This event is organized by Homo Phono. More info here.
MAY 5
The Leveller May Story Meeting
Monday, May 5
7:00-8:00pm
Online Meeting on Google Meets
Leveller monthly Story Meetings are where you can pitch article ideas, help brainstorm content, or be assigned a story. They’re also a way to learn about the Leveller and introduce yourself.
We pay writer, editors, illustrators and photographers for their contributions.
This meeting is organized by The Leveller. More info here.
MAY 13
Book Launch: Red Flags by David Camfield
Tuesday, May 13
7:00-8:00pm
Octopus Books, 116 Third Avenue
Join us for the launch of Red Flags: A Reckoning with Communism for the Future of the Left by author, social justice activist, and labour studies prof David Camfield. David will be joined in conversation by queer activist and labour organizer Genevieve Latour.
An anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian introduction to the history of the USSR, China, and Cuba that asks: Were they actually on the road to communism?
Red Flags traces the path from the 1917 Russian Revolution to the construction of the world’s first “actually existing socialist” society: the USSR. It also looks at the post-revolution societies created along the same lines in China and Cuba. Using the intellectual tools of historical materialism, Red Flags argues that they were not in fact moving towards communism because the social relations remained fixed in class exploitation. The workers were never liberated.
At a time of burgeoning anti-communism from both conservatives and liberals, this book is an accessible, vibrant synthesis of the history of communism that draws on the latest research to develop a rigorous analysis of the contradictions and uneasy truths the left needs to confront if it is to build a genuinely liberatory alternative to capitalism.
David Camfield is a professor in the Labour Studies Program and the Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Manitoba. He is the author of Future on Fire: Capitalism and the Politics of Climate Change, We Can Do Better: Ideas for Changing Society, and Canadian Labour in Crisis: Reinventing the Workers’ Movement and has written many articles on Marxism and left politics. David is on the editorial board of Midnight Sun and hosts the podcast Victor’s Children.
Genevieve Latour (she/her) serves on the national executive of the Canadian Associate of Professional Employees (CAPE), to which she was elected in 2023 as part of the Members for Change team with a mandate to radically transform the union. Dedicated to building power in our communities and forging links among grassroots movements and labour organizations, she is active with Queers for Palestine as well as queer and Palestine solidarity initiatives within her union.
This event is organized by Octopus Books. More info here.
MAY 16
Queer and Trans Solidarity With Palestine
Friday, May 16
7:00-9:00pm
St. Paul University Amphitheatre, 233 Main St.
Hybrid Event
Join us for a community event (panel discussion with invited speakers) to learn about queer and trans solidarity with Palestine!
Featuring:
- Maša Davidovic (Ottawa)
- Maria Fakhouri (Ottawa)
- Natalie Kouri-Towe (Montreal)
Speakers will address the following questions:
- Why do so many queer and trans people identify with and support the struggle for Palestinian liberation ?
- What are some examples of present and historical connections between these struggles ?
- What is pinkwashing and how does Israel use it to legitimize apartheid, occupation, and genocide ?
- Why is connecting the queer, trans, and Palestinian struggles a powerful strategy for building an even stronger liberation movement?
This event is organized by Education for Liberation. More info here.
MAY 17
Blocking for Events
Saturday, May 17
12:00-2:00pm
Virtual Event
Community Solidarity Ottawa will share its current methodology for neutralizing far right agitators at events, and protecting event attendees. There will be an opportunity for general discussion among attendees, allowing them to ask questions, discuss current trends in far right tactics and rhetoric, and exchange tips and tricks for neutralizing their attempts to harass and intimidate community members.
This event is organized by Community Solidarity Ottawa.
MAY 22
Film Screening and Panel Discussion: Working for Freedom
Thursday, May 22
7:00-9:00pm
Arlington Five, 5 Arlington Avenue
Cost: pay what you can (proceeds go to Prisoner Legal Supports)
Join filmmakers and people with lived experience of working in Ontario prisons for a viewing and panel discussion of Working for Freedom.
MAY 28
Shut Down CANSEC
Wednesday, May 28
7:00am
EY Centre, 4899 Uplands Drive
Join us May 28 at 7 am at the EY Centre to protest yet another display of imperialism and war profiteers hell bent on perpetuating genocide and destruction of the earth. For them, mass murder is a lucrative business, and governments, like Canada, pave the way.
We (not the threat) will protest weapons companies (actual threat) whose revenues STEADILY INCREASE as trade continues and human rights violations persist.
This protest is organized by Shut Down CANSEC.