1. Canadian Association of Defense & Security Industries (CADSI) (251 Laurier Ave. W) – hosted by Labour4Palestine
CADSI is a private lobbying group representing hundreds of weapons industry companies (like General Dynamics, Boeing, Elbit Systems, and Lockheed Martin) in Canada. CADSI is also the main organizer of CANSEC, the largest arms dealer convention in North America. It is funded by Canadian taxpayers through Global Affairs Canada, having received $291,400.00 in 2024.
2. Shopify (151 O’Connor) – hosted by Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE)
We have watched in horror as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by the richest man in the world (Elon Musk), has vandalized critical federal programs and services ordinary Americans rely on, while perpetrating maybe the biggest attack on workers’ rights in American history on our American federal public service siblings. Musk and Trump have gutted critical health care and social security benefits for millions of people, defunded entire government departments that most Americans rely directly on, and attempted to strip the collective bargaining rights of hundreds of thousands of federal workers while firing them en masse. This is a corporate coup by the far right tech oligarchy – in Canada, we have our own tech oligarchs who want to implement a DOGE program in Canada. Build Canada, supported heavily by Shopify, is the lobby group pushing hardest for the new government to attack workers and critical programs that Canadians depend on, with the same Silicon Valley hype that Elon has made famous.
3. Mining Association of Canada (Laurier @ Bank) – hosted by Climate Commons Carleton
Climate Commons recognizes that the Mining Association of Canada plays a significant role in shaping the country’s extractive industries. However, we are deeply concerned about how mining operations contribute to environmental degradation, labor exploitation, and colonial legacies perpetuated by large-scale mining operations, particularly in Indigenous territories. Given that May Day is a day of solidarity against exploitation and dispossession, we are speaking out against the extractive economy that prioritizes corporate profits over ecological sustainability and social justice. We stand in solidarity with workers and communities impacted by the mining industry, advocating for a transition toward equitable and regenerative alternatives.
4. Smart Property Management/Dwell Properties (Bank @ Lisgar) – hosted by Tenants of Sandy Hill and Bank Block Tenants
This stop highlights the ongoing fight at the Bank Block—two buildings where tenants in rent-controlled and affordable units are standing firm against mass eviction by corporate landlord Smart Living Properties (also operating as Dwell Properties). This predatory landlord is driving people out of stable, livable homes just to carve them into overpriced micro-apartments, raking in profit while deepening Ottawa’s housing crisis. But tenants are not backing down. Their resistance has sparked a wave of tenant organizing across the city, especially in Sandy Hill, challenging the violence of displacement and the exploitation of people in their homes.
5. Abiwin Co-operative Housing (299 Sommerset St) – hosted by Disability Justice Network of Ontario
Accessible cooperatives, and committed friendships are essential to the project of deinstitutionalization in Ontario. This is a stop to celebrate Justin Clark, Normand Pellerin, and the revolutionary force of friendship, solidarity, and care.