After 44 years of production, a lone black GMC Sierra light truck rolled off the assembly line Thursday with emergency lights flashing at the General Motors truck plant in Oshawa, Ont., bringing an end to an era and to livelihoods for about 2,600 workers.

"This is it, I'm walking through the gate for the last time," said departing worker Johnny Niles, who brought a video recorder in on Thursday to record the final day for posterity. Niles had spent 29 years at the plant.

"It's pretty quiet in here. There's a lot of alarms going off because the robots are freaking out because there are no more jobs anymore," he narrated as he moved through the plant with his camera.

Watch the complete diary by clicking the video links at the side.