The On-To-Ottawa Trek Single Men and the Relief Camps

The story so far…  William Lyon MacKenzie King  Prime Minister 1929  He thought Canada should just wait out the depression.

The 5 Cent Piece Speech  In 1930, King insisted that social welfare was the responsibility of the provinces not federal government

 In the 1930 election, King was defeated by Richard Bedford Bennett. Was Canada in good hands?  Bennett accused King of ignoring the unemployed and the problems that plagued Canada after the crash.  Bennett also promised 20 million in emergency funds for provinces.

 However….his measures did nothing to cure the Depression in Canada, they only scratched the surface.

The Unemployed!  The Great Depression was the hardest on young single men

Why? 1. They were the first to be let go when jobs needed to be cut. 2. Older married men needed the work more 3. Unemployed women would be supported by their families

Options  What did these young single men do? 1.They rode the rails looking for work in other Canadian cities. Were called drifters 2.Arrived in new cities needing food, shelter and work. There was no food, shelter or work for these newcomers once they arrived ? ?

Think How might you feel if you were one of these men?

Fear  Authorities feared these men might turn violent  What if these men organized together with the help of communists?

Government Response  To stop a revolution before it started  Set up unemployment relief camps in remote areas. – Intended to move the ‘trouble makers’ out of the way and out of the cities, to where they could do no harm.

Conditions i)Run by the Department of National Defense ii)Worked 8 hr/day, 6 days/week iii)Built roads, dug ditches, planted trees iv)Were paid $0.20 day

Think Would sending you off to a work camp where the conditions were horrible silence you, or make you more likely to protest against your government?

Relief Camp Workers Protest April, 1935  1,500 men from BC work camps went on strike – Went to Vancouver to demonstrate May 1 st, 1935  20,000 striking men and their supporters paraded in Vancouver

Relief Camp Workers Protest  May 1 st, 20,000 striking men and their supporters paraded in Vancouver  Strike lasts 2 months  Suggested the strikers take their message to Ottawa to the PM himself

Relief Camp Worker’s Protest  The On-to-Ottawa Trek was born

The On-To-Ottawa Trek  Workers had no money – had to ride the rails to Ottawa  June 3, 1000 strikers climbed on the boxcars of a CPR freight train  CPR employees were sympathetic to the strikers

Government Response  P.M. Bennett was terrified – the trek had to be stopped!  2,000 Trekkers arrived in Regina – rounded up in the exhibition grounds  8 leaders were given permission to carry on to Ottawa to meet with P.M. Bennett

Trekker’s Response: The Regina Riot  Bennett and the Trek leaders met  The meeting was not a success – nothing was resolved  Bennett was called a ‘liar’, Trekkers were called ‘criminals’  Trek leaders returned to Regina determined the trek would continue

The Regina Riot 1935  July 1 – Trekkers held a meeting in Regina’s Market Square  Bennett ordered RCMP and city police to break up the crowd – they came waving batons  Trekkers resisted. Riot lasted until that night  1 killed, several injured, 130 arrested Trekkers gathered at Exhibition Grounds Rioters Converging on an Injured Man

The Regina Riot 1935  Trekkers disbanded  Relief camps were shut down within the year  The problems of the unemployed continued  King wins 1935 election Strikers boarding a train after Regina Riot King or Chaos

Significance 1.Once again – our right to assemble and freedom of speech had been shut down by the government 2.From now on, we will expect more and demand more from our government. 3.Government response – the creation of the welfare state