|
1929 Crash | Economic Slowdown
| Bennett in Power |
The Ottawa Conference |
Prairie Drought |
Relief
| The Regina Riots |
Alberta & Bible Bill |
Statute of Westminster |
Woodworth & the CCF |
The Union Nationale |
Relief Camps |
Bennett's Conversion |
King's Return |
European Unrest |
Royal Visit
The depression brought high unemployment
rates for most areas across Canada with many industries
able to pick and choose which workers they wanted to
keep and which they could let go, knowing that there
would be plenty of new workers lining up to take any
available spots. Employers could institute a paycut and
unless a worker was willing to joint the jobless with
little chance of getting another job, they would have to
accept the cut. Unions and government could do very
little about the situation.
Many local communities
and Provincial governments set up a system of relief
which was a payment ranging from $19 in the Maritimes to
about $60 in Alberta which went to families who
desperately needed help to get by. Single unmarried men
were not eligible. Most of the payment was in the form
of vouchers which could be exchanged for food an
clothing.
By October 1932, the
Federal government was finally ready to do
something about the unemployment catastrophe among men
which averaged about 30% nationwide but reached almost
40% in some regions. The army chief of staff, Major
General McNaughton had studied some of the ideas and
programs that were taking shape on Roosevelt and the New
Deal in the United States and recommended to Prime
Minster Bennett that a program could be setup whereby,
young unemployed men would be provided, shelter, food,
and a minimum payment in exchange for living in a
semi-military type of camp and working on various
projects. The
men were paid 20 cents a day and were required to work
44 hours a week. They were set to work replanting trees
in heavily logged areas, building roads and bridges
throughout the west, working on construction projects to
erect public buildings, and within the camp there was a
requirement for various trades and professions such as
carpenters, metal workers, accountants, farmers and many
others. The
trade unions began to gain some influence in the camps
as they worked to convince the men that the 20 cents a
day they were earning was not fair and hat they needed
to take some sort of action to force an increase in
wages. By April of 1935, resentment reached a boiling
point and many of the relief camps in BC went on strike
which resulted in the consolidation of the action in
Vancouver and a decision to march on Ottawa to demand
fairer action for the men. The action ended in Regina in
July when a violent confrontation broke out with between
police and the relief camp workers, One constable died
and many police and workers were injured.
The relief camps continued to operate
and, the Regina Riot aside, when the were closed
down in 1936, they had seen over 170,000 men come
through the camp gates and helped get the country up and
running again.
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