The On – To Ottawa Trek

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

Make a chart …

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

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

Options • What did these young single men do? • They rode the rails looking for work in other Canadian cities. Were called drifters Work was scarce so they often had to move along

Government reactions • Governments feared that these men might become violent or might join radical political parties • What do you think they did?

To stop the revolution before it could start, the government set up relief camps in remote areas. The purpose of this was to move “trouble makers” out of the main cities.

What were the relief camps like? • Run by the Department of National Defense • Worked 8 hour days, 6 days a week • Built roads, dug ditches and planted trees • Were paid $.20/day • Cabins were 24m x 7m and these slept 88 men, 2 per bunk

Do you think that this was effective in calming the “trouble makers”

Relief camp protest April 1935 • 1,500 men from BC work camps went on strike – Went to Vancouver to demonstrate By May 1st • 20,000 striking men and their supporters paraded in Vancouver!

Relief Camp Worker’s Protest • The strike lasted for 2 months • Suggested the strikers take their message to Ottawa to the PM himself

And this became the On-to-Ottawa Trek!

The On-to-Ottawa Trek • Men had to ride the rails because they had no money • June 30th – 1000 men climbed the CPR train to go to Ottawa

Government Response??? • PM Bennett was terrified – the trek had to be stopped! • 2,000 trekkers arrived in Regina – rounded out the exhibition grounds • 8 leaders were given permission to then go to Ottawa to meet with the PM Did not produce any results and trek leaders returned to Regina determined to continue their trek

The Regina Riot, July 1935 • July 1, trekkers held a meeting in Regina’s Market Square • Bennett ordered the police to break things up and the trekkers fought back! • 1 killed, several injured, 130 arrested

So what do you think happened? • Trekkers disbanded • Many returned to Vancouver at the governments expense • Relief camps were shut down within the year And… • Problems with unemployment continued King or Chaos 1935 Election

What is the significance of this event? • Once again – our right to assemble and freedom of speech had been shut down by the government • From now on, we will expect more and demand more from our government. • Government response – the creation of the welfare state

Canada’s Independence

INDEPENDENCE How many words can your group come up with?

Canada’s since WW1 • Canada was established as a self-governing colony within the British Empire by the British North America Act of 1867. • Canada’s sovereignty was limited to internal affairs only; Britain maintained control over several aspects governance. • This was consistent with the governing of other colonial territories including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Newfoundland.

What did this mean? • The Dominions of the British Empire lacked the ability to do many of the things which independent nations do. • The constitutions of the Dominions were British documents; they resided in the Parliament of Great Britain and could only be amended by an act of British Parliament.

Cont’d • The official head of state in each country was the Governor General, a position directly appointed by Britain to be the representative of the crown in the colonies. • Despite the ability to make laws, the Privy Council of Britain was the highest court of appeal over all judicial decisions and laws. • The Dominions also lacked the ability to conduct external affairs with nations outside of the Empire.

So what happened?

The Chanak Crisis • In October 1922 a dispute between the new state of Turkey and Britain threatened to escalate into war. • The British requested that the Dominions again send troops for war, but made a statement to the press before an official telegram was sent to the governments of the Dominions.

And then…the Halibut Treaty (1923) • Canada signed it’s first international treaty with another nation in 1923. • The treaty was an agreement with the United States over the protection of Pacific halibut fisheries. • King insisted that the treaty be signed only by Canadian officials, with no co-signature by the British ambassador in Washington.

And then – The King-Byng Affair!! • Scandal!! • William Lyon Mackenzie King wanted to have an election to avoid everyone knowing but the governor general, Lord Byng refused! • Instead Lord Byng invited Meighan the role of Prime Minister • He lasted 3 days!!! • King won the majority again in 1926

The Balfour Report declared that… "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations."

Which led to the Statute of Westminster! • Was the legislative final step in implementing the Balfour Report. • The Statute of Westminster was a British law which clarified and redefined the powers of the Dominions. • The Statute grated the Parliaments of the Dominions full legal freedom, the only restriction was that Parliament could not repeal, amend or alter the BNA Act.

The On – To Ottawa Trek