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On to Ottawa Trek/Regina Riot

Article by Michael Snider

Published Online March 17, 2003

Last Edited December 16, 2013

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on July 1, 2002. Partner content is not updated.

Pulling down the bill of his hat, Jack Geddes squinted against the Prairie wind. Perched atop the boxcar of a moving train, Geddes could just make out the Alberta foothills. Beyond them, through the thick, black smoke belching from the steam engine, lay the snow-capped Rockies. Painfully hungry, the 18-year-old hobo lay back on the boxcar's iron catwalk, covered himself with his Hudson's Bay blanket and let the rocking train lull him to sleep. Two days to Vancouver, he thought. And if relief couldn't be found there, well, there were always the "slave camps."

It was 1932 and Canada was in the relentless grip of the Great Depression. The country's lifeblood - exports of natural resources like wheat, lumber, fish and minerals - had all but dried up, plummeting in value from $1.12 billion in 1929 to $576 million. More than one out of four people seeking work couldn't find any. Prime Minister R.B. BENNETT 's Conservative government initially responded to the crisis in 1930 with $20 million for public works projects. A huge sum for the time, but not nearly enough. Fear of communist rabble-rousers stirring up the wandering unemployed prompted Bennett to establish relief camps, later called slave camps by those who lived there. Run by the Department of National Defence, the camps became powerful symbols of Ottawa's lack of concern for the unemployed. In June, 1935, more than 1,000 of these desperate men set out from B.C. to confront Bennett in the nation's capital. Fearing a snowballing rebellion, the government waylaid the ON TO OTTAWA TREK in Saskatchewan and, on the July 1 holiday, crushed it in what became known as the REGINA RIOT , the most violent episode of the Great Depression. One man died and more than 100 were injured.

The Dirty Thirties offered little hope for too many. There was no unemployment insurance, no medical coverage, no old age pension. "There were no jobs and we weren't wanted," says 85-year-old Gene Llewellyn, who as a 16-year-old in 1933 left his Terrace, B.C., home to ease the burden on his parents. "We'd come into a town, and they'd run you out."

The only alternative to riding the rails or eking out an existence in the hobo jungles that sprung up beside most major cities was to seek aid in the relief camps. No one expected the camps - established in October, 1932, to house and provide work for single, unemployed homeless men - to be around for very long. They were considered a temporary solution because most believed the Depression itself would be temporary. But by 1935 there were nearly 150 relief camps dotting the country, 53 of them in British Columbia largely because of its warmer climate. Workers spent 44-hour weeks doing construction or land clearing in exchange for three square meals and a 20-cent per day allowance. For the men, the 20 cents solidified their belief they were working in slave camps. While authorities prohibited any attempt to form unions, the harsh lifestyle ironically gave organizations like the Communist Party of Canada a captive and receptive audience. "These men were just like any of us," says Bill Waiser, author of Park Prisoners , a book about how Canada's national parks were used as work camps. "They wanted jobs, they wanted a home and a family. Putting the men in camps, you focus their discontent. Then on come the communists who say, 'You're being exploited.' "

Still a proud member of the Communist Party, 90-year-old Robert "Doc" Savage of Quesnel, B.C., can't recall who came up with the idea to take their demands to Bennett's desk in Ottawa. Savage simply remembers organizing 400 men on the morning of June 3, 1935, and leading them - along with more than 1,000 others - onto the boxcars and out of Vancouver's rail yard singing the union hymn: Hold the fort, for we are coming. Union men be strong. Side by side we battle onward. Victory will come . "We were joyous," says Geddes who grew up in Calgary but now lives in White Rock, B.C. "We were going to Ottawa and we were going to lay our problems at the feet of R.B. Bennett."

People along the way prepared a welcome at nearly every stop. The local press called the trekkers "our boys" and westerners, who identified with their issues, generally embraced them. And at most stops, more single unemployed men piled onto the boxcars and joined the journey.

Ottawa believed the protest would run out of steam before the mountains. But when the train descended from the Rockies into Calgary, Bennett's home riding, the prime minister prepared for a confrontation. Unwilling to risk the political fallout of a Calgary showdown, Bennett decided to draw the line in Regina. On June 14, the 50-car freight rolled into the Queen City. After the marchers disembarked to stretch their legs, Bennett banned them from getting back on. Stalling for time in the hope the trek would fizzle out peacefully, the prime minister invited a contingent of strikers, including Savage, to meet with him in Ottawa. Eight of the leaders sat down with Bennett for an hour on June 22, but the tone of the meeting was belligerent and ended in bitter failure.

Returning to Regina, Savage and the leaders faced new challenges. Their transportation had been cut off, the exits to the city blocked and rumours surfaced that a relief camp was being prepared to intern them all. Recognizing defeat, the trek leaders promised to disband provided they could leave Regina. The RCMP refused, insisting the only place the 2,000 men were going was to a specially prepared camp in Lumsden, 25 km northwest of Regina.

On July 1, after hours of bitter discussions with local officials, the march leaders called a meeting. That evening, between 1,500 and 2,000 people filled Regina's Market Square. Most, though, were townsfolk with their families observing the local drama on the holiday Monday. As for the trekkers, most of them were watching a baseball game in another part of the city. More than 300 RCMP dressed in riot gear were concealed in large moving vans parked on three sides of the square, with another 50 nearby on horses. Dozens of local police waited in a garage right off the square.

As one of the leaders took the stage and began to speak, a whistle blew. Using baseball bats and billy clubs, the police waded into the crowd. "They opened the door and out they come beating the hell out of us," remembers Geddes. "They chased us all over town." RCMP threw teargas into Market Square to break up the crowd and the riot spilled into adjoining streets. A pitched battle raged for more than three hours. At one point, several people set upon a plain-clothes policeman and beat him to death. Late into the night, as about 300 rioters cornered a small troop of police, the commanding officer ordered his men to fire over the crowd's heads. Seventeen people were wounded, including five Regina residents. By morning, among the more than 100 people sent to hospital were 40 police. "The amount of people I saw with their heads bashed in was terrible, really terrible," recalls Geddes.

The march had been crushed and some of its leaders arrested. But the severity of the riot sobered both protestors and government. The trekkers were allowed to return home or to the B.C. relief camps. Bennett, blaming the riot on communist agitators, endorsed an inquiry that whitewashed the authorities of any wrongdoing. According to Waiser, a University of Saskatchewan history professor: "In truth, it was a police-provoked riot. They raided a peaceful meeting and the people fought back."

Bennett, however, did not escape the fallout. In the federal election campaign three months after the Regina Riot, the prime minister promised radical reforms, including health and unemployment insurance as well as a minimum wage. But it was too late. In October, 1935, William Lyon Mackenzie King soundly defeated Bennett.

Less than a year later, a federal investigation concluded that maintaining the relief camps was no longer "in the best interests of the state." After housing 170,000 men over 3 ½ years, they were closed. But for many of the hopeless men who lived in them and took part in the protest, the trek had provided a purpose. "We were pretty militant, but we had a reason to be," says Llewellyn. "If you were going hungry in the richest country in the world you would have done it too."

Maclean's July 1, 2002

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The Regina Riot

During the Great Depression, more than a thousand single homeless unemployed men rode the rails in an organized protest that led to a bloody clash.

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In early April 1935, hundreds of dissatisfied, disillusioned men walked out of Department of National Defence relief camps throughout British Columbia and descended on Vancouver in a bold attempt to reverse their dead-end lives and bring about some kind of “work for wages” program.

The walkout, coordinated by Communist-affiliated Relief Camp Workers’ Union, was a direct challenge to the R.B. Bennett Conservative government and its handling of the single homeless unemployed during the Great Depression.

For the first few weeks in Vancouver, the strikers eked out a hand-to-mouth existence, while the federal and provincial governments wrangled over responsibility for the men.

As the stalemate dragged on and strikers began slipping away, it was suggested that the men take their grievances to Ottawa and directly confront the Bennett government. This bold idea galvanized the strikers’ flagging spirits.

This short documentary by Ben Lies of Badlands Productions explains some of the factors that led to what became known as the On-To-Ottawa Trek.

The trek was a bigger gamble than the walkout. Ottawa was more than 3,000 miles away, and the strikers would have to travel there atop boxcars.

An estimated 1,000 On-to-Ottawa trekkers left Vancouver by freight train in early June 1935. No attempt was made to stop them. Police and government authorities confidently assumed that the resolve of the men would melt away like the snow in the interior mountains.

Even Prime Minister Bennett, convinced that the strikers had misplayed their hand, announced that his Conservative administration would simply watch from the sidelines.

Despite many hardships, the men made it through the mountains. By the time the men left Calgary, the trek had taken on the aura of a crusade. More men joined the trek and many communities welcomed the trekkers like modern-day folk heroes.

What began as a strike against federal relief camps had been transformed into a popular movement against the federal government’s handling of the Depression.

on to ottawa trek & the regina riot

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As the trek grew in popularity, police, military, and government authorities, decided it had to be stopped.

On June 11, Regina-based RCMP Assistant Commissioner Wood personally advised Saskatchewan Premier James Gardiner that a decision had been made to stop the trek in Regina.

Despite Gardiner’s protests of the federal decision, the Mounties moved to arrest the ringleaders at a peaceful public rally at Regina’s Market Square on Dominion Day.

The raid quickly degenerated into a pitched battle between the police and trekkers and citizens, which spilled over into the streets of downtown Regina.

Order was not restored until the early hours of the next day, but only after the city police emptied their guns directly into a crowd of rioters.

The toll from the riot was two dead, hundreds injured, and thousands of dollars of damage to the city.

Sadly, Premier Gardiner’s earlier warning — that stopping the trek would result in a riot — had come true.

Hearings held later by the Regina Riot Inquiry Commission absolved police of wrongdoing.

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A more-detailed article was published in the August-Septemeber 2016 issue of Canada’s History .

Bill Waiser is a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan and the author of more than a dozen books, including All Hell Can’t Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot .

Themes associated with this article

  • Peace & Conflict
  • Politics & Law
  • Prime Ministers
  • National Politics
  • Provincial/Territorial Politics
  • Social Justice

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The 'on-to-ottawa trek'.

Unemployed men protest government inaction during the Great Depression

Article covering the Regina Riot.

The aftermath of the Regina Riot: one protestor and one policeman dead, more than a hundred injured, and the movement’s leaders imprisoned.

Author: The Edmonton Journal

Source: Edmonton Journal July 12, 1935, p1

Strikers from unemployment relief camps en route to Eastern Canada during "March on Ottawa."

Relief camp workers riding the rails on their trek to Ottawa in June 1935.

Author: Unknown

Source: Library and Archives Canada, C-029399

Crowd gathered at Victory Square when Vancouver Mayor McGreer read the Riot Act.

Vancouver Mayor Gerry McGeer reads the Riot Act in Victory Square on April 23, 1935.

Source: City of Vancouver Archives, AM54-S14-Vol 9, No2 503-D-1

Dominion Day rioters and police in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Police and demonstrators clash at the Regina Riot on July 1, 1935.

Author: McDermid Studio

Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-3622-20

On April 4, 1935, thousands of workers put down their pickaxes, shovels, and other tools and deserted British Columbia’s relief camps, hitching rides on boxcars bound for Vancouver. However, the ultimate destination would be Ottawa.

This wasn’t the first walkout among relief camp workers , but it was the largest. Over five years had passed since the stock market crashed on Black Tuesday, signalling the start of the Great Depression . While the markets in the United States seemed to be recovering, Canadians saw no such progress at home. Instead, the government had herded thousands of jobless men from city streets into rural relief camps , where they were set to hard labour for a paltry wage of 20 cents per day. It was an attempt to hide the problem of poverty rather than address it. 

Even though the camp workers were technically banned from organizing, thousands of them joined the newly-formed Relief Camp Workers’ Union (RCWU). The group — which was affiliated with the Communist Party’s trade union, the Workers’ Unity League (WUL) — decided that one dramatic move would draw attention to their cause: a general strike. On April 4, camp workers from all across Western Canada walked off the job.

Two thousand men converged on Vancouver. They would spend the next two months protesting in the city.

At the time, Canadian politics was splintered. British Columbia’s Liberal government, which had campaigned on promises of “Work and Wages,” was at odds with the Conservative federal government under R.B. “Iron Heel” Bennett. He contended that policing and aid were local responsibilities. The lack of any cohesive and productive action by the government garnered only frustration from its citizenry. When the men arrived in Vancouver, public support was in their corner.

Less than three weeks after the strike started, Vancouver Mayor Gerry McGeer — who had was on a law and order platform — decided that enough was enough. After a large workers’ demonstration on April 23, McGeer read the Riot Act in Victory Square. Later that night, he would have police raid the workers’ headquarters. A violent street battle broke out. Arrests were made.

By June, after months of demonstrations, the protestors were frustrated. They had reached an impasse with the local government, and there was no clear path forward. The men decided they needed to chart a bold, new path, so they decided to take the fight to Ottawa. A grand exodus ensued. On June 3, one thousand men hitched rides on freight cars — a practice called “riding the rod” — to confront the prime minister himself.

At least, that was the plan. Halfway to Ottawa, the strikers stopped in Regina, with only the movement’s leaders carrying on. When they did meet with Bennett, the conversation quickly devolved into insults, and no resolution was found.

The strike leaders returned to Regina with a new plan. They spread the word: On July 1, Dominion Day, there would be a rally in the city’s Market Square. But local authorities found out and devised their own scheme. They wanted to prevent the movement from growing larger than it already was.

On the day of the rally, somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 people had convened in the square when the RCMP riot squad arrived, armed with clubs. They forcibly shut down the protest in what would become the most violent conflagration of the Great Depression: the Regina Riot. By the end of the day, one constable and one protestor had died. More than a hundred people, mostly locals, were injured. Meanwhile, the movement’s leaders had been arrested, screeching their campaign to a halt.

While Bennett and his law enforcement might have won the battle, he didn’t win the war. Or rather, he didn’t win the election. A few months later, the Conservatives lost power, sunk by the public’s distaste for Bennett’s repressive tactics.

Unfortunately, a change of the guard didn’t result in a swift economic turnaround. There would be more hard days to come in British Columbia and across Canada.

Author: Leah Siegel

  • Greater Vancouver Area

1. Belshaw, John Douglas. “The Great Depression.”  Canadian History: Post-Confederation , B.C. Open Textbook Project, opentextbc.ca/postconfederation/chapter/8-5-the-great-depression/. 

2. McCallum, Todd.  Hobohemia and the Crucifixion Machine: Rival Images of a New World in 1930s Vancouver . Athabasca University Press, 2014. 

3. Mickleburgh, Rod.  On the Line: a History of the British Columbia Labour Movement . Harbour Publishing, 2018. 

4. “On to Ottawa Trek.”  On to Ottawa Historical Society , BC Labour Heritage Centre, 2002, www.labourheritagecentre.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Booklet-On-to-Ottawa-web.pdf. 

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On-to-Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riot

In October 1932, Ottawa finally accepted responsibility for the single, homeless unemployed roaming the country in search of work and established a national system of camps under the auspices of the Department of National Defense (DND). The men were fed, clothed, sheltered and paid 20¢ per day in exchange for their labour on various make-work projects. Although the scheme was universally applauded at the beginning, it did not take long for the camps to become the focus of disillusionment and discontent, especially since Conservative Prime Minister R.B. Bennett seemed to place greater importance on where the men were, as opposed to what they were doing. In April 1935, hundreds of disgruntled men walked out of DND relief camps throughout British Columbia and descended on Vancouver in a bold attempt to reverse their dead-end lives and secure some meaningful employment. But no level of government wanted to help the men - least of all the federal government, which believed that the Communist Party of Canada had orchestrated the protest. Eventually, the relief camp strikers decided to go to Ottawa and present their grievances directly to the Prime Minister.

An estimated 1,000 On-to-Ottawa trekkers left Vancouver by freight train in early June 1935. No one expected the men to survive the trip through the mountains; but the same kind of organizing zeal that had kept the strike going in Vancouver gave the trek a seemingly unstoppable momentum as it headed across the prairies. After the trek had left Calgary, picking up more recruits, the federal Minister of Justice publicly branded the trek a Communist plot and announced that the RCMP would stop the unlawful movement in Regina. Saskatchewan Premier J.T. Gardiner was infuriated by the federal order to dump the men on the doorsteps of the provincial capital like unwanted waifs; he also predicted that the massing of the mounted police could only lead to riot. But Gardiner's ranting and hand-wringing were dismissed as partisan theatrics, and all the Saskatchewan government could do was prepare for the arrival of the trek, now numbering an estimated 2,000 men, in the early morning hours of June 14.

The much-anticipated Regina showdown turned into a prolonged stalemate between the trekkers and the police, lasting over two weeks. On June 17, two federal Cabinet ministers met with the trek leaders in Regina, and after failing to reach any kind of agreement invited them to send a delegation to Ottawa to deal directly with the Prime Minister. But instead of resolving the standoff, the Ottawa meeting degenerated into a shouting match between Bennett and trek leader Arthur “Slim” Evans . The trekkers refused to give up, however, and tried to send a group of men eastward by car and truck on June 27 - only to have the convoy intercepted by the mounted police. With no way out of Regina, and with their own funds exhausted, the trekkers decided to end the trek and return to the West Coast. Ottawa insisted, however, that the men had to disband on federal terms, that is, go to a nearby holding facility at Lumsden where they would be processed.

Sensing the Lumsden camp was a trap, the trek leadership turned to the Gardiner government for assistance on the afternoon of July 1, the Dominion Day holiday. Later that evening, while the provincial Cabinet was meeting to discuss the trekkers' request, the RCMP, with the support of the Regina City Police, decided to execute arrest warrants for the trek leaders at a public rally at Market Square. The mounted police could easily have made the arrests at any time during the day, but with clubs and tear gas at the ready, they chose to pluck the men from a peaceful fund-raising meeting. Not unexpectedly, the raid quickly degenerated into a pitched battle between the police, trekkers and citizens, which spilled over into the streets of downtown Regina. Order was restored early the next day, but only after the city police had fired directly into a crowd of rioters. The toll was two dead - not one, as usually reported - and hundreds injured, as well as tens of thousands of dollars of damage to downtown Regina. A provincial commission, which included former Premier William Martin , later blamed the trekkers for the riot while completely exonerating the police. The new Liberal government in Ottawa, meanwhile, insisted that its hands were tied by the findings of the Saskatchewan commission and refused to do anything further.

Bill Waiser

Further Reading

Historian remembers "desperate times" that led to Regina Riot

Article content.

Just as the On to Ottawa Trek captured the popular imagination 81 years ago, Bill Brennan did so on Sunday evening with his stories of the protest.

The historian led a Heritage Regina walking tour past the old haunts significant to the Regina Riot of July 1, 1935.

Those include the Hotel Saskatchewan, where trek leaders met in the basement, and the old fire hall on 11th Avenue, across the street from the former Market Square, where the riot began.

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“Some of the sites are still with us and many of the buildings too,” said Brennan, “and if you use your imagination you can think what the others would have looked like … when all hell broke loose in this quiet prairie town.”

The trek was “a new phenomenon” compared to the usual strikes and protests, said Brennan, a former University of Regina history professor.

“These plucky fellows are going to attempt to travel to Ottawa and tell (prime minister) R.B. Bennett what they think of his relief policies,” said Brennan.

“It captures the popular imagination. Here are some guys that are down on their luck, that have been ill treated by the federal government and can’t find jobs because there are no jobs, and look what they’re doing.”

In the midst of the Great Depression, single men in Canada were paid 20 cents a day make-working in federal camps.

With the government ignoring their concerns, they began a trek to Ottawa from British Columbia. Bennett wanted to see the trek end before it reached Winnipeg, a city “notable for labour radicalism.” Regina, in the “middle of nowhere,” was the ideal place.

Riding on top of boxcars, about 1,500 men arrived at Regina’s Exhibition Grounds on a Friday morning, June 28.

But already, “the jig was up,” said Brennan, as Bennett had refused trek leaders their demands and had reneged on his agreement to feed the men.

In what was supposed to be a peaceful rally that Monday evening, police attempted to arrest the leaders in the farmers’ market square — ironically laid over by the former Regina Police Service headquarters at 1770 Halifax St.

The Riot ended with “policemen opening fire on the crowd on Scarth Street and 12th Avenue” near the Capitol Theatre. Two men were killed — a police detective and a trekker.

“The trekkers become heroes,” although failing in their goal — but the work camps were closed after Bennett lost the October election to William Lyon Mackenzie King.

Had the trek continued, Brennan is sure “they would have starved to death in Northern Ontario.”

“The geography isn’t in their favour,” said Brennan. “It was an impractical idea if you look at the cold hard truth of it.”

Heritage Regina is hosting walking tours most Sunday evenings throughout the summer. Next is Aug. 7, as Robert Hubick tours the Warehouse District. Find more information at heritageregina.ca .

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On-to-ottawa trek national historic event.

On-to-Ottawa Trek (© Expired)

  • On-to-Ottawa Trek  (Designation Name)

Importance: Culmination of failure of Canada's depression-era relief projects for unemployed single men

A defining event of the Great Depression, the On-to-Ottawa Trek has become a poignant symbol of working class protest. In 1935, over a thousand angry unemployed men left federal relief camps in British Columbia and boarded boxcars to take their demand for work and wages directly to Ottawa. As the number of protesters increased, the federal government resolved to stop the movement. The police arrested its leaders at a public meeting on July 1st, sparking the Regina Riot. Although it never reached Ottawa, the Trek marked the failure of the Depression-era work camps as a solution to widespread unemployment.

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"We were the salt of the earth!" : a narrative of the On-to-Ottawa trek and the Regina riot

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On-to-Ottawa Trek Facts & Worksheets

The year 1935 saw the rise of a social movement known as the on-to-ottawa trek in which a number of workers protested the unjust and poor conditions in federal relief camps established in remote areas throughout western canada., search for worksheets, download the on-to-ottawa trek facts & worksheets.

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Table of Contents

The year 1935 saw the rise of a social movement known as the On-to-Ottawa Trek in which a number of workers protested the unjust and poor conditions in federal relief camps established in remote areas throughout Western Canada. These camp workers were only paid twenty cents per day, which eventually led to a national labour demonstration in April of that year. After two months of protesting in Vancouver , the strikers decided to head east to Ottawa to take their demands directly to the federal government.

See the fact file below for more information on the On-to-Ottawa Trek or alternatively, you can download our 22-page On-to-Ottawa Trek worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

Leading to ottawa.

  • In the 1930s, the Great Depression widely affected the economy of Canada , which resulted in the unemployment of more than one-third of the labour force and a sense of public despair.
  • In 1932, an estimated 1.8 million Canadians were left on welfare. The lack of unemployment insurance made the situation worse. Employers continued to cut wages and increase work hours without any benefits.
  • Moreover, one in nine citizens was dependent on relief that the federal government provided at the time. However, the relief was not free.
  • The RB Bennett Government directed the Department of National Defence to set up work camps in isolated areas across Western Canada in which single unemployed men were hired to build roads and similar public works for only twenty cents a day.
  • Four years later, approximately 100,000 young Canadians worked and lived in the relief camps, which were managed by the military forces. In addition to the low wages, the workers did not receive proper food or accommodation.
  • The poor working conditions in the relief camps eventually led to social unrest. Following this, communist agitators organised the men into the Relief Camp Workers Union (RCWU).
  • The camp strikers demanded fair wages, a five-day working week, unemployment insurance, the inclusion of camp workers in the Workers’ Compensation Act, the abolishment of Section 98 of the Criminal Code of Canada, suffrage, and the removal of the camps’ authority from the army.
  • On April 4, 1935, an estimated 1,600 camp inmates went on strike and travelled to Vancouver, British Columbia . They organised large demonstrations, parades, and protests with their slogan “Work and Wages”.
  • The gathering in Vancouver lasted for two months through the assistance of labour unions in the city and sympathisers who provided the protesters with food and money.
  • This local strike swiftly escalated into a national labour demonstration. Following the rejection of the strikers’ call for federal help, they took their grievances to the capital of the country. They were supported by the public.
  • On June 2, 1935, about a thousand unemployed men left Vancouver and boarded CPR freight trains heading east, which would become known as the On-to-Ottawa Trek.
  • Arthur “Slim” Evans, a veteran trade union leader, labour activist, former Wobbly, and Communist, led the protesters.
  • The Trek passed through the cities and towns of Kamloops, Revelstoke, Golden, Calgary, Medicine Hat, Swift Current, and Moose Jaw. An advance party, which included Regina’s Matt Shaw, scavenged food for the group of unemployed men. The Trekkers spent nights in parks or in baseball fields.
  • On June 14, 1935, Prime Minister RB Bennett instructed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to prevent the 2,000 Trekkers from entering Ottawa, fearing that they might ignite a revolution.

REGINA RIOT

  • Within two weeks, the Trekkers reached Regina, the capital of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan . They took shelter in barns and show houses at the Regina Exhibition Grounds, with meal tickets for nearby lunch counters and cafes. Regina residents also donated food for the strikers.
  • Consequently, federal cabinet ministers Robert Manion and Robert Weir invited an eight-member delegation from the RCWU, including Slim Evans and Doc Savage, to travel to Ottawa and raise their concerns to Prime Minister Bennett himself.
  • The meeting invitation, however, came with a condition. The rest of the strikers had to remain in Regina, where the RCMP forces were already established.
  • The meeting, which took place on June 22, 1935, only ended in a yelling match after the Tory prime minister accused Evans of extortion and the rest of the group of being radicals. Evans called Bennett a liar.
  • On July 1, 1935 (Dominion Day), when the strikers and Regina residents organised a large meeting in the downtown area, the RCMP violently attacked them and arrested the Trek leaders, thus resulting in a riot.
  • Hundreds of local residents and strikers were injured, including the death of a Trekker named Nick Shaack. About 120 protesters were arrested. The police, on the other hand, insisted that they had 39 injuries, including the death of an officer, but denied that they killed any of the strikers, and altered hospital records to hide the protesters’ real cause of death.

END OF THE TREK

  • The Trek was eventually halted, but the protesters sustained their unity and were able to return to their homes via railway passenger cars.
  • In the fall of that year, the Bennett government was overwhelmingly defeated after the general elections. The relief camps were abolished later on.
  • The federal government also began to create an unemployment insurance system and provided social assistance to single unemployed citizens.
  • Former Trek leaders became involved in a number of post-Depression labour unions, including Doc Savage in the Canadian Seamen’s Union, Harry Linsley in the Packinghouse Workers, and Bob Jackson and George Edwards in the Woodworkers.
  • Even though the Trekkers were not able to reach Ottawa, the national demonstration brought significant changes to Canada and helped shape the labour movement in the country. In the following years, the federal government could no longer disregard the exponential rise of unemployment.

On-to-Ottawa Trek Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the On-to-Ottawa Trek across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use On-to-Ottawa Trek worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the rise of a social movement known as the On-to-Ottawa Trek in which a number of workers protested the unjust and poor conditions in federal relief camps established in remote areas throughout Western Canada. These camp workers were only paid twenty cents per day, which eventually led to a national labour demonstration in April of that year. After two months of protesting in Vancouver, the strikers decided to head east to Ottawa to take their demands directly to the federal government.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • On-to-Ottawa Trek Facts
  • Locating Ottawa
  • Find the Words
  • Fill in the Blanks
  • Regina Riot
  • Notable People
  • Quote Analysis
  • Primary Source Analysis
  • On-to-Ottawa Trek Impact
  • Significance of the Strike
  • In a Nutshell

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All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot

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W. A. Waiser

All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot Paperback – July 29, 2003

The Great Depression of the 1930s brought drought, unemployment, and poverty to the West, and the token wages from the government's "make work" projects only fanned the flames of unrest. In 1935, this unrest took on a purpose: to march on Ottawa and demand a solution from Prime Minister R. B. Bennett. Thus was born the On-to-Ottawa trek, which culminated in the Regina Riot, where the protestes and RCMP clashed in one of Canada's most significant historic events.

All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot is noted historian Bill Waiser's detailed retelling of one of the seminal moments in Canadian history. This new, balanced history is based on a number of new sources that have only become available in the last few decades, including previously closed RCMP records, Regina City police records (now available through the Access to Information and Privacy Division) and the papers of John Gregory (Jack) King, one of the leading figures in the Regina Citizen's Emergency Committee. Other primary sources consulted were the records of the Regina Riot Inquiry Commission and trial transcripts for those charged with rioting or related offenses - most of these records had never been consulted since they were filed in 1936.

In April 1935, many young unemployed single men left work camps in British Columbia where they often laboured six and a half days a week for 20 cents a day. They congregated and organized in the city of Vancouver led by Arthur "Slim" Evans. After two months of unsuccessful struggle for union wages, they decided to take their case direct to Ottawa and the Prime Minister. Their journey came to be known as the On-to-Ottawa Trek. They left Vancouver on June 3. "Riding the rod" (on and in railway freight cars) across mountains and prairie they reached Regina, still only half way to Ottawa. Here they were stopped by the RCMP on orders from Bennett in Ottawa, and a month later, on Dominion Day (July 1) the Regina Riot ended the trek, when police ill-advisedly tried to round up the group leaders during a peaceful protest march. The official toll of the encounter was one dead, dozens injured, and over 100 people arrested, but Waiser has uncovered evidence that these statistics don't tell the whole story. In the course of research for All Hell Can't Stop Us he not only discovered nine previously unpublished sketches of the scene of the riot, but also found references to a second man, Nicholas (Nick) Shaack, who died as a result of blows inflicted by the RCMP - a death that was never recorded or investigated by the RCMP. A death that strengthens arguments of unwarranted RCMP brutality that night.

While the trek was suppressed, its ideals were not lost. The trek and the riot captured the hearts and minds of Canadians who sympathized with the hopes and dreams of the men involved. It came to epitomize all that was wrong with the federal government's handling of the single homeless unemployed during the depression. In the federal election a few months later, the Conservative government went down to resounding defeat. The new Liberal government felt compelled to abolish the camps, and further reforms established much of the social system we

  • Print length 384 pages
  • Language English
  • Publisher Fifth House Publishers
  • Publication date July 29, 2003
  • Dimensions 5.91 x 0.39 x 9.06 inches
  • ISBN-10 1894004884
  • ISBN-13 978-1894004886
  • See all details

The Amazon Book Review

Editorial Reviews

"Bill Waiser has cut through the fog of official red-baiting and self-serving deception to present a fresh history of the Trek and its violent climax" -- "Desmond Morton"

About the Author

Bill Waiser is the author, co-author, or co-editor of eight books, including Park Prisoners: The Untold Story of Western Canada's National Parks and (with Blair Stonechild) Loyal Till Death: Indians and the North-West Rebellion , which was a finalist for the Governor General's literary award for non-fiction. His most recent book, All Hell Cant Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot , won the 2003 Saskatchewan Book Award for non-fiction.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fifth House Publishers; 1st edition (July 29, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1894004884
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1894004886
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.14 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.91 x 0.39 x 9.06 inches
  • #11,005 in Canadian History (Books)
  • #84,673 in Historical Study (Books)

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on to ottawa trek & the regina riot

W. A. Waiser

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On to Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot

Updated by Daniel Panneton, Andrew McIntosh

Published Online February 7, 2006

Last Edited February 23, 2021

In April 1935, about 1,500 residents of federal Unemployment Relief Camps in British Columbia went on strike . They travelled by train and truck to Vancouver to protest poor conditions in the Depression -era camps. After their months-long protest proved futile, they decided to take their fight to Ottawa . On 3 June, more than 1,000 strikers began travelling across the country, riding atop railcars. By the time they reached Regina , they were 2,000 strong. But they were stopped in Regina, where the strike leaders were arrested, resulting in the violent Regina Riot on 1 July 1935.

On to Ottawa Trek

Striking Camp Workers

In early April 1935, during the Great Depression , a strike and protest by Unemployment Relief Camp workers was organized by the Workers’ Unity League (WUL). It was led by WUL officer Arthur "Slim" Evans . The League was affiliated with the international Communist movement. The protest was motivated by a desire for improved conditions and benefits in the camps, where workers were paid $0.20 per day for a 44-hour workweek. However, the federal government under Prime Minister R.B. Bennett was reluctant to provide work and wages programs.

In Vancouver , the strikers organized themselves into divisions. They undertook alliances with civic, labour , ethnic and political groups; held demonstrations; and spoke with government officials, among them British Columbia premier Dufferin T. Pattullo and Vancouver mayor Gerald McGeer . The two-month protest included the occupation of the Hudson’s Bay store and the city museum and library. A May Day parade also drew some 20,000 strikers and supporters to Stanley Park .

Negotiations with Ottawa

Local governments refused to take responsibility for the strikers’ welfare. The men themselves began to grow restless at the apparent failure of their protest. In response, Evans and his associates decided to take the movement to Ottawa . On 3 June, more than 1,000 strikers began the “On to Ottawa Trek.” They sought to inform the nation of their cause and to lay complaints before Parliament and Prime Minister R.B. Bennett .

The strikers peacefully commandeered freight trains. They made stops in Calgary , Medicine Hat , Swift Current and Moose Jaw , where more men joined their ranks. Their numbers had grown to around 2,000 by the time they reached Regina on 14 June In Regina, the railways, supported by an order from the prime minister, refused further access to their trains.

Negotiations with two federal Cabinet ministers took place on 17 June but went nowhere. Eight Trekkers were then dispatched to Ottawa to meet with Bennett. The remaining marchers waited at the Regina Exhibition Grounds. Food and shelter were supplied by townspeople and the Saskatchewan government, even though premier James Gardiner was displeased that the convoy of protestors had been stopped in his province’s capital.

Richard Bedford Bennett, politician

Regina Riot

The talks in Ottawa quickly broke down. The delegation returned to Regina, having decided to disband the Trek. A rally was held at Regina’s Market Square on 1 July to secure last-minute assistance from the townspeople. Although the Trek was dispersing, Bennett had decided to arrest its leaders. That day, Regina constables and RCMP squads moved into a rallying crowd of some 300 people to arrest Evans and other speakers, thus provoking the Regina Riot.

The conflict raged back and forth on Regina streets. Trekkers assaulted police with rocks and clubs. Police fired guns into the crowd. The fracas ended by midnight, after the rioters had returned to the Exhibition Grounds. Two people, including one city constable, were killed; hundreds of people, including rioters, constables and citizens were injured; 130 rioters were arrested; and tens of thousands of dollars of damage was done to the city. Four days later, the Saskatchewan government helped the marchers on their way. Most of them returned on passenger trains to Vancouver.

Regina Riot

Rioters converge on police officers and an injured man.

Significance

The repression of the Trekkers and Bennett’s antagonism towards Evans contributed to Bennett’s political decline. ( See also Bennett’s New Deal .) The protest also increased the public profile of the Communist Party of Canada during the desperate times of the Great Depression . In 1997, the site of the Regina Riot was declared a National Historic Site by the federal government .

See also Vancouver Feature: Mayor McGeer Reads the Riot Act ; Maclean’s Article: On to Ottawa Trek/Regina Riot .

 alt=

  • unemployment
  • R.B. Bennett
  • Great Depression

Further Reading

  • Bill Waiser, All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot (2003).
  • Victor Howard, “ We Were the Salt of the Earth!” The On to Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riot (1985).

Ronald Liversedge, Recollections of the On to Ottawa Trek (1973).

External Links

On to Ottawa Trek An extensive multimedia website about the protest movements initiated by downtrodden unemployed Canadians during the Great Depression.

The Report on Unemployment and Relief in Western Canada An informative thesis that examines R.B. Bennett’s handling of Charlotte Whitton’s report on the unemployment crisis that Bennett had originally commissioned. Also provides glimpses of the lives of ordinary Canadians during the Great Depression. From the University of Victoria.

”We Cannot Shoo These Men to Another Place” An academic paper that offers detailed accounts of various “On to Ottawa” treks that occurred during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression of the 1930s in Canada A fact-filled overview of the major causes and effects of the Great Depression in Canada. From Library and Archives Canada.

Recommended

on to ottawa trek & the regina riot

Vancouver Feature: Mayor McGeer Reads the Riot Act

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On-to-Ottawa Trek

on to ottawa trek & the regina riot

The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a mass protest movement in Canada in 1935 sparked by unrest among unemployed single men in federal relief camps principally in Western Canada . Federal relief camps were brought in under Prime Minister R. B. Bennett ’s government as a result of the Great Depression . The Great Depression crippled the Canadian economy and left one in nine citizens on relief. The relief, however, did not come free; the Bennett government ordered the Department of National Defence to organize work camps where single unemployed men were used to construct roads and other public works at a rate of twenty cents per day. The men in the relief camps were living in poor conditions with very low wages. The men decided to unite and, in 1933, led by Arthur "Slim" Evans , created the Workers' Unity League (WUL). The Workers' Unity League helped the men organize the Relief Camp Workers' Union .

A strike was held in December 1934 with the men leaving the various camps and protesting in Vancouver , British Columbia . After a two-month protest, they returned to the camps after a promise of a government commission to look into their complaints. When a commission was not appointed a second strike was approved by the members and a walkout was called on April 4, 1935.

About 1,000 strikers headed for Ottawa. The strikers' demands were: “(1) that work with wages be instituted at a minimum of 50cents per hour for unskilled workers and trade union rates for skilled labour on the basis of a six-hour day, a five-day week with a minimum of twenty work days per month; (2) that all workers in the camps be covered by the Workmen's Compensation Act and that adequate first aid supplies be carried on the jobs at all times; (3) that the National Defence and all military control with the system of blacklisting be abolished; (4) that democratically elected committees be recognized in every camp; (5) that there be instituted a system of noncontributory unemployment insurance; (6) that all workers be given their democratic right to vote; (7) that Section 98 of the Criminal Code, Sections 41 and 42 of the Immigration Act and all vagrancy laws and anti-working class laws be repealed”.

Public support for the men was enormous, but the municipal, provincial and federal governments passed responsibility between themselves. They then decided to take their grievances to the federal government. On June 3, 1935, hundreds of men began boarding boxcars headed east in what became known as the "On-to-Ottawa Trek".

Meeting in Ottawa

The protesters reached Regina, Saskatchewan , on June 14. Three days later, on June 17, the protesters met with two federal cabinet ministers in the government of Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, Robert Manion and Robert Weir . Robert Manion and Robert Weir invited eight elected representatives of the protest (with Arthur "Slim" Evans as their leader) to Ottawa to meet Bennett on the condition the rest of the protesters stay in Regina, where a large contingent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was located. The remaining trekkers continued remain in the stadium located on Regina Exhibition Grounds, "with food and shelter supplied by townspeople and the Saskatchewan government."

The June 22nd Ottawa meeting turned into a shouting match, with Bennett accusing Trek leader Arthur "Slim" Evans of being an "embezzler." Evans, in turn, called the Prime Minister "a liar" before the delegation was finally escorted out of the building and on to the street.

Regina Riot

on to ottawa trek & the regina riot

The eight delegates arrived back in Regina on June 26. Attempts of the Trekkers to travel east by car or truck or train were thwarted by RCMP. A public meeting was called for July 1, 1935, in Market Square in Germantown (now the site of the Regina City Police station) to update the public on the progress of the movement. It was attended by 1,500 to 2,000 people, of whom only 300 were Trekkers. Most Trekkers decided to stay at the exhibition grounds.

Three large moving trucks were parked on three sides of the square concealing RCMP riot squads. Regina police were in the garage of the police station which was in Market Square. At 8:17 p.m. a whistle was blown, and the police charged the crowd with batons from all four sides. The attack caught the people off guard before their anger took over. They fought back with sticks, stones, and anything at hand. Mounted RCMP officers then started to use tear gas and fired guns. Driven from the Square, and with the RCMP blocking the roadway back to the Stadium grounds, the battle continued in the surrounding streets for six hours.

Police fired revolvers above and into groups of people. Tear gas bombs were thrown at any groups that gathered together. Plate glass windows in stores and offices were smashed, but with one exception, these stores were not looted, they were burned. People covered their faces with wet handkerchiefs to counter the effects of the tear gas and barricaded streets with cars. Finally, the Trekkers who had attended the meeting made their way individually or in small groups back to the exhibition stadium where the main body of Trekkers were quartered.

on to ottawa trek & the regina riot

When it was over, 140 Trekkers and citizens had been arrested. Charles Miller, a plainclothes policeman, died, and Nick Schaack, a Trekker, later died in the hospital from injuries sustained in the riot. There were hundreds of injured residents and Trekkers were taken to hospitals or private homes. Those taken to a hospital were also arrested. Property damage was considerable. The police claimed 39 injuries in addition to the dead police officer, but denied that any protesters had been killed in the melee; the hospital records were subsequently altered to conceal the actual cause of death. [ citation needed ]

Trekkers Arthur Evans and George Black who were on the speakers' platform were arrested by plainclothes police at the beginning of the melee.

The city's exhibition grounds were surrounded by constables armed with revolvers as well as automatic fire-arms. [ citation needed ] The next day a barbed wire stockade was erected around the area. News of the police-instigated riot was front-page news across Canada. About midnight one of the Trek leaders telephoned Saskatchewan Premier Gardiner , who agreed to meet their delegation the next morning. The RCMP were livid when they heard of this and apprehended the delegates for interrogation but eventually released them in time to see the premier.

Premier Gardiner sent a wire to the Prime Minister , accusing the police of "precipitating a riot" while he had been negotiating a settlement with the Trekkers. He also told the prime minister the "men should be fed where they are and sent back to camp and homes as they request" and stated his government was prepared to "undertake this work of disbanding the men." An agreement to this effect was subsequently negotiated. Bennett was satisfied that he had smashed what he believed was a communist revolt and Gardiner was glad to rid his province of the strikers.

The Federal Minister of Justice Hugh Guthrie made the false statement [ citation needed ] in the House of Commons on July 2 that "shots were fired by the strikers, and the fire was replied to with shots from the city police." During the lengthy trials that followed, no evidence was ever produced to show that strikers fired shots during the riot. For his part, Bennett characterized the On-to-Ottawa Trek as "not a mere uprising against law and order but a definite revolutionary effort on the part of a group of men to usurp authority and destroy government."

The Bennett government swiftly came into action regarding "the prosecution of the trek leaders and those who had been charged with rioting and assault." The events helped to discredit Bennett's Conservative government, and in the 1935 federal election , his party went from holding 135 seats to just 39. After the Trek, the Saskatchewan government provided free transportation as a peace sign back to the west. The camps were soon dismantled and replaced by seasonal relief camps run by the provinces, and that paid the men slightly more for their labor than the earlier camps. Even these camps were soon closed down. [ when? ] Although the Trek did not reach Ottawa , its reverberations certainly did. Several demands of the Trekkers were eventually met, and the public support that galvanized behind the Trek set the tone for the social and welfare provisions of the postwar era. [ citation needed ]

  • Great Depression in Canada
  • Canadian Cities in the Great Depression
  • History of Regina, Saskatchewan
  • Estevan Riot
  • List of riots and civil unrest in Calgary
  • 1935 labor disputes and strikes
  • 1935 in Canada
  • Canada in the World Wars and Interwar Years
  • Labour disputes in Canada
  • Protest marches in Canada
  • Riots and civil disorder in Canada
  • Communism in Canada
  • 1935 in Saskatchewan
  • 1935 in Ontario
  • 1935 protests

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  3. Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout: On-to-Ottawa Trek—Relief Camp

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  4. On-to-Ottawa Trek/ Regina Riot

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COMMENTS

  1. On to Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot

    On 3 June, more than 1,000 strikers began travelling across the country, riding atop railcars. By the time they reached Regina, they were 2,000 strong. But they were stopped in Regina, where the strike leaders were arrested, resulting in the violent Regina Riot on 1 July 1935. On to Ottawa Trek. Hopping the rails at Kamloops.

  2. On to Ottawa Trek/Regina Riot

    Fearing a snowballing rebellion, the government waylaid the ON TO OTTAWA TREK in Saskatchewan and, on the July 1 holiday, crushed it in what became known as the REGINA RIOT, the most violent episode of the Great Depression. One man died and more than 100 were injured. The Dirty Thirties offered little hope for too many.

  3. On-to-Ottawa Trek

    The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a mass protest movement in Canada in 1935 sparked by unrest among unemployed single men in federal relief camps principally in Western Canada. ... Regina riot. Regina Riot; Part of the On-to-Ottawa Trek: Date: July 1, 1935: Location: Market Square, Regina, Saskatchewan.

  4. The Regina Riot

    The raid quickly degenerated into a pitched battle between the police and trekkers and citizens, which spilled over into the streets of downtown Regina. Order was not restored until the early hours of the next day, but only after the city police emptied their guns directly into a crowd of rioters. The toll from the riot was two dead, hundreds ...

  5. "On to Ottawa Trek"

    The Regina Riot was the culmination of months of protests as thousands of unemployed men moved across the country in what became known at the "On To Ottawa Trek." The men wanted to coerce the ...

  6. The 'On-to-Ottawa Trek'

    The aftermath of the Regina Riot: one protestor and one policeman dead, more than a hundred injured, and the movement's leaders imprisoned. ... Relief camp workers riding the rails on their trek to Ottawa in June 1935. Date: 1935. Author: Unknown. Source: Library and Archives Canada, C-029399. View Full Image. Vancouver Mayor Gerry McGeer ...

  7. The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan

    On-to-Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riot. In October 1932, Ottawa finally accepted responsibility for the single, homeless unemployed roaming the country in search of work and established a national system of camps under the auspices of the Department of National Defense (DND). The men were fed, clothed, sheltered and paid 20¢ per day in exchange ...

  8. Historian remembers "desperate times" that led to Regina Riot

    Just as the On to Ottawa Trek captured the popular imagination 81 years ago, Bill Brennan did so on Sunday evening with his stories of the protest. The historian led a Heritage Regina walking tour ...

  9. Regina Riot remembered

    On July 1, 1935, Regina police unexpectedly cracked down on a Depression-era protest called the On To Ottawa Trek, which began when unemployed men in British Columbia organized a train trip to ...

  10. The On-To-Ottawa Trek

    The On-To-Ottawa Trek would see 1000s traveling to Ottawa to protest poor pay and work conditions at the work camps in 1935. It would end with the Regina Riot. ... The Trek and the Regina Riot would not bode well for Bennett, who would see his support in the 1935 federal election plummet from 135 seats to 39, costing him his position as Prime ...

  11. All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-ottawa Trek and Regina Riot

    The trek to Ottawa was a country-wide anti-poverty protest by First World War veterans, unemployed workers, or social activists that was brutally suppressed in Regina. Rising above the partisan tones that often colour such histories, Waiser provides a sober look at the people and politics behind the events leading to the Regina Riot.

  12. Encyclopedia of the Great Plains

    The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a testament to how the Canadian government had so miserably failed the country's single, homeless, unemployed population during the Great Depression. ... A Narrative of the On-to-Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riot. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 1985. Saskatchewan Archives Board.

  13. All Hell Can't Stop Us : The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot

    The Great Depression of the 1930s brought drought, unemployment, and poverty to the West, and the token wages from the government's "make work" projects only fanned the flames of unrest. In 1935, this unrest took on a purpose: to march on Ottawa and demand a solution from Prime Minister R. B. Bennett. Thus was born the On-to-Ottawa trek, which culminated in the Regina Riot, where the protestes ...

  14. On‐to‐Ottawa Trek

    The On-to-Ottawa Trek began on June 3, 1935 and ended with the Regina Riot on July 1. It was one of the flashpoints of social discontent in Canada at the height of the economic and unemployment cri...

  15. Parks Canada

    Existing plaque: Fredrick W. Hill Mall Regina, Saskatchewan. A defining event of the Great Depression, the On-to-Ottawa Trek has become a poignant symbol of working class protest. In 1935, over a thousand angry unemployed men left federal relief camps in British Columbia and boarded boxcars to take their demand for work and wages directly to ...

  16. The Regina Riot

    A documentary by Ben Lies. Badlands Productions (2010) produced in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the On-to-Ottawa Trek.Arriving in Regina in June ...

  17. "We were the salt of the earth!" : a narrative of the On-to-Ottawa trek

    "We were the salt of the earth!" : a narrative of the On-to-Ottawa trek and the Regina riot by Howard, Victor, 1933- ... [Regina] : Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina Collection inlibrary; printdisabled; internetarchivebooks Contributor Internet Archive Language

  18. On-to-Ottawa Trek Facts & Worksheets

    On July 1, 1935 (Dominion Day), when the strikers and Regina residents organised a large meeting in the downtown area, the RCMP violently attacked them and arrested the Trek leaders, thus resulting in a riot. Hundreds of local residents and strikers were injured, including the death of a Trekker named Nick Shaack.

  19. Riot! The On-to-Ottawa Trek & the Regina Riot of 1935! (The ...

    Ah, the joys of filming outdoors!The Regina Riot of July 1st, 1935 was a major event in Canadian History during the Great Depression of 1929 to 1939, but tod...

  20. All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot

    The Great Depression of the 1930s brought drought, unemployment, and poverty to the West, and the token wages from the government's "make work" projects only fanned the flames of unrest In 1935, this unrest took on a purpose: to march on Ottawa and demand a solution from Prime Minister R B Bennett Thus was born the On-to-Ottawa trek, which culminated in the Regina Riot, where the protestes and ...

  21. On to Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot

    On 3 June, more than 1,000 strikers began travelling across the country, riding atop railcars. By the time they reached Regina, they were 2,000 strong. But they were stopped in Regina, where the strike leaders were arrested, resulting in the violent Regina Riot on 1 July 1935. On to Ottawa Trek. Hopping the rails at Kamloops.

  22. On-to-Ottawa Trek

    For the women's tackle football team, see Regina Riot (football). The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a mass protest movement in Canada in 1935 sparked by unrest among unemployed single men in federal relief camps principally in Western Canada. Federal relief camps were brought in under Prime Minister R. B. Bennett 's government as a result of the ...