History Docs: The interwar years
 

Who was to blame for the Regina riot?

This set of primary and secondary sources includes photographs, newspaper articles, political cartoons, court records, and RCMP reports that describe the causes of the Regina riot of 1935.

Format: PDF
Subject: Social Studies, History
Grade: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Type of resource: Source Documents
Language: English

Student Tasks

Who is responsible for causing the Regina riot in 1935?

When determining who is to blame for inciting the Regina riot, you may wish to consider the following questions.

  • What were the underlying/structural causes of the riot?
  • What were the short-term and immediate causes for the riot?
  • Which group(s) were most responsible for starting the riot?

Historical Context for Teachers

Relief projects during the Great Depression

  • From 1929 to 1939, Canada experienced the most severe economic depression in its history. Hundreds of companies were forced to claim bankruptcy and close their doors, many who invested in the stock markets were ruined and hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs. By 1933, 30 percent of Canadians were unemployed, including a large percentage of single young men.
  • After continual pressure from citizens to do something about unemployment, provincial governments across Canada created a number of relief projects to provide jobs for unemployed men—clearing bush, building roads, planting trees and constructing public buildings. By 1932, provincial governments handed over responsibility for the relief projects to the Department of National Defence who worked with the Department of Labour to develop a national system of work camps.
  • Single, unemployed and homeless men voluntarily entered the camps through the Employment Service of Canada and were free to leave at any time.
  • In the federal relief camps, single, unemployed men were fed, clothed, sheltered and paid 20 cents per day in exchange for 44 hours of work per week on various public works projects (government-funded projects to build infrastructure for communities, e.g., roads, airports, military bases, parks).
  • While the relief camps were initially applauded, those who worked in them quickly became disillusioned for a number of reasons:
    • the camps were organized with strict military discipline
    • the camps were located in isolated areas of the country
    • living conditions in the camps, such as food quality, was often very poor
    • many tents and bunkhouses lacked stoves and extra blankets
    • funds dedicated for camp recreation were often stolen by clerks.
    •  foremen on the work projects were often irresponsible and incompetent
    • many of the work projects seemed meaningless to the men who worked on them.

Growing unrest

  • In April 1935, hundreds of disgruntled British Columbia relief camp workers left their camps and travelled to Vancouver to protest the conditions in the camps and their overall purpose.
  • In Vancouver, the men held parades, public events and rallies to gain support from the public and also to put pressure on government authorities to meet their demands. On several occasions, they occupied buildings, including the Hudson’s Bay Company store, where they sat down and blocked entrances and aisles.
  • Many felt it was only a matter of time before the protest and rallies would lead to a violent clash between relief camp workers and the authorities.
  • Feeling as if their support was beginning to wane, many striking relief camp workers decided to present their grievances directly to the Prime Minister in Ottawa by travelling across the country on the railway. On June 3, the first batch of strikers jumped atop railway boxcars and headed east, and they were joined by two smaller waves of relief camp workers the next day.
  • Few believed the estimated 1000 On-to-Ottawa trekkers would survive the trip through the Rockies, let alone reach Ottawa; however, as the protesters travelled into Calgary and across the prairies, they began to pick up new recruits.
  • As the On-to-Ottawa trek entered Saskatchewan, the federal Minister of Justice publicly branded the trek “a Communist plot” and announced that the RCMP would stop the 2000 trekkers in Regina.
  • Two federal cabinet members met trek leaders in Regina, but the two groups were unable to come to an agreement. Rather than continue on as a group the trekkers decided to send their leaders to Ottawa to present their demands directly to the Prime Minister.

In Ottawa

  • In Ottawa, the leaders, led by Arthur “Slim” Evans, presented their demands to Prime Minister R. B. Bennett.
    • All relief camp workers were to be paid a minimum rate of 50 cents an hour for unskilled labour, and union rates for skilled labour.
    • All workers were to be guaranteed five-day work weeks, six-hour days and a minimum of 20 work days per month.
    • Adequate first aid supplies would be supplied for all jobs and workers in relief camps.
    • All relief camp projects should be covered by the Compensation Act (in case of injuries on the job).
    • The government would recognize a democratically elected committee of relief workers.
    • Relief camps were to be removed from the control of the Department of National Defence.
    • The government would provide a genuine system of social and unemployment insurance.
    • All workers were to be guaranteed the democratic right to vote.
  • Bennett rejected each of these demands because he felt that the conditions in the relief camps were adequate, considering the state of the world economy. Furthermore, he accused the leaders of the trekkers of supporting communism and closed the meeting by promising the delegation that more opportunities for work would be coming, but also warned them against further trespassing on the railways.
  • Once the trek leaders left Ottawa for Regina, Bennett ordered the RCMP to disband them. When the leaders arrived back in the city, they found all exits cut off, and the RCMP warned citizens that anyone caught assisting the trekkers in leaving Regina would be liable to arrest.
  • Recognizing defeat, the trek leaders promised to disband, provided they were allowed to leave Regina on their own terms. The RCMP refused, insisting that all 2000 men be shipped to a specially prepared camp 25 kilometres northwest of Regina.
  • On July 1, Arthur “Slim” Evans and other trek leaders spent the whole day in meetings with the head of the RCMP, a representative of the federal government and the premier of Saskatchewan. The trek leaders agreed to end the On-to-Ottawa trek if the government agreed to send the men back to the relief camps they came from. The leaders also asked for assurances that there would be no arrests.
  • The meeting ended in failure and the head of the RCMP warned the trekkers that refusal to go to the camp north of Regina would lead to serious consequences.

The Regina Riot

  • The trek leaders called an evening meeting in Regina’s Market Square to discuss the situation with the rest of the trekkers. It is estimated that between 1500 and 2000 people attended the meeting, however many of the attendees were curious citizens of Regina and not trekkers. The majority of the trekkers were not at the meeting, and instead were watching a baseball game in another part of the city.
  • As one of the trek leaders took the stage and began to speak to the crowd, the RCMP and the Regina City Police moved into the square to arrest all the trek leaders. As the police entered the crowd, a riot broke out.
  • When order was finally restored the next day, two men were dead, hundreds were injured and tens of thousands of dollars of property damage was done in downtown Regina.
  • Evans along with other trek leaders, and 36 trek members were arrested and had their bail set at $102 000, which was an enormous sum for the time. By April 24, of the next year, a large group of trekkers were still awaiting trial in Regina. Eventually, nine of the trekkers were found guilty of rioting and were sentenced to jail, with the longest sentence being 14 months.
  • Following the riot, the Regina Riot Inquiry Commission was set up by the Government of Saskatchewan to examine the issues that contributed to the riots that broke out on July 1, 1935.
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