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597:, 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. Although the Trek did not reach
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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;
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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
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made the false statement 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,
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The city's exhibition grounds were surrounded by constables armed with revolvers as well as automatic fire-arms. 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
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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.
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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
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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 in 1933, led by
190:. 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.
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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.
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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.
227:. 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
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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
147:. The trek started in Vancouver and, picking up reinforcements along the way, was conducted by riding traincars eastward. The trek was stopped in Regina where on July 1, 1935, police dispersed it with loss of life and mass arrests.
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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
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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”.
601:, 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.
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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 in Saskatchewan.
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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."
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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."
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158:. 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
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A poster made by the Communist Party of Canada, illustrating some of the participants in the On-to-Ottawa Trek who were arrested in 1935. The image also refers to
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Trekkers Arthur Evans and George Black who were on the speakers' platform were arrested by plainclothes police at the beginning of the melee.
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were livid when they heard of this and apprehended the delegates for interrogation but eventually released them in time to see the premier.
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was a mass protest movement in Canada in 1935 sparked by unrest among unemployed single men in federal relief camps principally in
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Waiser, Bill "What we can learn from 1935′s On-to-Ottawa Trek, a convoy of the disillusioned" (The Globe and Mail, 18 June 2022)
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736:"We were the salt of the earth!" : a narrative of the On-to-Ottawa trek and the Regina riot
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was held in December 1934 with the men leaving the various camps and protesting in
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1935 protest movement by unemployed workers against the Canadian government
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739:. Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina. pp. 26–27.
247:"Regina Riot" redirects here. For the women's tackle football team, see
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789:. Madeira Park, BC, Canada: Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd. pp. 84–86.
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This article is about the 1935 protest. For the 2022 protest, see
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Strikers from unemployment relief camps climbing on boxcars in
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On the Line: A History of the British Columbia Labour Movement
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All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot
171:(WUL). The Workers' Unity League helped the men organize the
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Federal relief camps were brought in under Prime Minister
194:(2) that all workers in the camps be covered by the
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770:Liversedge, Ronald; Howard, Victor (1973-01-15).
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893:1912–1914 Vancouver Island Coal Miners' Strike
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969:1938 Vancouver unemployed workers' protests
875:Strikes and other labour disputes in Canada
800:Write, Berry; Greenwood, F. Murray (1996).
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109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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1186:2023 Canadian federal worker strike
1101:Toronto Transit Commission strikes
774:. Montreal: MQUP. pp. 194–216.
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1269:History of Regina, Saskatchewan
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628:History of Regina, Saskatchewan
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381:Royal Canadian Mounted Police
301:between Trek leaders and the
262:Part of the On-to-Ottawa Trek
229:Royal Canadian Mounted Police
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1061:1981 Cape Breton coal strike
1051:1976 Canadian general strike
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990:1946 Montreal Cottons strike
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913:1918–1925 Labour Revolt
733:Howard, Victor (1985).
722:. Calgary: Fifth House.
215:The protesters reached
952:1935 On-to-Ottawa Trek
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1289:Communism in Canada
1152:2012–13 NHL lockout
1097:2004–05 NHL lockout
1076:1994–95 NHL lockout
695:"On to Ottawa Trek"
165:Arthur "Slim" Evans
58:"On-to-Ottawa Trek"
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243:Regina riot
225:Robert Weir
1249:1935 riots
1238:Categories
746:0889770379
704:2019-11-22
649:References
633:Bonus Army
547:Section 98
99:March 2019
69:newspapers
1120:2008–2009
497:Injuries:
472:Arrested:
466:Injuries:
292:Caused by
200:first aid
184:Vancouver
1210:Category
605:See also
468:Over 100
326:Tear gas
275:Location
1222:Commons
1140:Windsor
1135:Toronto
752:5 March
588:Effects
490:Deaths:
460:Deaths:
335:Parties
319:Police
314:Methods
83:scholar
1161:strike
743:
674:
599:Ottawa
419:Number
328:attack
321:charge
281:Regina
236:Ottawa
180:strike
85:
78:
71:
64:
56:
994:1949
881:Early
90:JSTOR
76:books
1125:2018
1110:2008
754:2022
741:ISBN
672:ISBN
567:RCMP
267:Date
223:and
139:The
62:news
474:140
434:350
45:by
1240::
762:^
697:.
686:^
283:,
186:,
178:A
175:.
868:e
861:t
854:v
756:.
707:.
680:.
492:1
462:1
251:.
125:.
112:)
106:(
101:)
97:(
87:·
80:·
73:·
66:·
39:.
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