Canadian Government's Support Toward its People During the Great Depression

How well did Canadians (Government and Citizens) Support Those Who Fell on Hard Times during the Great Depression

The depression was a dark time for most Canadians. After the war times it was great in Canada and everyone had a bit of extra wealth to spend and had a good time; There was also many new technologies that people invested their money into but most people didn’t know what was about to come next. On Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929) the stock market crashed and everything went downhill. There were a number of other reasons that the 1930’s were such hard times and the Government didn’t do it’s best to stop them. He did make relief but it didn’t live up to its potential, healthcare and living conditions were also inadequate. There were also selfish people like R.B. Bennett and Charles Miller that made the hard times worse. The Government put Canadians in work camps but the fought back by starting the On-To-Ottawa Trek. It was not easy to live in Canada in the 1930’s and Government didn’t put forth enough to help Canadians.
In the depression the relief or pogey that the Canadian Government supplied was not adequate. Pogey only included vouchers for things like food and relief (Fielding) and many necessities were left out. It couldn’t be used for supplies that the people really needed like building supplies to keep their houses from getting shabby and falling apart, clothes and rat poisons. This led to major health hazards. Next, relief ranged from $14 a month in Halifax to $60 in Calgary (Fielding). Back in that time period families commonly had many children even sometimes 11 (Azzopardi) and grandparents lived with them also. This was not enough for a family to live off for a month. Another flaw in the relief system is that no matter how big your family is and if you’re struggling a little bit or a lot it was a fixed amount everyone would get. Finally, relief was hard to get and you had to live in the same place for from 6 months to a year in order to be able to get it (Patton). During the depression many people moved around in order to find work. This left them with literally nothing. Relief was also hard to get for people you live far away from a city. Relief had the right idea but it never became as helpful as the people needed it to be.
In the time period of the 1930’s healthcare was inadequate. For starters hospitals were very expensive and most people couldn’t afford them (Patton). The income was very low and this left people unable to get doctors so they had to treat themselves at home. For example in the ‘Stork Derby’ Mrs. Benaggio was forced to have her kids at home without a nurse and wasn’t even able to get some of them registered (Azzopardi). In addition, in spring of 1931 there was 1 doctor serving 21,000 people in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Patton). This goes to show that there wasn’t enough medical staff in Canada and because many people couldn’t afford to put to go to college there weren’t many new doctors either. This sometimes led to death like in ‘Stork Derby’ when the Cannellies had to all the way to find a nurse and she didn’t make it in time to save the babies life (Azzopardi). Lastly the health care wasn’t very advanced because they did not have modern technologies and medicines. Also there wasn’t a lot of funding to research medicine during the depression. In short healthcare was inadequate due to the lack of funding and staff and its high cost.
During the depression nature created horrible living conditions which the Canadian Government didn’t fight against. First of all in Saskatchewan and surrounding provinces a major drought went on from 1928-1937 which is right through the worst of the depression (Patton). It affected 7.3 million hectares or 1/3 of Canada’s arable land (Patton). This made it virtually impossible for farmers to make a living from farming crops or raising animals. The drought also made it very dry, resourceless and hot. After that, in 1931 high winds swept through the prairies picking up the dry topsoil and making massive dirt storms (Patton). These violent conditions would tear up crops and ruin fields. They would also damage the property of farms and make dirt blow everywhere. To top it off there were vast storms of grasshoppers (Patton). They would make it leaving your property on your car or horse carriage because your car would get covered in masses of grasshopper guts making it disgusting and smelly. Under those circumstances of bad living conditions the government didn’t not put forth much of an effort to help the people living in the country.
The Canadian Prime Minister in the 1930’s R.B. Bennett was selfish. First of all he did not create jobs while the unemployment rate ranged from 12%- 26.6% in the 1930’s (Fielding). He should have made jobs like the U.S. did with Hoover dam. Instead he made work camps which did nothing to help Canadians. In addition 2/3 young people entering the workforce couldn’t find a job (Fielding). Next, he should have tried to improve health and living conditions because they were both inadequate in the depression (Mennill). As the Government it is required that you help out your country when it is tough. He provided next to nothing for the farmers out in the prairies and left them on their own at the worst time. Finally R.B. Bennett didn’t help out the struggling economy; there were warehouses full of goods just sitting there. He could have put them to use and helped out Canadians. They were desperate times and R.B. was selfish and didn’t do everything he could of to help Canadians.
The work camps that R.B. Bennett set up during the depression were inadequate. Firstly, the men lived in 79×24 paper shacks with no windows (Mennill). Each shack slept 88 people in straw bunks with 8×1 boards to separate men (Mennill). As you can imagine they became very dirty, crowded, uncomfortable and boring because other than playing cards there was no entertainment. The shacks weren’t enough to stand up to the sometimes harsh Canadian weather. Disease was also common and they washed in metal troughs. Next, the men at work camps only got 1/10 of a wage from a regular job (Mennill). They made 20 cents an hour for 8 hours a day (4 hours on Saturdays). This wasn’t enough to make a living and the jobs that they would do were pretty much meaningless. Lastly, the men in work camps were treated poorly and didn’t have a lot of freedom. The superintendents were very severe and the food was bad. They also lost their right to vote and didn’t have a choice of being there or not (Mennill). The Government should have never forced men into going to work camps with bad living conditions and little pay.
The depression hit the Canadian Western Provinces hardest. To begin with, many countries put duties and tariffs on exports (Fielding). This hit the west very hard, especially when the U.S. did it because the Prairie Provinces relied on exports heavily. Meanwhile, average farm income (Saskatchewan) dropped from $363 million in 1929 to $10.7 million in 1931(Fielding). This left pretty much everyone with little income so they were down to nothing and there was poverty everywhere. Finally it was very hard for them to grow crops because of the drought and wind and the prices were very low when they could. For what wheat they could grow would only sell for $0.29 a bushel when it was $1.03 before the depression (Patton). In conclusion, Canadians living in the west were affected the worst.
Charles Miller was selfish for his role in the Stork Derby. For starters he left the money with the intentions of making people fight (Azzopardi). It succeeded and all of the people running did fight and turned against each other. The stork derby also led to health risks (Azzopardi). It made the houses even more overcrowded and people had so many babies they would have to have them at home without a nurse which lead to disease risks. There were also kidnappings. Lastly, he wanted the rich to win and the poor to lose (Azzopardi). He knew that the poor would struggle to get by if they took part in the stork derby and that the rich would always conquer them. He also already had big lawyers and people with money set up to win. In conclusion Charles Miller selfishly set up the stork derby so that there would be no good.
The On-To-Ottawa Trek that went on in June 1935 and was an adequate way for Canadians to take a stand. The unemployed men in work camps all got on trains and started going towards Ottawa (Mennill). At every stop they picked up more people and got those communities involved and spread the word. Prime Minister R.B. Bennett tried to put an end to it by stopping them in Regina (Mennill). The strikers responded by rioting which showed Bennett that they would use necessary force and one police officer even died in the riot. Lastly, it sent R.B. Bennett a message. The demands that the strikers set were not met (Fielding) but it still showed that they could fight back. Even the city of Vancouver had helped them along the way (Mennill). All in all the On-To-Ottawa Trek made a point to Government.
Due to the lack of help from the Government the living conditions in the city were inadequate in the 1930’s. People did not have proper clothes which led to turbucolosis and other diseases (Fielding). Most people had to wear rags and homemade clothing that didn’t fit them right. Next, the water was unclean, they didn’t control sewage very well, there was poor air quality and there was little power (Patton). This made it uncomfortable and dangerous. Houses were built right beside factories and smog and garbage that people would dump filled up the dirty streets. Families were forced to live in small 1-room houses (Fielding). They would be filled with people so they were overcrowded and also shabby because people couldn’t afford to fix them up and sometimes rats would get in (Azzopardi). R.B. Bennett did not help improve the living conditions and let the cities become unsuitable during the depression.
It was very tough time for Canadians during the depression; a lot went on in the 1930’s and the Canadian Government didn’t do everything that it could to help them. There were so many low points and problems and the Government did next to nothing to change them and pretty much left the people on their own. As you can see, it wasn’t easy but we got through the depression and as we may know from our ancestors bad times can come. So we need to prepare ourselves so our economy doesn’t crash again and if it does we are ready. Also the government needs to put money aside to help the people incase of hard times and natural problems, which it is starting to do more successfully of late. In conclusion, it’s up to our government and global leaders to be ready and to protect the people from tough times.