The Great Depression In Canada
The Great Depression was one of the most severe economic situations the world has ever witnessed. The efforts of the Canadian government to aid the country with the economic crisis that plagued the nation from 1929 to 1939 was ineffective. This was shown as relief camps offered people little comfort, people were reluctant to use “the dole” as they wanted to show their pride, and the weakness of the government made people question the strength of its leaders. Firstly, as a relief effort by the government, the government opened many relief camps but, these relief camps provided little comfort to the unemployed population. In 1933, the same time unemployment skyrocketed, over 1.4 million people were relying on relief programs. Of these 1.4
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As Canada was looking for more funds they raised the tariffs on items coming from other countries to promote the purchase of Canadian goods. However, this had the opposite effect and caused Canada’s exports to drop a staggering 67 percent. Not only did this lead to some Canadian businesses closing but, many people were laid off from their jobs. This led to people having to find different jobs which treated its employees much worse. This is exactly what happened to Irene Duhamel, who ended up working in a sweatshop, she described the conditions, “It was so hot in the factory. All the windows were closed to keep in the humidity so the cotton would stay soft. It could get as hot as 105 degrees. You worked mindlessly without stopping.” She had to work 11 hours week and only earned a little over 8 dollars for the week. The government did implement rules to look into the behaviour by big companies however, this overlook was not too thorough as one worker describes, "The law has holes big enough for millionaires to crawl through, and company laws that permit the fleecing of the public on one hand and the sweatshops on the other." This showed that the decisions the government was making were creating more problems instead of solutions. Therefore, Canada’s response to the Great Depression was deemed ineffective as the relief efforts from the government were little help. People were reluctant to accept the “dole” from the government as it would take away from their pride, and the weakness that was displayed by the government raised questions about the
As Canada was looking for more funds they raised the tariffs on items coming from other countries to promote the purchase of Canadian goods. However, this had the opposite effect and caused Canada’s exports to drop a staggering 67 percent. Not only did this lead to some Canadian businesses closing but, many people were laid off from their jobs. This led to people having to find different jobs which treated its employees much worse. This is exactly what happened to Irene Duhamel, who ended up working in a sweatshop, she described the conditions, “It was so hot in the factory. All the windows were closed to keep in the humidity so the cotton would stay soft. It could get as hot as 105 degrees. You worked mindlessly without stopping.” She had to work 11 hours week and only earned a little over 8 dollars for the week. The government did implement rules to look into the behaviour by big companies however, this overlook was not too thorough as one worker describes, "The law has holes big enough for millionaires to crawl through, and company laws that permit the fleecing of the public on one hand and the sweatshops on the other." This showed that the decisions the government was making were creating more problems instead of solutions. Therefore, Canada’s response to the Great Depression was deemed ineffective as the relief efforts from the government were little help. People were reluctant to accept the “dole” from the government as it would take away from their pride, and the weakness that was displayed by the government raised questions about the