April 29, 2010

Statement about Trek to Ottawa in 1935

J. Kwan: The On to Ottawa Trek was a 1935 social movement of thousands of unemployed men. They were protesting the terrible conditions in federal relief camps during the height of the Great Depression. Their demands included work and wages, adequate first aid at camps, the extension of workers’ compensation and the right to vote.

After a two-month protest in Vancouver, Mayor Gerry McGeer read the Riot Act across the street from Victory Square. Not satisfied with the federal government’s actions, the protesters jumped atop boxcars and rode the rails across the country to Ottawa to make their demands in person. As they stopped through towns and cities, hundreds of others joined them in places like Kamloops, Golden and Calgary, but they were stopped when they arrived in Regina by the RCMP. They were only allowed to send a delegation of eight to Ottawa. In spite of that, a thousand people were waiting to join them on the trek in Winnipeg.

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When the delegation arrived in Ottawa to meet with the then Prime Minister R.B. Bennett, he called the protest leader, Arthur "Slim" Evans, a "radical extortionist.” In turn, Evans called him a liar, and the delegation was escorted out of the building. By the time they got back to Regina, a peaceful Dominion Day rally was brutally attacked by the police. Though the trek was over, a few months later R.B. Bennett was swept from office.

We know today that those brave protesters from B.C. were some of the early pioneers that brought social programs to the country. One of the organizers charged with treason was George Black, the father-in-law of the member for New Westminster.

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This year is the 75th anniversary of the On to Ottawa Trek, and the On to Ottawa Historical Society will be placing a plaque on the Main Street overpass in Vancouver–Mount Pleasant, where the trek began. This celebration will be held on August 6 at 1 p.m. at Crab Park.

As a symbolic trek, a delegation from the 2010 Homelessness Hunger Strike will be boarding the train to Ottawa to demand a national housing strategy, and they will be ending their year-and-a-half-long rolling strike on the steps of Parliament. I ask everyone to help celebrate this fabulous history.