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today's lesson we'll be looking at what
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life was like for Canadians during the
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Great Depression
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well the 20s are usually remembered as a
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time of excitement and progress the
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1930s are conversely remembered as a
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time of hardship for many it's important
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to remember however that the Depression
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affected people in different parts of
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Canada differently and this lesson will
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be exploring how life changed for
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Canadians during the Great Depression
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and we'll be splitting this lesson up
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into three major components first we'll
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start by looking at political responses
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to the Great Depression then we'll look
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at popular responses to the Great
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Depression and finally we'll look at the
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response to the Dust Bowl in the western
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part of Canada now when we think of the
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Great Depression we often think of black
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Tuesday in the stock market crash of
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1929 but it's what's important to
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remember is that the stock market is not
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the same thing as the economy even
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though we often use it as a shorthand
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for it
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in fact the stock market rebounded a bit
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after the initial market crash it didn't
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completely bottomed out for another
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three years now while this was bad for
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those who owned stocks not everybody
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owned stocks in fact a minority of
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Canadians owned stocks the initial
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market crash was more of a symptom of
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more fundamental problems with the
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economy at this time and this is what
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we're actually talking about when we
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talk about the Great Depression
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not just this initial market crash not
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just black Tuesday or not even the fact
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that the stock market crashed cuz
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they're not the same thing we're talking
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about more fundamental things with the
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economy now unemployment reached its
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highest point in 1933 when it's
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estimated that up to 33 percent of
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Canadians were unemployed now we talk
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about unemployment in this regard what
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we need is these are people who are
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searching for work and cannot find jobs
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so one in three Canadians by some
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estimates wanted to find a job and could
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not find one and falling prices also
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meant that wages fell so for those who
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managed to keep their jobs they might
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have been making less money than they
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were previously
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this all had a profound effect on the
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lives of many Canadians for many
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Canadians the Depression hit them hard
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however it wasn't the same experience
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for everyone
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many wealthy people actually saw an
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increase in their standard of living
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during this time so falling prices are a
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good thing if you have a steady source
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of income because now things cost less
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for you to buy if you were making the
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same amount of money but things cost
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less you can purchase more so for
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wealthy Canadians people who have lots
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of money people who maybe owned lots of
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land people who inherited lots of money
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they might have done actually pretty
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well for themselves with the depression
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but for many Canadians the majority of
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Canadians this was a bad time for them
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and it's estimated that at least one in
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five Canadians were dependent on some
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kind of government relief during this
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time and so this chart here is showing
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the unemployment rate during the
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depression and as you can see it
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increased pretty rapidly beginning in
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1929 when the market first crashes you
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can see it's not until about 1932 that
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we started to see that really high
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unemployment in the mid 20s
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and it stayed that way for the better
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part of a decade it's really not until
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the outbreak of World War two when the
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economy really starts to turn around and
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unemployment starts to go back into the
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single digits now the depression had
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several political ramifications for
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Canada when the depression first hit
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William Lyon Mackenzie King was still
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Canada's prime minister and by this
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point he had been prime minister for
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several years now when the economy is
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bad the public is usually quick to blame
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the incumbent but however the Prime
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Minister often has little to do with
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macroeconomic conditions these are sort
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of the big forces that are underlying
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the economy that could make it either
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prosper or go into decline but usually
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again you'd like to take these shortcuts
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and if the economy's growing in times
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are good we like to give our leaders
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credit and if the opposite is true and
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the economy is shrinking and there's a
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recession or depression we blame those
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in charge but it's really much more
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complicated than that it's actually
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really
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for a leader to actually I sort of make
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the economy grow or shrink in a short
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period of time these are long-term
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trends that take years and years to play
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out nonetheless at this time the public
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was blaming Mackenzie King for a lot of
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Canada's problems and in 1930 there was
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an election coming up and Mackenzie King
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lost that election to the new
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Conservative leader RB Bennett now RB
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Bennett is kind of an interesting
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character he's the only businessman to
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be ever elected Canada's Prime Minister
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and you might be able to see how this
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could be appealing to many Canadians at
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this time the economy is doing bad and
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so we turn to a businessman to try to
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right those wrongs because maybe being
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bringing in ideas for business might be
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able to solve problems that government
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could do it's a problem with this though
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and this is an idea that we see thrown
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around in politics from time to time the
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idea that only a businessman can fix the
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problems of the government the problem
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with running government like a business
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is that they're fundamentally different
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things business is about extracting
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profit for people at its heart it's a
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predatory and exploitive practice you're
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trying to get people to pay more for
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something when you paid for it you're
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trying to make money off you're trying
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to take more from them than you have to
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pay for something
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government is supposed to protect the
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rights of citizens and provide essential
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services in an equitable way so this
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idea that running the government like a
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business would benefit everybody it
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doesn't really get at the heart of what
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government actually is supposed to do
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nonetheless Bennett rode into office
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with a majority and he promised to quote
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find work for all who are willing to
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work or perish in the attempt now
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Bennett introduced some measures to try
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to help those impacted by the depression
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however it's important to note that at
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this time most politicians and
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economists believe that the government
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should be more hands-off with the
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economy that if the economy is doing
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poorly the government shouldn't get
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involved to try to fix things most
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believe that economic downturns were a
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natural feature of capitalism and some
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even thought they were bad
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because they could correct prices and
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wages and they would weed out
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ineffective businesses so the measures
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that were undertaken by Bennett's
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government were fairly limited at this
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time one thing that they did do was
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introduce what were called relief
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payments however these were kept low
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intentionally to discourage the public
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from taking them and so for many relief
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was seen as a last resort
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on average families waited ten months
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before applying however that didn't stop
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scores of men from coming out to here on
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the Yonge Street mission in Toronto
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lining up to get their relief cheque and
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this was a shameful process for many
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people applying for relief payments
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could be seen as an affront to
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masculinity for many men remember this
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is also at a time when you know women
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had been getting new jobs and getting
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new rights and responsibilities within
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kadian society again some of these
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things could be seen as infringing on
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the male realm of society this would be
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another another reason why that would
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happen so men are no longer able to go
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out and make money for the family they
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can no longer be the breadwinners if
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they've lost a job there's nothing they
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could do about that so many men were too
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ashamed to go what they would think of
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as begging the government for a handout
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to help them end so often they would
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wait a long time before ever going to
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get now another way that men were able
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to get work and to get payment during
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this time was that really camps in order
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to receive greater relief men were sent
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to work camps and often these work camps
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were located in remote areas so men
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would need to leave their families in
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order to go work there now they were
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given food and lodge in order to go and
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work there and they got wages which they
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could send back to the families but in
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order to do that they had to do very
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hard physical labor in order to earn the
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money and again they're removed from
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their families for long periods of time
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so again we want to think about this
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idea shouldn't have to work to receive
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the relief cheques was that a fair
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compromise by the government or should
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we do those kinds of things today
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now the relief camps were not popular as
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many men wanted better wages and better
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work and the culmination of these
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tensions was seen during the on to
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Ottawa Trek the Ottawa Trek was formed
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by thousands of unemployed men
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protesting the conditions of the federal
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work camps they wanted political reforms
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and better relief from the government
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now there was a lot of fear of social
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unrest and possible revolution as a
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result of the on de Ottawa Trek remember
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the fears of communist revolt during the
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Winnipeg general strike the Great
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Depression amplified many of these
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anxieties and this culminated with the
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Regina riot where the RCMP met the
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trekkers and violently ended their
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journey and you can see in this
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newspaper headline from the time Benin
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asked all citizens for aid against
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agitators so he's referring to them not
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as protesters or as workers he's calling
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them agitators the reason why they were
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marching on audible all was to agitate
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the government so clearly he's trying to
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frame them as being you know some group
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of young men who might be violent they
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might be dangerous this is the picture
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that Bennett is picture is illustrating
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for people now the United States dealt
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with the depression in a more hands-on
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way in the United States a new president
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was elected in 1932 Franklin Delano
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Roosevelt sometimes referred to as FDR
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so he won the presidency in 1932 on a
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platform of economic reforms called the
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New Deal and these included many banking
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reforms relief programs and new
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regulations on business meant to repair
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the economy and prevent future
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depressions and the New Deal did a lot
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to change the way that people viewed the
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government's role in the economy again
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before the Great Depression many
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economists and politicians thought the
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government should be hands-off they
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shouldn't get involved they should just
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let things play out and you know people
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lost their jobs that people went hungry
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that was their problem to deal with they
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would have to figure out a way to
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survive
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they would have to rely on their family
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members or friends or charities to get
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by it wasn't seen as the government's
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job to deal with that but once we have
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programs like the New Deal in the u.s.
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come out it sort of changes people's
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perspectives of how the government
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should deal with these sorts of issues
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it was heavily influential on future
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policies in both Canada the United
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States as well as other places around
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the world and some would argue that the
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New Deal helped save capitalism at this
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con it maintained the capitalist
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economic system while allowing the
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government to curb some of its worst
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excesses now despite the effort of
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governments around the world ordinary
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people had to deal with their newfound
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poverty in a variety of ways so here in
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this picture family is evicted as they
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can no longer afford their mortgage
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here's another image of a family forced
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onto the streets some chose to take all
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their belongings and live in their cars
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others slept on park benches others were
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forced to sell their possessions for
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anything they can get so here's a man
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selling a car and the sign says $100
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will buy this car must have cash lost
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all in the stock market so all those new
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technologies that people were spending
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money on maybe buying on credit during
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the 1920s many people were forced to
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give up those luxuries once the
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Depression hit and others were forced to
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become economic migrants who traveled
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across the country looking for work so
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these infamous pictures by Dorothea
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Lange showed the hardships faced by
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migratory farm workers and their
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families during the Depression in Canada
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people attempted to cope with the
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depression in a variety of ways in this
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picture a man receives his employment
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insurance relief employment insurance or
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EIS it's also known as a program that we
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still have today in Canada for those who
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temporarily lose their jobs so we can
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see
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these programs evolving out of the
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hardships faced during the Depression
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others tried to remake old clothes
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instead of buying new ones or resorted
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to things like Bennet buggies or Bennett
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burros so Bennett buggy was a card that
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had their engine removed and was pulled
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by a horse so people couldn't afford gas
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anymore they couldn't afford to fix
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their cars so they might take the the
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body of the car and attach a horse to it
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to try to get around Bennett burros on
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the other hand were shanty towns built
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by homeless people so some houses were
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built out of stone by skilled workers
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others were built from whatever
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materials were laying around things like
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cardboard crates or scrap metal and in
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the u.s. these these structures also
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existed they were called Hoovervilles so
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Bennett burro named after RB Bennett the
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prime minister obviously people are
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frustrated with the fact that he's not
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doing enough to try to solve people's
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problems during the Depression so
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they're kind of you know this is this is
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them naming this shanty town after him
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at Bennett burl this is kind of
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depressing despair ugly towns being
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named after him and Hoover was the
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President of the United States before
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FDR was elected so we can see the same
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thing happening in the u.s. further
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giving him this this infamous title now
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these burrows were considered dangerous
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places with high crime rates and unsafe
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structures the government was also
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fearful that the gathering masses of
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homeless men could turned violent
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against the government at any time in
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other parts of the country there was
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another menace threatening people's
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livelihoods the Dust Bowl now the Dust
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Bowl is a period of severe dust storms
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affecting the prairie provinces
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especially Saskatchewan and parts of
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United States during the 1930s it was at
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its worst from 1934 to 1936 and it was
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caused by intense droughts combined with
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poor
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farming techniques dust storms could
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quickly darken the sky with the dust
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blown up by strong winds
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now the Dust Bowl it's important to note
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was not caused by the Great Depression
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but its effects made the depression even
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worse for those living in the prairies
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and we can see in this picture a
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gathering dust storm and you can see
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just how massive these storms were is
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that kick up dust and engulf people's
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homes a related problem that affected
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those living in the Dust Bowl areas were
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locusts which had a massive outbreak at
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this time and they would devour people's
00:16:10
crops they were seeing as a test that
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would eat people's crops and would ruin
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their their crops for the year
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now what were the results of the Dust
00:16:22
Bowl it resulted in severe damage to
00:16:24
farmland and inability to grow crops and
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it forced the migration of many farmers
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now prairie farmers were hurt heavily by
00:16:33
the depression and there were many
00:16:35
factors going on again from the Dust
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Bowl is not caused by the Great
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Depression but it's making these things
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worse
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so before the depression even hits there
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was a massive collapse in the price of
00:16:44
wheat in 1929 there's increased tariffs
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in response to with the stock market
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crash and then finally the dust storms a
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few use it later or sort of the final
00:16:55
nail in the coffin can make the
00:16:56
Depression just so bad for Prairie
00:16:58
farmers the Dust Bowl had a profound
00:17:04
effect on culture novels such as The
00:17:07
Grapes of Wrath tell the story of people
00:17:10
living through this period in America
00:17:13
and Dust Bowl ballad a collection of
00:17:16
songs by Woody Guthrie tells the story
00:17:19
of those who lived through the Dust Bowl
00:17:25
so in summary the Great Depression led
00:17:27
to massive unemployment bankrupt
00:17:29
businesses and falling wages for many in
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1930 RB Bennett became prime minister he
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introduced some government relief
00:17:37
efforts but these measures were not
00:17:39
enough to turn around the economy
00:17:41
ordinary Canadians responded to newfound
00:17:43
poverty in a variety of naw
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always angry relief camp workers
00:17:48
organized the on to Ottawa track to
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voice their concerns but were stopped at
00:17:52
the Regina riot and drought combined
00:17:55
with poor farming practices I'll flee to
00:17:58
the Dust Bowl which made the depression
00:17:59
worse for Prairie farmers
