Relief Camp Workers' Union was a Canadian Great Depression era relief union in which the workers employed in the Canadian government relief camps organized themselves into in the early 1930s. The RCWU was established by the
Workers' Unity League and was associated with the
Communist Party of Canada. The creation of the union was a direct response to the conditions of the camps and the lack of financial compensation for the work the men provided. The union is best known for helping to organize the
On-to-Ottawa Trek during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
.

Historical context and the origins of relief camps in Canada
Initial approaches to relief
During the
Great Depression in Canada
The worldwide Great Depression of the early 1930s was a social and economic shock that left millions of Canadians unemployed, hungry and often homeless. Few countries were affected as severely as Canada during what became known as the "Dirty Thirt ...
( 1929 to 1939), a time of economic hardship spanning a decade, many people faced food scarcity, reduction of wages or precarious work, and overall reduction in their
quality of life
Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...
. The Depression operated worldwide - however, the degree to which it affected different countries differed drastically. By 1933 the rapid decline in exports of wheat, manufactured goods, and raw materials had caused a near-complete
economic collapse
Economic collapse, also called economic meltdown, is any of a broad range of poor economic conditions, ranging from a severe, prolonged depression with high bankruptcy rates and high unemployment (such as the Great Depression of the 1930s), t ...
across Canada.
Municipal, provincial, and federal governments disputed over how to deal with the growing numbers of the unemployed, and - as a consequence of this - with the growing hostility from the initial lack of action and guidance from the different levels of government.
Relief
Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...
, initially, was the responsibility of municipal governments - but the increasing numbers of unemployed in the early years was already straining the small financial reserves that municipalities had. The
Ontario government, for example, introduced
public works
Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...
in urban and isolated areas early on to help ease unemployment, but between 1929 and 1932 employment fell by 32 percent and these early relief systems could no longer cope.
In
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, the province's reliance on the exportation of raw materials meant that citizens were hit particularly hard by the Depression - similarly to Ontario, unemployment had reached 30% by 1933.
In the
prairies, years of droughts and failed crops, in combination with declining commodity prices, caused families with long-standing histories in the region to pack up and move westward in search of employment.
Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
became a hub for transient workers and their families as, in contrast to smaller communities, it had a pre-established Relief Department.
Moreover, British Columbia offered a more temperate climate compared to the rest of Canada, meaning those who were without homes were less likely to freeze overnight or during the winter months.
Relief for married vs single men
Before the establishment of government camps, single men found it difficult to receive relief. Social attitudes at the time, and the fact that the Depression predated the emergence of
the welfare state in Canada, meant that accepting relief came with a certain amount of stigma. At this point in history, Canadians commonly believed that men "should engage in waged work and be individualistic, productive and physically strong".
Even during the Depression, Canadian society believed that single men should be responsible for themselves and not burden their families by staying with them if they were not contributing a wage.
In
Guelph, Ontario
Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...
, men with dependants were given two days work a week whereas single men with no dependants were given two days work every two weeks.
As the Depression worsened, single men were given work two days work every three weeks and were often paid in cash and with relief
voucher
A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain money, monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include house, housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term vou ...
s.
This cultural sentiment towards men and a favouritization of married men or men with dependants caused a mass migration of transient men looking for employment in Canada. The responsibility to then relieve tensions fell on the federal government.
Federal relief camps
The government of Canada was aware of unrest due to the Depression and feared that lack of economic opportunity might turn the mostly single unemployed men to
communism
Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
or to communist ideas. These fears, coupled with pre-existing fears that pre-dated the Depression, encouraged the federal government to outlaw the
Communist Party of Canada in 1931.
Government officials needed a place to put single men and give them something to do in order to curb communist ideas and sentiments. In 1932 Major-General
Andrew McNaughton
General (Canada), General Andrew George Latta McNaughton (25 February 1887 – 11 July 1966) was a Canadian Electrical engineering, electrical engineer, scientist, army officer, Minister (government), cabinet minister, and diplomat.
Before th ...
, then the chief of General Staff of the
Department of National Defence, toured the country's military districts to examine the unemployment problem.
At the time of his national tour one estimate found over “70,000 mostly single, young, unemployed, homeless men in Canada.”
McNaughton proposed the idea of relief camps to provide men with work to fill their days, food, clothing, medical attention, and some compensation to ease tensions. McNaughton's relief camps were designed to provide the basic necessities for single men in return for manual labour. This proposed system resembled the
English Poor Laws
The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s.
En ...
in which the poor received helped in exchange for labour and
rehabilitation.
In October of 1932 the first federal relief camps opened in Canada.
In November of 1932 camps started in eastern Canada and immediately housed over 2000 men.
To cut costs, the government set up these camps in or in close proximity to existing
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
facilities and used the military's personnel and administrative experience to keep the camps running effectively.
Each camp worked on "
projects
A project is a type of assignment, typically involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a specific objective.
An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of events: a "set of interrelated tasks to be ...
"; British Columbia had 53 projects and Ontario 37.
The system tended to locate camps in more isolated and rural areas and away from urban "agitators" trying to spread communist ideas.
Historians and other scholars continue to debate the effectiveness of the camps, but overall, they did help to ease tensions at the start of the Depression.
Origins and Emergence of the Union in Camps
Life in the Camps
The federal government wanted to run the camps as effectively and as cheaply as possible but were still required to provide clothing, food, medical care, and money for all men employed in the camps. Although these terms were met, the quality of the food, clothing, and housing were repeatedly called into question. The biggest point of contention was the money to which the men were promised. The men worked for twenty cents per day for each day worked but there was much debate about whether the payment was a wage or an allowance.
Moreover, there were issues with money being withheld from the workers.
Grievances
Grievances about the camp system were numerous, from the poor quality food, the lack of leisure facilities (bathrooms and showers), and that the men were only paid twenty cents per day. Complaints came from both internal and external sources. Organized labour outside of the camps criticized the cheap labour as it meant organized union workers from various trades would be less likely to receive work.
Internally, workers in these camps recognized that a paradox existed; they knew their work was valuable yet they were simultaneously marginalized by society because of their social and economic status.
This paradox caused relief workers to organize. They believed that since their work was valuable as they were constructing roads, airways, and forestry infrastructure, that they should be paid a fair wage.
Certainly conditions were a source of grievance but they were tied into the fight for more money and less military control.
The federal government tried to maintain individuality among the men as to eliminate or stop the spread of an emerging
collective conscious.
This did not work as relief workers organized and created the RCWU. During relief camp strikes, workers and the union pressed for forty cents per hour as well as a five day work week, working a total of seven hours per day.
RCWU rhetoric painted the relief camps as ‘slave camps’ and workers were engaged in ‘slave wage labour’.
These sentiments and the growing discontent consequently caused the RCWU's numbers to quickly swell. The emergence of the RCWU was cause for concern and being associated with or organizing collectively within the camps would result in expulsion from the camps.
As a result, RCWU organizers worked covertly in building the union because they faced being blacklisted from the camps.
Camp Strikes
The RCWU organized its first strike in December 1934. In the four years that the federal relief camps ran, there were "359 recorded strikes, riots, demonstrations, and disturbances in all projects across Canada."
Since the union was established by the WUL, they used their experience in organizing the unemployed in urban relief camps. The strikes were short-lived and the strikers returned to the camps with just a promise of a government commission to investigate their complaints.
In Ontario and in other areas, the disturbances were not as severe as those in British Columbia because there were far fewer men in these camps and therefore, far fewer 'agitators' making their way to those camps.
The RCWU managed to provide lodging and food for its members but by the end of May of 1935, their resources had begun to run dry and the demonstrations became fewer and far between.
The RCWU was left with little resources but they did have a growing number of unhappy men. In June of 1935, the men embarked on a long journey which is now known as the
On-to-Ottawa Trek.
They rode on top of freight trains headed east to present their demands for
Prime Minister Bennett in Ottawa but were subsequently stopped in the city of Regina.
RCWU Strikes Outside the Camps
While in Vancouver, they protested regularly to raise public awareness of their rights. RCWU organizers made it a priority to maintain discipline in the ranks so as not to alienate public opinion. One occasion in particular was an exception to this rule. During one of the RCWU "snake parades", marching in a zig zag through the streets, usually in columns of two, the leader noticed that the entrance to the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
was unguarded.
Other stores all had guards posted and shut their doors because the protesters would parade through the stores to present their case to shoppers. This time, on April 26, the manager of the store telephoned the police, who promptly arrived and attempted to eject the men.
A fight ensued, ending with broken display cases and several injuries. One police officer was severely injured.
The demonstrators and other protesters converged for a rally at
Victory Square, where Mayor
McGeer came and read the riot act and the crowd dispersed.
Another notable moment during the relief camp strike was when a group of RCWU strikers occupied the
city museum
City Museum is a museum whose exhibits consist largely of Repurposing, repurposed architectural and industrial objects, housed in the former International Shoe building in the Washington Avenue Loft District of St. Louis, Missouri, United Stat ...
for eight hours, coming out only after a promise was given that the city would give them money to feed the strikers for three days.
Intransigence at all three levels of government became apparent throughout the strike, with the civic government looking to the provincial and federal governments to take responsibility for the crisis of unemployment. The provincial Liberal government had been elected on the platform of "Work and Wages", a slogan appropriated by the strikers to emphasize that this promise had gone unfulfilled. The federal Conservative government under
R.B. "Iron Heel" Bennett, meanwhile, argued that policing and relief were provincial and municipal responsibilities, but if they could not control the situation themselves, a request could be made for federal forces under "aid to civil defense" provisions. This intransigence helped to generate public support for the strikers, even among conservatives who agreed that the "Red Menace" was a real threat to Canadian society and should be dealt a decisive blow.
The city, provincial, and federal police were all standing by during the strike, along with several hundred special constables because, the government claimed, it was part of a larger plot on the part of the Communists, on orders from
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, to spark a general strike in Vancouver. Another strike was developing amongst longshoremen, whose union was also under WUL leadership, and the government feared that the two might merge into one large strike, which might spread. The relief camp strikers, however, decided that they had accomplished all they could in Vancouver, and voted to take their grievances to
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
in what became the more famous
On-to-Ottawa Trek.
After the Trek
The On-to-Ottawa Trek was crushed in Regina, and most of the men returned to the camps, but their efforts instigated the process which would lead to significant reforms and were later considered by historians to be an important turning point paving the way for the post war
welfare state
A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal oppor ...
in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. In 1935, the Communists' abandoned the
Third Period doctrine under which the WUL toiled, and many RCWU Communists left to fight fascism in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
with the
Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion. The relief camp issue would once again descend on
Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
in 1938 when the RCWU's successor, the Relief Project Workers' Union led another walk out and another series of protests. The climax this time came when, on May 20, 1938, a group of protesters occupied a number of buildings including the post office in the Winch Building (now the
Sinclair Centre). Over a thousand men continued to occupy the post office for almost a month, until they were violently removed by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...
on June 18 in what came to be known as "
Bloody Sunday." Many were injured (including several police officers) and 28 men were jailed. Protesters in Vancouver and Victoria demanded the release of the prisoners and the resignation of Premier
Patullo.
Leaders
Leaders of the RCWU included
*
Arthur "Slim" Evans
*Ernest (Smokey) Cumber
*Matt Shaw
*Malcolm MacLeod
*Ronald Liversedge
*James "Red" Walsh
*Perry Hilton
*Lionel Edwards
*Steve Brody
*Bob "Doc" Savage
*Mike McCauley
*Bill Davis
*Gerry Winters
*Jack Cosgrove
*Steward "Paddy" O'Neil.
Strike! A Model of Discipline and Tactical Brilliance
On to Ottawa historical Society
Sources
* Lorne Brown, ''When Freedom was Lost: The Unemployed, the Agitator, and the State'', Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1987.
* Victor Howard, ''"We Were the Salt of the Earth": A Narrative of the On-to-Ottawa Trek and the Regina Riot.'' Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina, 1985.
* Ronald Liversedge, ''Recollections of the On To Ottawa Trek,'' ed. Victor Hoar. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1973.
* John Manley, "Canadian Communists, Revolutionary Unionism, and the 'Third Period': The Workers' Unity League, 1929–1935," ''Journal of the Canadian Historical Association,'' New Series, vol. 5 (1994): 167-194.
* Bill Waiser, ''All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot''. Calgary: Fifth House, 2003.
References
{{authority control
1935 in Canada
Communist Party of Canada mass organizations
Communism in Canada
Great Depression in Canada
History of Vancouver
Defunct trade unions in Canada
Protest marches in Canada
Social history of Canada
Trade unions established in 1934
Workers' Unity League