Is the Charter a Break for the Criminal?

The Great Depression

Introduction:

For most of the 1930's, the majority of people were unemployed, the stock market crash of 1929 left companies bankrupt, and people were tired of living in a depression.

Being an unemployed youth was alot different in the 1920's than it is today. The government back in the 20's did not give relief to single men, since they had to familie's to support. Most young men who were old enough to work, would ride on railray cars, stopping at cities to look for work. These men were being labeled as "bums", "hobos" or "derelicts". Some of these youth men would die traveling this way. Either by smoke inhilations in the tunnels, or by falling off while the train was moving. However, relief camps were beginning to pop up. In 1932, McNaughton's "relief camps" put 2000 men to work for a dollar a day. Later on, in 1935, over 150 000 men worked in over 200 relief projects.

In June 1935, there was a protest movement made up of residents of unemployment relief camps in BC. The strikers traveled by truck and train to Vancouver where local government claimed they had no responsibility for the strikers' welfare. When this movement failed, they took the strike to Ottawa. This is known as the "On to Ottawa Trek". The group of strikers made stops in Calgary, Medicine Hat, Swift Current and Moose Jaw. Finaly they arrived in Regina where they were refused train access. On July 1st, while the strikers were beginning to break up, RCMP and Regina Constables moved in to arrest the Trek's Leaders, Triggering the Regina Riot. Trekkers were assualting the police with clubs and rocks until midnight, when the riot stopped. One constable was killed, 130 rioters were arrested, and a few dozen rioters, constables and citizens had been injured
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Important People:
R.B. Bennett - Was Prime Minister of Canada from August 7th 1930- October 23rd 1935, and led the Conservatives from 1927-1938. Richard Bedford Bennett won office in the 1930 election because he promised a drastic change in the Great Depression, but once elected, found it hard to develop a program. Bennatt gained Canada some relief with his idea of the British government making preferential tariffs, but he lost alot of his popularity by setting up relief camps for men. By 1933, the low point of the Depression, Bennett was seen as indecisive and having little influence. He soon became the butt of most jokes and in 1935, the Liberals, led by King, swept the Conservatices out of office.

R.B. Bennett's "New Deal Legislation" - On January 2nd 1935, when everyone was against Prime Minister Bennett and his Conservatives, Bennett made a radio series outlining a "New Deal" for Canada, in hopes of getting the people to like him again. The "New Deal" included promises of a more progressive tax system, a maximum work week, a minimum wage, closer regulation of working conditions, unemployment insurance, health and accident insurance, a revised old-age pension and agricultural support programs. Bennett still lost the election in October 1935.
William Aberhart - He was called "Bible Bill" because he was a radio evangelist and because he was a great influence in religious sectarianism in western Canada. Political parties unable to find solutions to the problem of poverty, and devastated by the Great Depression, Albertans were attracted to Aberhart's ideas. He built the world's first "Social Credit League" to promote his ideas of giving citizens $25 per month to buy necessities. Social Credit swept the United Farmers of Alberta from office in September 1935, by taking 56 of 63 seats in the Alberta legislature. Once he became premier, he realized he could not fulfil the promises he made prior to election.
T.D. Pattullo - Thomas Dufferin Pattullo was best know as premier of British Columbia through the 1930's. He became leader of the opposition after the Liberals were defeated in 1928. When there problem of not enough farms and too many reliefers occured, Pattullo came up with the idea to set up forestry camps in the interior. His idea did not work however because Ottawa could not provide the money. He was frustrated with the limitations of provincial power and took his opinion to Ottawa, leading them to reappraise Canada's federalism. Pattulo was rubuffed by his own party after rejecting a Conservative coalition.
Timothy Buck - Timothy Buck migrated to Canada in 1910, in search of a better life. He claimed to have founded the Communist Party of Canada, a group believing in common ownership of everything, rather than private. This group was secretly founded and banned as soon as it was made, though it became legal in 1924. Buck was general secretary of the Communist Party for 32 years. During the 1930's, people supported this group, because there were so many left jobless. The authorities tried to abolish the party by breaking up meetings, and arresting leaders, because the party demanded it's followers to dramaticly change Canada's society. Buck was jailed from 1932-1934, and once WWII began, the Communist Party was completely banned.
Political Parties:
The Regina Manifesto and the C.C.F. - The Co-opertive Commonwealth Federation was founded in Calgary in 1932 by socialists, farmers, and labour groups who all greatly disagreed with capitalism. They believed capitalism encouraged inequality, selfishness, and greed, and wanted a society working together for a common good, hence "co-operative commonwealth". The group chose their first leader, JS Woodsworth, in Regina, 1933, and made the Regina Manifesto as its program. The Regina Manifesto made porgrams such as pensions, medicare, family allowances, unemployment insurance, and promised that the C.C.F. would work extremely hard in eliminating capitaliam. It also wanted key industries to be publicly owned. The C.C.F. won quite a few seats in Parliament, but won most of its seats in the provincial level.
The Union Nationale - Originally a coalition of the Action Liberale Nationale and the Conservative Party, the Union Nationale was formed to contest the provincial election in Quebec, 1935. The Union Nationale was a big supporter in French-Canadian nationalism and provincial rights. Maurice Duplessis of the Conservatives and Paul Gouin of the A.L.N. were the leaders of the coalition. Union Nationale believed in a social, economic and political reform, and was beaten by the Liberals in 1939.