The Struggles of Canada During the Great Depression: A Historical Overview

[Music] I landed in Canada a refugee from unemployment and want in England with

the youthful naive idea of finding work and prosperity in the new country foreign

became apparent that here also there were no jobs after a couple of days I hung around the

CPR Depot dozing on benches Canada will become Ronald liver such as home but for the next 10 years he will

have no fixed address I'm Going Down The Road Feeling Bad I'm Going Down The Road Feeling Bad

I'm Going Down The Road Feeling Bad lower Lord and I ain't gonna be treated this way

I learned of the life of the transient unemployed I learned a freight riding of being

hounded by police from town to town my kids need three Square meals a day our Lord and I ain't gonna be treated

this way we were not professional hobos but unemployed men many recent immigrants the beginning of a mighty

Army liver sedge will become a foot soldier in that Army the suffering he sees in

Canada will lead him and many others to radical Solutions [Music]

[Applause] Canada is between two Wars but it is not at peace

[Music] personal tragedies on every corner riots in the street

revolution in the air [Music] the Old Guard has no Solutions

but the extremists have many the country is in chaos poets

[Music] painters farmers

and Factory girls the depression will remain with them all forever

[Music] thank you [Music]

thank you [Music] [Music]

around your Mel's family is not well off but she and her 14 brothers and sisters know that if they work hard their

fortunes will soon change [Music] I slept with two sisters and one of the

babies in the same bed we slept across the bed so there would be more room

there were so many of us that the bed was warm when those who worked nights took over from those who worked days

it is Wednesday afternoon and Iran dumel is on her way to class she will spend her last few moments as a

student in the principal's office I was surprised because I was summoned to go home

it was so I could go to work I just thought this isn't possible it can't be true

Iran uml's father cobbled together the money to send his daughter to school by working double shifts at the local pulp

Mill [Music] in the 1920s two-thirds of the world's

news was printed on Canadian paper it was boom time Canada's natural resources were in demand everywhere

[Applause] [Music] 9. European currencies plummet

the U.S stock market crashes and the market for Canadian Goods dries up [Music]

one-third of Quebec pulp workers lose their jobs and Iran dumel must support her family

I plan to be a nurse when I grew up my best friend and I were going to enroll together

but now it was my turn to help out the younger kids in the family there were 15 miles to feed and we

needed my salary my heart was heavy I cried so many tears I cried enough for the rest of my life

[Music] thousands of miles away Canada's boom produced nearly half the wheat sold

worldwide and in Saskatchewan a young newlywed prepares for a Bountiful Harvest

I loved every minute especially when I was allowed to haul the wheat to the elevator it was worth working and

waiting for all summer and the order to eatons for clothing well that was the most exciting of all

foreign [Music] Bailey will go 10 years without a new

dress the price of wheat is sinking it will go from a dollar a bushel to 34

cents Anne Bailey's husband has to leave her in order to feed the family

the dubious honor of belonging to the 43 percent of farm wives have kept things going while the boss was elsewhere

working for some cash to improve the farm [Music]

Prussian has crippled their Farm but it is the drought that follows in 1930 that destroys it

[Music] family by Family thousands of Canadians are being ruined by economic disaster

but the prime minister of Canada appears to be oblivious [Music]

William Lyon Mackenzie King flatly refuses to help provinces run by his opponents

with respect to giving money to any Tory government in this country with policies diametrically opposed to this government

I would not give them a five cent piece voters find King's attitude so callous in the midst of a crisis that they

replace him the new prime minister R.B Bennett is a tough-talking millionaire

with his business experience he believes he can restore Canada's shattered economy

the conservative party is going to find work for all who are willing to work or perish in the attempt

[Applause] foreign [Music]

[Music] [Music] the depression has spread to the cities

where young single men can no longer find jobs nearly a hundred thousand men jump aboard trains crisscrossing the

country in search of work when they get off the trains they are arrested for not having a job

the official term is vagrancy Springtime has come just out of jail

I ain't got no money it's all gone for bail Hallelujah I'm a bum Hallelujah bum again

[Music] us again [Music]

Ronald liversedge has just served 30 days for vagrancy in a Sudbury jail the scene at one filthy soup kitchen

fuels his mounting sense of outrage the atmosphere was like that in a chilly moldy Crypt

the tables were covered with ice and beans and pieces of wet bread the meals were always the same

the exception was the shooting of a bear by a Sudbury businessman who gave the bear to the city who then sent it to the

soup kitchen with the result that a few hundred men suffered violent diarrhea I went to a house I asked for some bread

the lady said scramble the baker is dead Hallelujah Hallelujah

give us a handout to revive us again James Gray has achieved the middle class dream

by the time he is in his late teens he has a wife a daughter and a brand new mini golf course the latest fad

until it goes bust my number came up and I was confronted with the ego shattering discovery that

there wasn't a single employer in all Winnipeg who would give me a job [Music]

it was my own fault couldn't feed my family [Music]

although 25 of the population is unemployed RB Bennett is still talking like a businessman never will I

or any government of which I am part but a premium on idleness as the crisis hits the middle class it

takes a psychological toll though most people still have jobs everyone is fearful even R.B Bennett

he agrees to hand the province's 20 million dollars for relief among the first Canadians to go on the

Dole is James Gray [Music] received no cash

vouchers covered food and fuel and rent but we needed other things many other things

[Music] like tobacco and cigarette papers toothpaste razor blades lipstick face

powder Beyond bottle of aspirin streetcar Fair we could have cleaned our teeth with

soap but there was such a thing as morale even for the destitute

[Music] their food ration runs out halfway through every month

James Gray stands in line to see the one doctor assigned to the 16 000 people on the Dole in Winnipeg

[Music] it must have been quite some time since he had encountered such a walking

skeleton I was 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 118 pounds with most of my clothes on

I got the bad news [Music] the doctor was completely offhand about

it James Gray is one of nearly one hundred thousand Canadians diagnosed with

tuberculosis during the Depression [Music] Canada is beginning her descent into

chaos and she need only look to her Eastern Shore to see how desperate things can become

[Music] in 1932 10 000 rioters stormed the House of Assembly in the Dominion of

Newfoundland they are calling for the head of the Prime Minister Richard Squires

he survives when a fledgling politician named Joey Smallwood dresses him in a monk's uniform and Spirits him out of

town the island nation is desperately poor yet their prime minister seems

mysteriously wealthy Newfoundland is now facing bankruptcy and default on millions of dollars of debt Britain

sends a commissioner to investigate there has been a terrible Miss government worse

terrible immorality in the government the people had been exploited and yet they are a fine people really and if

they get a decent government they will do well though the place is an appalling mess

Britain agrees to assume responsibility for newfoundland's staggering debt if Newfoundland agrees to Britain's terms

the Country Must return to the status of colony run by an unelected committee appointed by Britain

with few options the people of Newfoundland vote to end their independence

Canadians wonder if their own democracy Will Survive [Music]

[Music] as the old order lies dying a new generation is trying to overturn the

remaining taboos they believe that sex race politics and art are all ripe for radical change

jazz is a little avant-garde a little dangerous and thriving in Montreal

[Music] saxophone player Myron Sutton moves from Ontario to the center of the action

[Music] Eternal Club is the kind of place where Anything Could Happen

I saw that puff Jaws Dizzy Gillespie coming there [Music]

Duke Ellington came in and sat behind the bar While most North American clubs are

segregated in Montreal integration continues late into the evening you have to give

to give all the credit in the world because she was the nicest woman to all the black musicians if it wasn't for the

French Canadian women all the black musicians who came from anywhere and stayed would have starved to death

[Music] from speakeasies to seminaries the depression is an opportunity to

challenge convention Georges Henry Levesque is a Catholic scholar who pushes his Laval University

students to look beyond the Bible for social and economic Solutions [Music]

these young people already full of worry if not misery are often full of talents of energy and of devotion so they are

often attracted to revolts but what they want more than anything is

to live fully to be all that they should be Young Artists begin to reject

traditional Landscapes the country is in crisis and it is their job to paint it [Music]

foreign [Music] foreign

[Music] if man's Liberation is the chief aim of action the function of the Creator is as

essential as that of the politician or The Economist eighteen-year-old Mary and Dale grew up

in a proper West Mound home but she throws all that aside to become an artist

she finds a soul mate in Frank Scott a legal scholar and poet while we were dancing I said some

foolish thing and he looked down at me and smiled his smile and I knew that I would like him

[Music] they believe romantic freedom is essential to creativity

Fidelity is fine for their parents we believed in forward things we thought we should allow each other to

be free and we would be honest with each other and say if we found somebody else we wouldn't want to continue

foreign [Music] Scott's poem captures the hope and

foreboding of the times how shall I hear old music this is an hour of new beginnings Concepts warring

for power decay of systems the tissue of art is torn with overtures of an era being born

[Music] foreign [Music]

[Music] Russia is half a world away but Joseph Stalin is one of the most

feared men in Canada's prime minister R.B Bennett is terrified of Communist Revolution on

Canadian soil we know that throughout Canada this propaganda is being put forward by

organizations from foreign lands that seek to destroy our institutions and we ask that every man and woman put the

iron heel of ruthlessness against a thing of that kind [Music]

Bennett does not have to look very far to find evidence for his fears the times of London reports that Moscow

has sent operatives to Canada to organize Mine Workers and in Blairmore Alberta 200 miles south

of Calgary Canada gets its first communist town [Music]

the mayor is a businessman named Bill Knight back in 1929 there were no Reds things

were prosperous everyone was well fit it is different today you talk about Communists the Communists in Canada were

made by Bennett Bennett's Chief military adviser General Andrew McNaughton warns him that the

unemployed could launch a revolution on Canadian soil in the Ragged platoons are the

prospective members of what Marx called the industrial Reserve Army the Stormtroopers of the revolution

[Music] to warehouse at least 10 000 unemployed men far from the cities

where they are stirring up dissent they will go to camps in the wilderness under military Authority

[Music] the men are paid 20 cents a day about a tenth of what a working man makes for

the same job [Music] go down

[Music] to prevent even talk of Communist Revolution Bennett enforces section 98

of the criminal code which allows the authorities to lock up dissidents [Applause]

the Prime Minister believes that immigrants especially those from Eastern Europe are responsible for bringing

communism to Canada we will take action as we'll free this country from those who have proven

themselves Unworthy of Canadian citizenship foreign-born Canadians are forced from

their homes by police often in the middle of the night nearly thirty thousand Canadians are

deported without any right of appeal Edward reinkinen born in Finland deported in 1931 after attending a

demonstration Sophie sheinen born in Russia involved in illegal assembly deported November

1932. Hans kissed born in Germany married labor organizer deported in 1932 died

after being tortured in a Nazi concentration camp foreign

[Music] while Bennett is deporting suspected socialists from Canada fascists are

Marching across Europe [Music] concerned about the threat of Nazism

there is no move to curb the growing popularity of men like William Whitaker the head of Winnipeg's Nazi party

Joe Farr leader of Ontario's fascists or Adriana an unemployed journalist in Montreal who Hitler eventually appoints

as his Canadian representative Jews are like cockroaches and bugs don't be fooled there are many around it is

too bad we cannot exterminate them with insecticides Adrian arkhan's anti-Semitism does not

disqualify him from working for the federal Tories he is appointed to recruit new members for the party

extremists are fighting for The Souls of Canadians in the middle but Bennett feels no threat from the

fascists and believes he has suppressed the Communists he is unaware of the Revolution being

planned in the labor camps he has created [Music]

liver said she came to Canada to seek his fortune but ends up in a British Columbia Work Camp plotting the downfall

of the capitalist system we use the camps as schools in those bunk houses there were more men reading

marks Lenin and Stalin than there were reading girly magazines [Music]

the Tory government of RB Bennett had decided a role for the single unemployed they were to be hidden away to become

forgotten men the Forgotten generation how naive of Mr Bennett

the army of the unemployed is mobilizing to attack RB Bennett and change the way Canada treats its poor

foreign [Music] [Applause]

[Music] the department store air John David Eaton is one of the few who sees the

bright side of the depression nobody thought about money in those days because they never saw any

you could take your girl to a supper dance at the hotel for ten dollars and that included the bottle and a room for

you and your friends to drink it in it was a good time for everybody people learned what it was like to work

[Music] fifteen-year-old Iran duamel is learning what it's like to work

she has a job in a factory that supplies the thread that sews the dresses sold by department stores like eatons

because I was small I had to climb into the needles and go between the threads with a little brush to lift the cotton

debris my hands were full of blood it got as hard as 105 degrees

the company hired a nurse to give us salt pills if we fainted [Music]

people ready to take their jobs workers will risk their lives for a paycheck [Music]

because of the heat many employees got sick especially with tuberculosis one of my friends got sick and died

after my friend died the boss came to pay his respects we were inside with the mother

when he came to the door she screamed You Killed My Daughter you killed my daughter

we had to hold her back workers like duaml find an unlikely champion

[Music] in 1934 Bennett's popular labor Minister H.H Stevens wages war on big business

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 [Music]

under Stephen Direction a panel of MPS interviews workers across the country an Eaton sower tells them she has paid

nine and a half cents for a dress that Eaton sells for a dollar 69. [Music]

badgered harassed and worried you were told to work and work and work so hard at these cheaper rates and you were

threatened if you didn't you would be fired you had no time to get up and have a

drink of water you just went on working [Music] thank you

hit hard by bad press Eaton's reforms its labor practices but their suppliers continue as they

always have and life doesn't change one iota for Iran dumel [Music]

foreign as if economic disaster is not enough the Prairie is on the verge of becoming

a desert some children born during the drought will not see their first drop of rain

until decades end they eat what their parents can shoot when there is money for bullets

[Music] thousands of farmers have no choice but to leave their homes behind

much of the Prairie is left abandoned [Music] but Ann Bailey's family has worked the

land for generations and she has no plans to budge until the day she finds herself alone

with her children and helpless against Nature's Wrath [Music]

my son came running into the house greatly excited come quick mum he showed it there's a

big black cloud coming in the sky he ran out ahead of me pointed to the Western sky where sure enough there was

the blackest most terrifying looking Cloud I have ever seen [Music]

very quickly and the edge of it was rolling along Panic Rose in me what should I do

where should we go the house was sure to be blown away and our nearest neighbor was a mile away

at the rate the cloud was moving I could never make it as I would have to carry the baby

I shut the door tight picked up the baby and yelling at the other two to follow I ran for The Dugout Barn

already the shadow of the cloud was upon us when it was light enough for me to see

the forms of the cattle I knew it was safe to open the door so once again I looked outside

everything Land Air sky was a dull gray color

[Music] our feet sank in sand and we breathed and tasted sand

[Music] Canadians are overwhelmed by forces beyond their control and there is only

one man to turn to foreign [Music]

[Music] thank you [Music]

Murray Harbor Pei dear sir I am writing to see if there is any help I could get as I have a baby 13

days old that only weighs one pound and I have to keep in Cotton wool and olive oil

and I haven't the money to buy it if there is any help I could get there will be two votes for you next election

hoping to hear from you soon Yours Truly Mrs Jack o'hannon her letter to the prime minister is Mrs

Jack o'hannon's Last Hope when he receives it Bennett opens his wallet and sends the young mother five

dollars enough money to cover groceries for about a month Bennett has failed to come up with any

far-reaching policy to alleviate the suffering caused by the depression it seems all he can do is try to help those

individuals who write to him alone in his 17-room suite at the Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa Bennett

Works through the night trying to keep up with an endless chorus of heartbreak and despair

Toronto Dear Mr Bennett I believe you to be a good as well as a great man

therefore I am appealing to you to save my home picture yourself through no fault of

your own homeless with sons willing but unable to provide for you please help me or tell me what I can do

you're sincerely and hopefully Laura Bates dear Madam I am certainly willing to

help you and if you will be good enough to let me know what company holds the mortgage on your home I will look into

the matter and see if anything can be done to straighten out your difficulties Yours Faithfully RB Bennett

Whedon station Quebec dear sir please excuse me for asking for your help as I have no other option I have

been sick for five years I have six young children I am 42 years old and I have no money no more food and we are

without clothing and all we can think about my dear RB Bennett is the cold winter ahead

please believe me I remain your devoted filipatri [Music]

Wellesley Ontario Dear Sir three little baby boys were born to Mr and Mrs Samuels in our

vicinity like many others they have had some very bad luck the parents are a very fine type not the kind with a

handout for help we hope you will feel toward these unfortunate people the way we do

Yours Truly Elizabeth rattray [Music] Dear Mr and Mrs Samuels I am enclosing

here with a 20 bill which I trust may be of some little service to you during the Christmas season

I learned the other day that one of the triplet boys had passed away and I extend to my sincerest sympathy

with best wishes believe me I am Yours Faithfully r b Bennett Kingdom Saskatchewan

dear prime minister RB Bennett it is with a very humble heart that I take the opportunity of writing this

letter to ask you if you will please send for this underwear for my husband from the Eaton catalog

I can manage but my husband has arthritis very bad Dear Sir received your kind favor of underwear for my

husband we wish to thank you very much for it we sure are thankful for your kindness mystery Dear Mr Bennis I am a

little boy eight years old and I'm in grade three at school I've wanted a little red wagon to hit my

dog too dear Mr Bennett thank you very much for the money I'm going to get the wagon mama said I

could Dear Mr Bennett you're very good friend Maurice I can't spell very good to write I think my woman is coming to

see me this summer I didn't see her for four years and I have no clothes I've used some old clothes you could send me

and I will do a good turn for you yours truly Mickey rattel right soon

[Music] [Music] sir

this is from a mother whose son is wandering somewhere in Ontario trying vainly to get work

what are you going to do for these thousands of young men there is lots of work to be done if you

would only start them at it you have never had to sleep out in the snow and rain or go days without food

just stop and think of these Hungry Boys when you are at your next banquet you have no children so you cannot

realize how parents feel with their sons wandering in this useless search for work

you have only a short time now to try and help these men or it will be up to the other party to do it

a mother [Music] in 1933 U.S President Franklin Roosevelt

introduces a revolutionary New Deal his government pays for new highways dams Railways parks and public art and

America is on its way back to work even R.B Bennett is impressed and on the last day of 1934 Canadians turn on their

radios to hear an astonishing change of heart from their prime minister the old order is gone

Canada on the Dole Is young and vigorous man in the poor house is a condemnation

final and should abolish them I am for reform

Bennett has a good speech but his words lead to few concrete results and Canada never gets its New Deal Canada remains

on the Dole and while Bennett is retreating from his promises the men in the labor camps are

advancing [Music] thank you

1500 relief Camp workers in BC struck their camps and moved into Vancouver in an attempt to gain an audience for their

particular complaints and to coerce the national government into developing a work and wages program

Ronald liversetch joins the protest and submits to military style discipline the young men have been penned in for

months but are ordered to refrain from drinking smoking and flirting they plan to occupy Vancouver until they

are given real jobs and when they ask for money it seems Vancouver is on their side

[Music] it was a happy day like a Gala occasion Vancouver was with us to the tune of 4

600 dollars [Music] the mothers of Vancouver hold a lunch to

raise money for the strikers twenty thousand people attend it is a signal to the Prime Minister that it is time to

take care of Canada's poor but the prime minister is blind to the message these are several well-known

communistic societies we have declined to enter into any discussion with them the army of the unemployed moves towards

Ottawa an angry but disciplined column prepared to take on the prime minister in person

thousands of men jump aboard trains taking as their Anthem an old Union song we meet today in Freedom's cause and

raise our voices [Music] [Music]

Victory will come the train Crews were cooperating with us in every possible way and there was yet

no attempt made to stop our March to the east foreign

authorities were leaving it to the federal government and in the meantime we were quite a

formidable force and beginning to snowballs [Music]

[Music] the momentum seems Unstoppable everywhere they go they pick up hundreds

more recruits but they never make it past Regina Bennett forbids the railways to take the

men further he has the exits to the city sealed the Marchers are trapped

on July 1st they meet to determine their next move they are closely monitored by the RCMP

who take their orders from Bennett foreign whistle blasted out a signal the backs

of Vans were opened and out poured the mountains each armed with a baseball bat in less than four minutes Market Square

was a massive writhing groaning forms like a Battlefield [Applause]

45 people are injured a policeman is killed it is the worst riot in over a decade

and the timing could not be worse for RB Bennett he is at the end of his term and now he

must call an election his opponent Mackenzie King knows which note to strike he offers Canadians king

or chaos and in October of 1935 they pick King Bennett has run the country for five of

its darkest most turbulent years [Music] he has done his best but the times

demand much more angry and disillusioned RB Bennett eventually leaves Canada and moves to

England forever three people come to say goodbye now Mackenzie King has inherited the

economic crisis and an even greater challenge for Canada has only begun to witness the forces of extremism that

will soon send the world into war [Music] it is 1935 and the only thing millions

of Canadians care about is getting a job they have lost their homes their families and their pride

few anticipate that things could get worse but when the Great Depression finally

ends it is at a terrible cost [Music]

[Music] Mackenzie King has just been re-elected prime minister of Canada there is a

seance to celebrate his victory his parents send congratulations from the grave his father offers a prediction

the fate of Canada is in your hands fate of Great Britain depends on Canada the fate of Europe depends on Great

Britain King's father may be a ghost but he is an astute ghost by decades end Canada

will be thrust to the Forefront of the Century's great Showdown [Music]

for five years Canada has been mired in economic Gloom but a fresh crop of politicians promises better times ahead

[Music] the new premier of Quebec Maurice du plessis holds Court in the Chateau

Frontenac hotel in Quebec City friends life in the province is about to get

better for his supporters [Music]

you want a new hospital do you want a new bridge electric light bulbs a new school

then vote in your National [Applause] [Music]

in Alberta William aberhart is a preacher who uses the power of radio to push his new political party social

credit he promises albertans 25 a month [Music]

it was not long ago I picked up my paper and found someone reporting that social credit is a hare-brained scheme I said

thank goodness I haven't got any hair abrahart loses no time installing his family at Edmonton's elegant hotel

McDonald in Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn preaches solidarity with the man in the

street while governing from a hotel suite far above The Fray [Music]

a reporter describes life at the top Mitchell hepfearn led me into the room where the radio was playing and

introduced me to his friends they were his doctor and a member of his government and two attractive girls who

sprawled on the sofa and called the prime minister chief

[Music] William Lyon Mackenzie King lives with his dog Pat in a quiet house on a quiet

street [Music] they spend most evenings sipping

Ovaltine and eating cookies until King's doctor tells them they are both getting too fat

King often confers with the great beyond here too moderation is advised go to bed early whenever you can eat

lightly drink no Spirits or wine try to pray all you can in the heavens and on earth king is a

man who values Prudence above all other virtues the more I talk the less clear my

judgment I avoid pitfalls by being careful to exercise judgment and caution

foreign will stay true to his words taking his message of caution as far as the third

rank [Applause] [Music]

[Applause] [Music] if it is caution that Mackenzie King

wants he has chosen the wrong woman Karine Wilson is one of ottawa's leading hostesses

she is better known for her lavish fundraisers than her political convictions

she is more shocked than anyone when Mackenzie King appoints her as Canada's first female senator

press supports King's choice Mrs Wilson is the very antithesis of the short-haired woman reformer is the exact

opposite of that unlovely female type which talks of Freud and complexes and the latest novel and poses as being

intellectual s of the much more appealing and competent kind who make a success of

their job of taking care of a home [Music] but Wilson is more concerned about

foreign conflicts than domestic Arts she is about to become one of Canada's leading voices against fascism

[Music] by the early 1930s Wilson is concerned that Japan's recent invasion of

Manchuria Mussolini's tyranny in Italy and Hitler's Stranglehold on Germany

pose a threat to all democracies thank you nobody can be true to ideals of religion

Liberty and Democratic principles and exist under a Nazi or fascist regime without a belief in the Dignity of man

without indignation against arbitrarily created human suffering there can be no Democratic principles

[Music] Karine Wilson believes democratic nations must stand together to confront

dictators here's into her term Wilson's fellow Senators consider withdrawing Canada

from the League of Nations [Music] when Wilson protests they tell her not

to become exercised over far away conflicts Wilson is nervous but cannot remain

silent [Music] she finds courage in the paintings of

the Great War that cover the Senate walls those whose Memories We especially

cherish did not make their sacrifices in vain [Music]

they will prevail over those whose views would tend to perpetuate the horrors of War

even though some of these latter may be seated in high places of legislative power

[Music] but Mackenzie King is also haunted by the Great War

nearly 20 years before Canadians were bitterly divided when conscription was imposed

nothing scares him more than the possibility of another foreign conflict we shall have the old war situation over

again with the party divided as it was at the time of conscription Italy brazenly invades Ethiopia in 1935.

Karine Wilson urges Mackenzie King to join the vote to punish Mussolini at the League of

Nations but King informs Wilson he will not support any punishment of Italy

it is a complete sacrifice of Ethiopia to Italy as a means of ending war on the theory that it is better to sacrifice

Justice than risk a European conflagration Wilson is furious Canada is only one of

many nations reluctant to punish Italy but she had hoped king would set an example

instead he has helped deliver a message of appeasement [Music]

thank you [Music] the palace or triangle was on its way to

becoming the Great Canadian desert it was the longest Siege of atrocious weather since in all probability the

times of Joseph in Egypt [Music] dust and debt have covered the Prairies

for nearly a decade and changed the political landscape of the West James Gray finally finds a job at a

newspaper and sets out to report on the progress of Canada's new leaders William Eberhart broke the spell of the

do-nothing school of political sorcerer by insisting on trying to do something anything

[Music] Bible bill aberhart has not yet made good on his promise to give albertans a

monthly handout [Music] asks Ottawa for a loan

but King believes propping up the provinces could impoverish the federal government

[Music] averhart decides to go It Alone printing his own money and regulating the banks

himself it is against the laws of Canada but abrahart is answering to a higher

authority the spirit of Christ has gripped me I am only seeking to feed clothe and shelter

starving people if that is what you call a dictator then I am one James Gray tells abrahart he seems to

have taken a page from Mussolini abrahart is not flattered he was biting discourteous and captious

and what began as an interview ended in a shouting match he could be an arrogant boar

abrahart hates the Press he calls reporters rats Liars Sons of Satan and fornicators and then passes

the accurate news and information law which allows him to censor the media [Music]

Mackenzie King uses his Federal authority to stop abrahart's legislation but he does little to solve Alberta's

economic woes [Music] just a province away James Gray finds

another political party emerging from the dust Another Legacy of ottawa's perceived to neglect

in Saskatchewan the handy alternative was the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation

if something had to be done they were prepared to make the sacrifices that were needed to make it happen

this is Canada's first Socialist Party founding members include 26 construction workers

15 Farmers six teachers a minor a motion picture operator the poet Frank Scott and Canada's only

labor MP J.S woodsworth a severe condemnation still rests upon indifference

we have tried to provide for the poor yet have we tried to alter the social conditions that lead to poverty

too many a socialist party is a terrifying idea the mayor of Vancouver sees it as proof that Stalin has entered

Canada through the back door if you elect those people they'll take away your home they'll take away your

car and burn down your churches furthermore they'll nationalize your women

they are revolutionary the new party will take its demands for socialized Banking and Universal Health Care all

the way to Parliament Frank Scott finds it one of the most exhilarating moments of his life

shall not forget the denunciations of capitalism hour after hour and the Raging thunderous Applause afterwards

in 1935 five ccfmps are elected to Parliament King largely ignores them Frank Scott is

appalled his most famous poem is dedicated to King we had no shape because he never took

sides and no sides because he never took shape he skillfully avoided what was wrong without saying what was right

and never let his one hand know what is on the other hand was doing [Applause]

[Music] it is 1936 and 5 000 miles from Canada there is a fascist Insurrection in Spain

[Applause] General Francisco Franco wages civil war against the government

the legally elected Republicans are backed by the Soviets Germany and Italy provide arms for

Franco [Applause] Norman Bethune a surgeon and a socialist

is one of the few Canadians who sees the fight for what it is the world war has started its democracy

against fascism it is in Spain that the real issues of our time are going to be fought out it

is there that democracy Will Survive or die girlfriend is

but Bethune is equally consumed by love Mary and Scott is a painter she is married to the poet in CCF

founding member Frank Scott the Scots have an open marriage it is another way for the Bohemian couple to

challenge convention but like many of the Decades experiments it comes at a price

this pain because f is with another woman [Music]

use this pain the special pain use this pain that wrenches me to new planes

[Music] Norman Bethune offers Solace to Marion Scott

you are the first woman in the world I've met about whom I felt No Doubt that we could

live together physically mentally and spiritually mated [Music]

but Mary and Scott will not leave her husband Bethune is heartbroken

he leaves for Spain where he will use his medical expertise to save thousands of lives

Ronald liversedge a veteran of the on to Ottawa track is one of many Canadians inspired by Bethune

I read a press report to vow this doctor Norman Bethune had raised funds for and organized and taken to Spain the first

mobile blood transfusion unit to be used in Warfare [Music]

and you then that I had to go also [Music] Canada is officially neutral in Spain's

War but Mackenzie King still fears the foreign conflict could divide the country

he signs into law the foreign enlistment act forbidding Canadians to join the fighters in Spain

we believed our duty was to keep Canada United and avoid controversies or discussions liable to create trouble

abroad now that it is illegal to go to Spain liver sedge will have to travel on a

badly disguised passenger ship a favorite Target for fascist torpedoes [Music]

the ship seemed to literally leap from the water all around the ship was a massive

floating wreckage [Music] barrels crates cases planking canvas

wooden bedsteads and amongst all this debris were bobbin heads and floating bodies

I came up behind a man who was hanging onto the end of a wooden bed as I approached him I said how are you

making out not so good good Lord are you here too he was Alice fromberg from Vancouver

[Music] as liver sedge swims through the wreckage he recognizes more old friends

1700 Canadians are headed for Spain the majority are veterans of the on to Ottawa track

having lost many battles at home they are ready to fight the war for democracy abroad

[Music] [Music] people try to solve the riddle of the

depression in a hundred different ways [Music] the new premier of Quebec Maurice du

plessis believes one answer lies in a return to the countryside the government must recognize in its

legislation that the province of Quebec has always been and must always be essentially agricultural

[Music] foreign [Music]

movements are already popular across the country when du plessis takes office in 1936

[Music] during the 1930s in Quebec 50 000 people flee Urban unemployment and head north

to farm the stingy soil of the province's rocky Shield is most popular in rural areas and he

starts pulling money out of the urban centers Iran

uml is a teenager living in Saint Hyacinth Quebec a city that voted against du plessis and is now five

million dollars poorer one day a colonization agent came to the house and offered us land in a bichibi

for sure we wanted land just not in a btb [Music]

the 18 year old has been robbed of an education by the depression but she continues learning with her church youth

group [Music] it was a way of channeling my energy

it taught me there was life beyond saintier saint duomel organizes a field trip to Quebec

City to demand the new Premier offer the same subsidies to education as he has for colonization

[Music] I was very impressed I was so proud of being there

[Music] he called us my dear dear children but in any event the meeting didn't last

long maybe a few minutes du plessis listened kindly and then he said in a definitive tone

no and then he added for the workers their salvation will be in heaven

[Music] du plessis grip on his province is becoming tighter

[Music] and saxophone player Myron Sutton is suddenly out of a job

[Music] purposely sent two guys down to rockheads and that's when rockheads was

going great and they told rocket they were his new partners and rock hits it no way nobody's gonna tell me what to do

well they took his license Rufus rockhead is an enemy of duplicity and the owner of a popular nightclub

the licenses of negroes Jews and Chinese were canceled at the same time whoosh just like that

[Music] 1937 brings in the padlock law the notorious bill that allows the Quebec

government to shut down newspapers labor groups and religious organizations the provincial legislation contravenes

the laws of Canada and du plessis knows it [Music]

ensures du plessis he might upset Quebec and the delicate balance he has worked so hard to maintain

so he does nothing [Music] five thousand miles away Ronald

liversedge and the Canadians in Spain have their own unit the Mackenzie papano Battalion or Mac pass and by 1937 they

are being crushed four months of stubborn Retreat without let up

against an enemy whose superiority and weapons rated over us ten to one we were all changed even facial

expressions seem to be nursing unwelcome thoughts [Music]

half the Canadians who go to Spain die in the field the survivors swear they will fight to

the end but the end is nearer than they know Hitler and Stalin have signed a secret

deal the Soviets will sacrifice Spain the Mac paps are sent home

[Music] left alone on the sidewalk across from the CPR Depot

the place where I'd started my journey into Spain from a little under two years ago

I thought Well Ron home from the wars but with no home to go to

[Music] [Applause] [Music]

with fascists ruling Spain Italy and Germany Democratic leaders now fear World War

foreign Hitler is advancing and no one knows where he will stop

[Applause] few are more concerned at the prospect of War than Mackenzie King

I wondered whether I would have the strength to continue at the head of a government or whether the government

would last any time as it was certain that Canada would immediately become a divided Dominion

[Applause] [Music] King travels to Berlin his mission to

convince Hitler to cease his military aggression [Music]

Nazis put on a display of fascist splendor [Music]

King tells Hitler that Canada will stand at Britain's side in the event of War [Music]

but privately King is very taken with Hitler as he records in his diary he smiled very pleasantly

and indeed had more of a sort of appealing and affectionate look his face is much more pre-possessing

than his picture would give the impression of it is not that of a fiery over-strained

nature but a calm passive man deeply and thoughtfully in earnest his skin is smooth his face did not

present lines of fatigue or awareness his eyes impressed me most of all there was a liquid quality about them

which indicated Keen perception and profound sympathy [Music]

after meeting the fuhrer a top-ranking British Diplomat Compares him to Mahatma Gandhi

American ambassador Joseph Kennedy calls Hitler a man you can trust [Music]

in 1938 Hitler unveils the face of Nazism for all the world to see oh

my God [Music] he orders an all-out attack on Jews in

Germany [Music] Crystal knocked called Crystal Knight

because of the thousands of panes of broken glass from Jewish homes and businesses that littered Germany's

streets Senator Karine Wilson is one of the few non-jews lobbying for the refugees

two weeks after Crystal knocked she calls a meeting with the prime minister a growing intensity of the persecutions

and sufferings of thousands of these unhappy people constitutes a great challenge to the reality of our

humanitarianism our loyalty to our Democratic principles makes it imperative that we render what

help we can in this urgent situation King shunts her over to the real architect of immigration policy a

bureaucrat named Frederick Blair Blair is extremely proud of his record Canada has allowed in fewer Jewish refugees

than any other Commonwealth country I often think that it would be far better if we told them more frankly why

many of them are unpopular if they would divest themselves of certain of their habits I'm sure they could be just as

popular in Canada as a Scandinavians foreign is getting out that Wilson is one of the

last hopes for refugees trying to get into Canada her desk is flooded with letters

the Stein family of Vienna writes to their cousins in Montreal that their business has been shut down and they are

forbidden to earn a living they are homeless stateless and penniless

particularly affected are the two children a nine-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl

our distress increases daily there's nothing left for us but suicide our only hope for Survivor is admission

to Canada the Steins are rejected Wilson now believes Blair's bigotry is standing

between life and death but Blair is unmoved by her pleas all the complaints Mrs Wilson brings to

me are about Jews Jews make any kind of promise to get the door open but never cease their agitation until they get the

whole lot thank you Wilson feels she has no choice but to

lower her sights she begs King to force Blair to let in one thousand refugees [Music]

Wilson is unaware that Blair is not her only obstacle she has no idea that Mackenzie King has

bought all the land around kingsmere his country house so that no Jew can move near him

nor does she know his real views about refugees a secret he shares with his diary

we must seek to keep this part of the continent free from unrest and from too great an intermixture of foreign strains

of blood [Applause] finally Wilson settles on a proposal

that King agrees to approve 100 Jewish orphans but Blair invents more hurdles and in

the end only two of the children make it to Canada [Music]

the Ottawa Journal calls Karine Wilson the mother of lost causes Canada will go on to have one of the

worst records of Jewish Refugee resettlement in the world [Music]

[Music] on September 1st 1939 Germany invades Poland

King receives reports from the great beyond that there is nothing to worry about in a seance his father tells him

Hitler has been shot by a pole at the same moment King is communing

with the spirits Britain is declaring war against Germany [Music]

one week later Canada too declares war most people including Prime Minister Mackenzie King believe Canada's role can

be limited and King promises he won't impose conscription for overseas fighting

I held to the language that Britain was at War and if attacked we should take means of defense and should not go

beyond the defense of Canada at present [Music] a limited War seems possible in the

Autumn of 1939. a period called the phony War because fighting has come to a temporary halt

[Music] foreign [Music]

listment remains voluntary and French and English alike begin to sign up [Music]

[Applause] in Saint Hyacinth Quebec there are five fewer mouths to feed at the dumel table

Irene dumel's brothers are all soldiers now she is about to begin her adult life as

the wife of Georges gravlin a handsome montrealer who Woos her with books but once again her life is altered when

the phone rings he called and I feared it was because he was going to join the Army

said but we're supposed to marry the damn fool said do you understand that it's a job it's Deliverance

[Music] the phony War comes to an abrupt and terrifying end on May 10 1940 King

realizes his dreams of a limited War have ended too [Music]

thank you fellow Canadians the brutal domination of Holland the

tragic invasion of Belgium the surrender of France the capture of the channel ports has happened in such quick

succession that the world has hardly had time to breathe one crisis has not passed before another

has arisen in its place Harold has been heaped upon Peril who will say on what New Horizon destruction

may not Loom tomorrow [Music] for five days in May of 1940 the Outlook

is dire [Music] Germany controls most of Europe and many

believe that if Britain puts down her guns Hitler will spare her [Music]

King and Britain's new leader do not like one another King complains about Winston Churchill's

habit of drinking champagne in the war room Churchill refers to Canada's prime

minister as the little son of a [ __ ] but they will be forced into a history-making Alliance

Churchill is facing tremendous pressure to surrender even U.S president Roosevelt feels

Britain might have to capitulate Roosevelt calls his friend Mackenzie King and asks him to pass on the message

to Churchill King admires Roosevelt but he despises Roosevelt's message

it seems that the United States was seeking to save itself at the expense of Britain