The Great Depression In Canada During The 1930's

The Great Depression was a desperate time for people living in North America during the 1930’s as the unemployment rate was growing at alarming rates. Prime Minister R.B. Bennett and his Conservative Party created a new policy called The Unemployment Relief Act, which would help fellow Canadians that are unemployed and unemployment relief projects for those seeking work. During this time, Canadians were experiencing tremendous hardships as businesses all over were off employees and shutting down their factories. One particular man, Ralph A. Mackenzie, voiced his grievances in a letter, directed to Prime Minister Bennett, informing him of the difficult time he and his family were enduring trying to make ends meet. Despite the Canadian government’s

best efforts, The Unemployment Relief Act fell short of its goals and left a lot of Canadians starving and out of work.
Just shortly after being elected as Prime Minister, Bennett held a session of Parliament to address the escalating unemployment situation.

On September 22, 1930, the creation of The Unemployment Relief Act was the result, which “provided 20 million dollars for unemployment assistance.” The money was designed to improve local infrastructure, create relief projects, grant aid to provinces and municipalities for unemployment relief purposes, and reimbursing those provinces and municipalities involved with unemployment relief projects. The federal government claimed that “unemployment relief was a provincial and municipal responsibility.” In addition, the Act was to help in the product distribution of materials and goods across the country and pay for the majority of the shipping costs. The Act did have an expiration date clause, which stated that if any “portion if the said sum of twenty million dollars, remaining unexpended or unappropriated for the purposes of this Act on the thirty-first of March, 1931, shall thereupon lapse.” The Act stood as a temporary solution in hopes that this would bring Canada out of the Great Depression and the unemployment crisis that was sweeping the nation. The underestimation of the situation, lack of understanding, and failure to execute were the main contributing factors of why the Unemployment Relief Act was an overall

failure.
By April 1, 1931, the unemployment situation in Canada took a turn for the worse and families all across the country were in dire straits.

Thousands of Canadians reached out to Prime Minister Bennett voicing their displeasures and concerns during this most difficult time. Ralph A. Mackenzie, a mechanic with a family of seven children, reached out to Bennett in an attempt to inform him of their poor living standards and the shortcomings of the Civic Relief Department, created by the Unemployment Relief Act. Mackenzie explained how his children were suffering from malnutrition and that he didn’t have enough money to properly feed and clothe his family. Even when Mackenzie would seek the aid of the Civic Relief Department, an investigator would personally show up to his home and determine if the application for relief was valid. Throughout his letter, Mackenzie mentioned how ample of a mechanic he was and that he was open to any form of work, as long as it was full time employment. The situation was similar, or arguably worse, in the United States and several Americans would come to Canada seeking work, much to the disapproval of Mackenzie, exclaiming “it seems pretty tough if we can’t get a job, a steady one while we see Americans come over and fill jobs that Canadians should have.” Mackenzie was disgusted when he learned that an incompetent coworker of his, named Mr. Ruggles, was kept on while Mackenzie and several others were laid off, despite Mackenzie having a family of

eight dependents while Ruggles had just one. Even more frustrating was when Mackenzie was told that some employers were not accepting any applications, except those from the state of Kansas in the United States. In Mackenzie’s eyes, the Unemployment Relief Act failed to provide him with regular employment and sufficient relief aid for his family from the Civic Relief Department.
The Unemployment Relief Act was supposed to be the one way ticket out of the Great Depression and put Canadians back to work. Unfortunately, the Act was a poor attempt by Bennett and his Conservative government to bring Canada out of this unemployment crisis. Six months was not enough of time for this kind of undertaking to really make the impact Bennett was looking for. Ultimately, the Act was a failure and the federal government would have to make more desperate measures as the Great Depression set in and the unemployment lines grew and grew. The underestimation of the situation, lack of understanding, and failure to execute were the main contributing factors of why the Unemployment Relief Act was an overall failure.
(Brou & Waiser)
(Grayson & Bliss)